Who is Dr. Oetker? The 19th-century pharmacist now famous for pizzas

In the freezer aisles of supermarkets, there's almost always a red and white logo that repeats itself endlessly. It's the emblem of the German company dr. Oetker, which appears on the spines of frozen pizza boxes. This is its flagship product: every day, 2.3 million pizzas leave the company's two factories in Central Europe. This translates into a turnover that exceeded €4.2 billion last year. The Spanish subsidiary reached almost €65 million. In total, 16,600 employees work to create the dr. Oetker catalog, which, in addition to 45 pizzas, is complemented by flans, custards, ice cream, cakes, nuts, and various baking ingredients. But who was the company's founder?

The answer lies at the end of the 19th century, in Bielefeld, a city in the North Rhine-Westphalia region. August Oetker, a young apprentice son of a family of bakers, worked in one of the pharmacies. He combined this with his studies in natural sciences and a doctorate in botany. In 1890, when he was 28, he had the opportunity to buy a pharmacy and took the plunge. He set up a laboratory in the back room. He spent all night. He wanted to find a unique medicine that would set him apart from the rest. Little by little, he focused on sodium bicarbonate. And, thanks to his family ties to the bread industry, he created a spice that significantly improved baking times. He soon named the product: Backin.

A slow-fermenting business

He began selling his discovery in small bags at a popular price. The success led him to diversify into other products, from powdered pudding to vanilla sugar. He remained in charge of the company until 1944, when he handed over the reins to his grandson, Rudolf-August Oetker. The pace of life was beginning to accelerate. That decade saw him launch his pizzas onto the market.

However, Dr. Oetker has investments beyond baked goods and bread dough. In 1952, Rudolf-August Oetker purchased a Frankfurt brewery. Over the years, he expanded this area of the business by purchasing small local wineries. In 2009, 20% of the group's revenue came from this sector, with a turnover of nearly 1.6 billion euros. Aside from beer, the Oetker name also appears in the world of shipping. In 1955, the founder's net worth bought a shipping company in Germany. Half a century later, it employed 4,200 people and had a fleet of 177 ships. It also manages a chain of luxury hotels in countries such as Brazil, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.

The family defeat

In 2007, when Rudolf-August Oetker died, he left the conglomerate of 400 companies he managed to his eight children: five from his first two marriages and three from his third. The latter went to court to demand greater influence in the organization. All of this led to a fratricidal struggle that lasted until 2021, when the company announced that the dr. Oetker group would be split in two. On the one hand, the frozen pizza and beer businesses, which included 25% of Estrella Damm. On the other, the hotel business, the art collection, and Freixenet sparkling wines, where he landed in 2018 after paying €220 million to acquire 50.7% of the Catalan company.

The company's history also includes ties to Nazism. In 2017, the company hired a team of historians to write a book about the company. The investigations revealed Dr. Oetker's ties to Nazi Germany, to which he supplied ammunition, parts, and food.