History
Migros Lagerhaus Genossenschaft (MLG) was founded in 1954. The Federation of Migros Cooperatives (FMC) bought a site for MLG on the former Basel-Sternenfeld airfield in Birsfelden, which had been shut down in 1953. This site was located directly on the banks of the Rhine, where a mooring and shipping terminal was built for the subsidiary Reederei Zürich AG (RZ), a shipping company founded in the same year. Since its opening, the warehouse complex of MLG consisted of cold storage rooms and dry storage facilities for nuts, coffee, tea, spices and dried fruits, as well as the centralised coffee roasting house and the packaging lines for the products delivered.
Migros Zentralpackerei AG (MZP) was established in 1964 on the same premises and took over the coffee roasting house and packaging lines from MLG. In addition, MZP took on the task of producing paper packaging for all Migros cooperatives.
The frozen poultry section and the GIFA warehouse were moved to the central distribution centre of Migros-Verteilbetrieb Neuendorf AG (MVN) in 1972 and 1974, respectively. In 1977 the operations and distribution centre of the Migros Cooperative Basel was transferred from the site in Birsfelden to Münchenstein, upon which MLG took over the properties.
On 1 January 1987, MLG and MZP merged to become Migros Betriebe Birsfelden AG (MBB). MBB took over the marketing, sales and procurement divisions from FMC on 1 June 2004. As a commercial enterprise, MBB also offered logistics services (handling, storage, customs clearance) to third parties. 20 years after the merger, on 1 January 2007, MBB changed its name to Delica AG. In November 2006, the packaging production was outsourced to the newly founded InnoPacking AG in Pratteln by means of a management buyout.
In October 2008, the FMC management agreed to a partial merger between Delica and its affiliated company Chocolat Frey, which took effect on 1 January 2009. Since then, both companies have been run by one and the same management team, while the administration has been centralised to a large extent at the headquarters of Chocolat Frey in Buchs in the canton of Aargau.
Products
Delica's product range comprises coffee, tea, spices, legumes (beans, lentils, peas), nuts, dried fruits and dried mushrooms. Coffees make up Delica's best-selling product group. Since their launch in 2004, the Delizio [3] coffee capsules have overtaken Delica's traditional ground and unground coffee beans and instant coffee in terms of turnover. Moreover, the Delizio coffee capsule system was launched internationally under the name of Cremesso [4] in September 2009, and is now sold in several countries in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. In 2012, Delica AG introduced Café Royal, an premium brand compatible with the Nespresso coffee capsule system. [5] Since 2019, coffee capsules have also been made from aluminium in addition to plastic. [6] The Café Royal brand also advertised with Robbie Williams as a testimonial until 2019. [7] [8]
With some 12,200 tonnes of processed green coffee, acquired through the program of UTZ Certified, and a packaging capacity of 27 million sales units per year, Delica is one of Switzerland's largest coffee roasting companies. Up to 100 tonnes of coffee can be processed each day in its three roasting plants. With about 9,000 tonnes of processed non-perishables and a capacity of more than 37 million sales units per year, Delica is also one of the biggest domestic packing companies of non-perishable products.
As a commercial enterprise, Delica also acts as a middleman for the affiliated companies that belong to FMC. In addition, goods for wholesalers and third-party food producers are imported and processed, and about 10% are exported. [1]
Cenovis is a dark brown food paste from Switzerland consisting of yeast extract, onions, carrots and spices. It is similar to English Marmite, Brazilian Cenovit, and Australian Vegemite. It is rich in vitamin B1. It is used to flavour soups, sausages, and salads. The most popular way to consume Cenovis, however, is to spread it on a slice of buttered bread, as stated on the product's packaging (it can also be blended directly into butter, and then spread on bread, or used as a filling in croissants and buns).
Instant coffee is a beverage derived from brewed coffee beans that enables people to quickly prepare hot coffee by adding hot water or milk to coffee solids in powdered or crystallized form and stirring. The product was first invented in Invercargill, the largest city in Southland, New Zealand, in 1890. Instant coffee solids refers to the dehydrated and packaged solids available at retail used to make instant coffee. Instant coffee solids are commercially prepared by either freeze-drying or spray drying, after which it can be rehydrated. Instant coffee in a concentrated liquid form, as a beverage, is also manufactured.
Muesli is a cold Swiss breakfast dish, the primary ingredient of which is rolled oats. Traditionally, it is set to soak overnight and eaten the next morning. Additional ingredients, such as grains, nuts, seeds, and fresh or dried fruits are sometimes added, along with milk or cream, a small amount of citrus juice, and honey to add sweetness. Yoghurt, other milk products, or milk substitutes are now commonly added to both homemade and commercially packaged muesli recipes.
Migros is Switzerland's largest retail company, its largest supermarket chain and largest employer. It is also one of the forty largest retailers in the world. It is structured in the form of a co-operative federation, with more than two million members.
Home roasting is the process of roasting coffee from green coffee beans on a small scale for personal consumption. Home roasting of coffee has been practiced for centuries, using simple methods such as roasting in cast iron skillets over a wood fire and hand-turning small steel drums on a kitchen stovetop.
A coffee bean is a seed from the Coffea plant and the source for coffee. It is the pip inside the red or purple fruit. This fruit is often referred to as a coffee cherry, and like the cherry, it is a fruit with a pip. Even though the coffee beans are not technically beans, they are referred to as such because of their resemblance to true beans. The fruits most commonly contain two stones with their flat sides together. A small percentage of cherries contain a single seed, instead of the usual two, called a "peaberry". The peaberry occurs only between 10% and 15% of the time, and it is a fairly common belief that they have more flavour than normal coffee beans. Like Brazil nuts and white rice, coffee beans consist mostly of endosperm.
