PRODUCT CATALOGUE

VALIO Product catalogue EN

History

Through change to trade.
Casein 1929 1 VALIO.de

Foundation

1929

  • Hartge Import Export Agentur, Georgsplatz 1
  • Hans Hartge (*1896-1962)
  • Cornerstone for the current VALIO-Hamburg Group
  • Trade with Casein and Horsehair

Hans Hartg Bild 1939 VALIO.de

Beginning of the war

1939

  • Hans Hartge becomes a prisoner of war

auf 20 Matratzen 1944 VALIO.de

Serious consequences

1944

  • Company reduced to rubble during attacks

Claus Wilhelm Erich Hartge 1947 VALIO.de

New beginning after the Second World War

1947

  • Hans Hartge returns from imprisonment
  • Rescue for the company: Twenty mattresses bought from a friend
  • Relocation to Glockengießerwall 66

Wirtschaftswunder 1951 VALIO.de

Beginning of economic miracle

1951

  • Founder's son, Claus Wilhelm Erich Hartge (*1933-2018), joins the company at the age of 18
  • Imports English orange marmalade to Germany as first dealer
  • Karstadt, situated in the heart of the city of Hamburg, becomes a customer
  • Rolf Wähling GmbH & Co. KG is taken over (exists until today under "Kleine Farm")
  • Hans Hartge has arrived in the international world of trade
  • Products from all over the world are added to the portfolio

Albrecht Isenberg 1962 VALIO.de

The boom

'50s/'60s

  • Trade from irrigation systems to snake venom
  • Demand for high-quality meat is high
  • Trade in veal, lamb, sheep, deer and kangaroo meat from New Zealand and Australia
  • Also hare meat, grapes, chicken eggs, apples, pears and later oranges from Argentina

Jose Cutrale 1964 VALIO.de

Change

1962-1964

  • Hans Hartge dies and his son Claus takes over management
  • Albrecht Isenberg becomes second Managing Director (Focus: Finances)
  • Hans Hartge Import Export Agentur becomes Hans Hartge GmbH & Co KG

Corned Beef VALIO.de

Focus on fruit

The '60s

  • Cooperation with José Crutale, Sucocítrico Cutrale Ltda. (producer of oranges and orange juice concentrate)
  • Foundation of Brazilian Citrus Products
  • Hartge takes over the representation of the Brazilian company in Germany
  • Demand for orange juice is enormous
  • Large quantities of orange juice concentrate are shipped deep-frozen in barrels to Europe
  • Supplied by Eckes, Granini, Döhler, Klindworth, Becker, Rauch or Pfanner to Migros and Coop and many other fruit juice bottlers
  • Foundation of Joia Citrus Products
  • Import of cutrale by-products concentrated: orange oils, orange flavor and D-Limonene
  • Rolf Wähling GmbH & Co. KG takes over the distribution of other juices and ingredients
  • Foundation of Hansa Aal
  • Trade with frozen, raw and later also smoked eels from New Zealand
  • Cornerstone for VALIO Hamburg seafood business segment

import 70 80er VALIO.de

Revolution in meat and poultry import

'70s/'80s

  • Milestone: Import of beef and poultry in cooked and frozen state
  • First trader to use this new process (e.g. cooked meat)
  • Cooperation with Richard Willis, the owner of the Argentinean companies Meatex and Centenario
  • Soup producers such as Zamek, Erasco or Buss purchase the cooked meat in strips, cubes or as granulate and also the producers of corned beef quickly rely on the high-quality pickled beef

1976 VALIO.de

Further milestone

1976

  • Foundation of VALIO Fleischhandelsgesellschaft GmbH
  • Later name giver for the entire group of companies
  • "Valio" stands for "value" in Spanish, it means "Champion" in Finnish
  • An aspiration that the company is still happy to meet today
  • New idea: poultry import from Thailand
  • Foundation of VALIO-Avicola Geflügelfleisch Vertriebs GmbH
  • Cooperation partner CPF
  • Customers are manufacturers of ready meals, pizza producers, canteen kitchens, the Bundeswehr and many more

Ingredients 80 90er VALIO.de

Hartge ingredients and consolidation

'80s and '90s

  • Trade with naturally coloring foods, spice extracts, flavors, vegetable and fruit concentrates, powders and purees
  • Foundation of Hartge Ingredients GmbH & Co. KG
  • Representative for the companies Arômes de Bretagne, NOEL and Marcor
  • Products such as mushroom, leek or onion powder for the production of dry soups and natural colorants such as beetroot, black carrot or grape skin concentrate to the food processing industry
  • Its customers are companies such as Nestlé, Maggi and Zamek
  • Gottfried Florian as Managing Director of the new company
  • Trade expanded with peptones and yeast extracts
  • Demand for orange juice increases until the mid-80s
  • Foundation of Continental Concentrate Centre GmbH & Co. KG
  • Albrecht Isenberg retires from management board due to age
  • Back to the roots: relocation from Glockengießerwall 66 to Georgsplatz 6
  • A few meters away from the place where Hans Hartge founded the company in 1929

Oliver Winter 2002 VALIO.de

Preserve the proven, develop the new

2000s

  • Claus Hartge retires from the management board
  • New generation: Jacob Hartge (* 1969), son of Claus Hartge, joins the company
  • Oliver Patrick Jürgen Winter (* 1970), his longtime friend, becomes second Managing Director
  • Winter, a native of Hamburg, has spent the last ten years working in the food industry in Thailand and, in cooperation with a partner, has successfully established the seafood trading company Siam Canadian Foods Co. Ltd.
  • Foundation of Valio Food GmbH.
  • Trade with shrimps from Asia with color coding system
  • The wholesale and food service is supplied under the label Yeti Cool Products
  • Hartge Ingredients GmbH & Co. KG discontinues its business: Managing Director Gottfried Florian retires

Structure and growth

2010s

  • Processes are professionalized with a new internal structure
  • The company is certified with the standardized procedure IFS Broker
  • Personnel changes in the management: Jacob Hartge decides to explore new horizons in 2015
  • He sells his company shares to Oliver Winter, who brings Nikolaus Oldendorff from Reederei Nord on board as a silent partner

Claus Wilhelm Erich Hartge 1947 VALIO.de

Farewell

2018

  • Claus Hartge dies at the age of 84 and the company loses a far-sighted, highly esteemed companion in the person of the former Managing Director

Abschied 2018 VALIO.de

VALIO Hamburg grows

2019

  • VALIO Hamburg takes over the seafood department of the importer Behn Meyer, with the well-known brand "Jolly Fischermann"
  • Mathieu Chistophe Réhel (* 1981) starts as second Managing Director, previously employed by Nestlé and Continental Foods
  • Externally on expansion course: VALIO Hamburg takes over the valued competitor for cooked beef from South America, Monaco Foods

"We notice that especially in today's world, aspects such as quality, product safety, delivery capability and convenience are becoming increasingly important. This is why our products are becoming more and more popular," says Oliver Winter. His focus is now on the expansion of the VALIO Hamburg business into other countries and on the continuous search for promising products. "We are also very interested in retaining or acquiring companies in the food sector that share our values," says Winter. His outlook for the future is optimistic.