# Bahlsen

Bahlsen GmbH & Co. KG is a German food company based in Hanover. It was founded in July 1889 by Hermann Bahlsen (1859–1919) as the "Hannoversche Cakesfabrik H. Bahlsen".
Bahlsen produces a range of biscuits and cakes. Its best-known product is the Leibniz-Keks (butter biscuit), introduced in 1891. It also makes products such as chocolate-dipped Pick Up! snack bars. Bahlsen operates five production facilities in Europe and exports products to about 55 countries. It also does private-label production and remains funded by private capital.

## History
### Origin and economic success

In 1889, the Hannoversche Cakesfabrik (Hanover Cake Factory) was founded by taking over Fabrikgeschäft engl. Cakes und Biscuits (factory business. Cakes and Biscuits), which had ten employees at the time. In 1891, the Leibniz biscuit was invented and by 1894 it was also produced in the USA. In 1893, Bahlsen received a gold medal for its products at the food exhibition in Brussels, and in the same year it was awarded a gold medal for its biscuits at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
In 1899, the company had 300 employees, and in 1905 the first assembly line production took place in Europe. In 1911, an administration building on Podbielskistrasse was build. In 1912, the company was renamed H. Bahlsens Keksfabrik. In 1914, Bahlsen employed around 1,700 people.
In 1911 Hermann Bahlsen changed the English word „cakes“ into „Keks“. Some years later, the new term is officially approved and incorporated in the German Duden (dictionary).
In 1916 and 1917, Bahlsen had plans developed for a test-tube city called TET-Stadt in Hanover, which was never realized. It was to be both a home and a workplace for the employees of the Bahlsen works.
On 6 November 1919, Hermann Bahlsen died and Hans Bahlsen took over the company.

### During National Socialism in Germany (Until 1945)

The time of the German Reich was accompanied by economic success for Bahlsen. In particular, the Express tin can introduced in 1933, which contained a pound of biscuits for one Reichsmark, became a bestseller. In 1935, Bahlsen launched the saltstick, which had only been available in the USA until then. In 1935, the company planned to print a photo of Adolf Hitler on promotional postcards, to be paired with TET biscuit packs “for our propaganda purposes” (as a form of advertising). The Interior Ministry withdrew the cards because it would commercialize Hitler.
As a result of the shortage of raw materials due to the Second World War, the product range was reduced to eleven items. When Bahlsen was declared a "war-critical company" and thus an armaments company, it produced emergency rations for German soldiers and produced crispbread and rusks.
In 1904 Bahlsen introduced the new dust and moisture-resistant TET packaging onto the market. The TET sign, featuring an oval with a snake and three dots deriving from an ancient Egypt hieroglyphic meaning ‘everlasting’, is originally pronounced as “dschet”, but simplified to “TET”. The TET-packaging is the first packaging made of paper-board with the ability to keep the biscuit enduringly fresh. The following year Bahlsen introduces Europe's first assembly line, eight years before Henry Ford adopts it in the automotive industry. In 1911 Hermann Bahlsen changed the English word „cakes“ into „Keks“. Some years later, the new term is officially approved and incorporated in the German Duden (dictionary).
From the end of May 1940 until the end of the Second World War, over 700 forced labourers from various European countries, most of them women from Poland and Ukraine, came to the factory in Hanover. The majority of the labourers were women from Nazi occupied Ukraine. The company executives at the time, Hans Bahlsen, Werner Bahlsen and Klaus Bahlsen, were all members of the NSDAP. While the Bahlsen brothers were not top representatives of the NSDAP (Nazi party), they were in regular contact with NSDAP officials. After the end of the Nazi dictatorship, the company quickly received a production permit as an indispensable food producer and regained its role and importance. By the end of the war nearly 60% of the factory and almost all distribution warehouses are destroyed. In 2019 Bahlsen assigned historian Professor Dr. Manfred Grieger to examine an independent review of the company's history.
German politician Ernst Albrecht (1930–2014) was member of the management board of Bahlsen in the 1970s and the press gave him the nickname "Cookie Monster".
In 1999 the company is split off into the “sweet” (Bahlsen) and “snack” (Lorenz) segments and the Von Nordeck Group.
In February 2013, a gilded bronze sign in the form of a biscuit that hung outside the corporate headquarters in Hanover was stolen overnight. A ransom demand was received asking for donations of cookies to a local children's hospital and a donation to a local animal shelter. The sign was returned when Bahlsen donated to 52 social institutions.
From 1999 to 2018, Werner Michael Bahlsen was the sole shareholder and at the same time managing director. Today he is the chairman of the board of directors.

## Key personnel

Management board:
* Alexander Kühnen (CEO)
* Christopher Harmsen (CFO)
* Cornelia Kaufmann (Chief Culture Officer)
* Karl Reichstein (Chief Supply Chain Officer)