Iced coffee is a coffee beverage served cold. It may be prepared either by brewing coffee normally and then serving it over ice or in cold milk or by brewing the coffee cold. In hot brewing, sweeteners and flavoring may be added before cooling, as they dissolve faster. Iced coffee can also be sweetened with pre-dissolved sugar in water.
Roasting coffee transforms the chemical and physical properties of green coffee beans into roasted coffee products. The roasting process is what produces the characteristic flavor of coffee by causing the green coffee beans to change in taste. Unroasted beans contain similar if not higher levels of acids, protein, sugars, and caffeine as those that have been roasted, but lack the taste of roasted coffee beans due to the Maillard and other chemical reactions that occur during roasting.
Tchibo is a German chain of coffee retailers and cafés known for its range of non-coffee products that change weekly. The latter includes: clothing, furniture, household items, electronics and electrical appliances. In Germany, Tchibo's slogan is "Every week a new world". Tchibo has further expanded its product range to sell services such as travel, insurance, and mobile-phone contracts.
A single-serve coffee container is a container filled with coffee grounds, used in coffee brewing to prepare only enough coffee for a single portion. They come in various formats and materials, often either as hard and soft pods or pads made of filter paper, or hard aluminium and plastic capsules.
Chocolat Frey AG, commonly Frey, based in Buchs in the Swiss Canton of Aargau, manufactures chocolate and chewing gum. The products of the leading chocolate manufacturer on the Swiss chocolate market are sold both in Switzerland and abroad under the brand name of Frey as well as additional private labels. The company, founded in 1887, is a business enterprise of the M-Industry and has been a part of the Migros Group since 1950.
Café Britt is a Costa Rican company that produces and markets gourmet coffee, chocolate and other products. They create and sponsor coffee-related tourism and education in Costa Rica. Products are sold in retailers, online, in Britt Café • Bakery locations, and in Grupo Arribada-owned Morpho Travel Experience. The company currently employs around 400 people. Its coffee-roasting and chocolate-making operations are based in Costa Rica and Peru.
The Unseen Bean is a coffee roasting company and café in Boulder, Colorado. Gerry Leary, blind since birth, started selling roasted coffee in 2004, and opened the retail café in March, 2007. Leary, who is also an advocate for the disabled, advertises "blind roasted coffee" to rouse interest in prospective customers. Leary runs the business and roasts coffee with the help of a guide dog, who is also featured on the coffee's packaging; talking thermometers; and timers. He gauges when the coffee beans are roasted by smell and hearing. The Unseen Bean was featured in the 2008 Top of the Town issue of Denver magazine 5280. Leary received training and certification in roasting coffee from the Coffee Training Institute and West Coast Specialty Coffee Company in San Francisco, California.
Delta Cafés is a Portuguese coffee roasting and coffee packaging company headquartered in Campo Maior, Alentejo. The company was founded in 1961 and is among the top market leaders in the Iberian Peninsula. Founded by Rui Nabeiro (1931-2023), its conglomerate includes interests in agribusiness, agriculture, real estate, hotels, and other businesses.
Highlands Coffee is a Vietnamese coffee shop chain and producer and distributor of coffee products, established in Hanoi by Vietnamese American David Thai in 1998. The establishment of the Highlands Coffee company marked the first time an overseas Vietnamese was able to register a private company within Vietnam. As of 2018, the company operates 230 coffee shops across Vietnam. In 2011, Highlands Coffee purchased the pho chain Phở 24 from Lý Quí Trung for an estimated US$20 million. The next year, Highlands sold 50% of its shares to the Philippine multinational chain Jollibee for US$25 million.
Nestlé Nespresso S.A., trading as Nespresso, is an operating unit of the Nestlé Group, based in Lausanne, Switzerland. Nespresso machines brew espresso and coffee from coffee capsules, a type of pre-apportioned single-use container, or reusable capsules (pods), of ground coffee beans, sometimes with added flavorings. Once inserted into a machine, the capsules are pierced and processed, water is then forced against a heating element at high pressure meaning that only the quantity for a single cup is warmed. By 2011 Nespresso had annual sales in excess of 3 billion Swiss francs. The word Nespresso is a portmanteau of "Nestlé" and "Espresso", a common mechanic used across other Nestlé brands.
Cometeer Coffee is an American coffee technology and manufacturing company based in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The brand uses brewing technology and flash-freezes it using liquid nitrogen for preservation.
The Elsa Group SA, based in Estavayer-le-Lac, is a company belonging to the Swiss retail group Migros that produces dairy products and colonial goods. In the 2005 financial year, the company had 622 employees and achieved 657 million francs in sales. The products are primarily manufactured for the Migros cooperatives and sold in their stores; a selection of products are sold abroad under Migros’s export label Swiss Delice. The Elsa Group is one of the largest dairies in Switzerland and one of its 500 largest companies.
Aaremilch AG is a Swiss milk producer organization based in Lyss.
Midor AG was a company of the Swiss retail group Migros, which developed and produced biscuits, ice cream and snacks. It supplied customers in Switzerland and 19 other countries. Midor also produced numerous products for Migros brands and large corporations in Switzerland and abroad. Midor was founded in 1928 and belonged to the M-Industrie Gruppe. It employed around 600 people at its location in Meilen at Lake Zurich.
