List of the 400 Largest Food Companies in Germany [2023]

List of the 5 largest food companies in Germany

The food industry stands between agriculture and food trade. With more than 6,000 companies, over 600,000 employees and an annual turnover of around 180 billion euros, it is an important German sector of the economy. Most food companies are medium-sized. But there are also a few big players. These are the five largest in Germany.

#1: Südzucker AG, Mannheim: revenues of €6.75 billion (2018/19)

The name says it all. Südzucker is the largest sugar producer in Germany and worldwide. The company emerged from the merger of 5 southwest German sugar factories in 1926 to form Süddeutsche Zucker AG. Over time, Südzucker achieved its leading position through organic growth and the acquisition of additional sugar factories in Europe. Sugar production is still the core business. Südzucker has more than 19,000 employees.

Update 2023: After a mixed year last year, Südzucker AG remains on track for growth in fiscal 2022/2023. At the beginning of the year, the group announced its figures for the first three quarters of the fiscal year and posted significant gains in both revenues and earnings. The sugar segment in particular posted a significant improvement in earnings.

#2: Deutsches Milchkontor GmbH (DMK), Zeven: revenues of  €5.6 billion (2018)

DMK is one of the largest German dairy companies and was created in 2011 from the merger of Nordmilch AG and Humana Milchindustrie GmbH. Despite the GmbH legal form, DMK is organised as a cooperative. Its owners are around 7,000 active milk producers and cooperatives from 12 German states. Dairy products, cheese, ice cream, but also baby food, dietetics, health products and special feed are part of DMK’s product range. The company has over 20 locations – mainly in Germany – and employs around 7,000 people.

#3: Dr. Oetker GmbH, Bielefeld: revenues of €3.4 billion (2019, food division only)

Many people still associate the brand Dr. Oetker with baking and pudding powder, in fact Dr. Oetker today generates more sales with frozen pizza. The food activities of the Oetker Group are bundled in Dr. Oetker GmbH. This includes Dr. August Oetker Nahrungsmittel KG for the Group’s branded goods companies. These include the subgroups Coppenrath & Wiese, Agrano and the Martin Braun Group. They represent a broad range of food products Around 16,000 employees work under the umbrella of Dr. Oetker GmbH.

#4: Nestlé Deutschland AG, Frankfurt/Main: revenues of €3.2 billion (2018)

Nestlé Germany is the German subsidiary of the Swiss Nestlé Group. With an annual turnover of more than 90 billion US dollars, it is the world’s largest food company. The German share of sales is around 3 percent. Nestlé Germany has almost 10,000 employees and stands for a wide range of well-known branded products in the areas of chocolate and confectionery, milk products, hot drinks, baby food, kitchen products and cereals. Examples of well-known Nestlé brands: Maggi, Thomy, Nesquik, Nescafé, Sanpellegrino, Vittel, After Eight, Kitkat – the list could go on.

#5: FrieslandCampina Germany GmbH, Heilbronn: revenues of approx. €1 billion (2019)

FrieslandCampina Germany is the German subsidiary of Koninklijke FrieslandCampina, a Dutch group with an international focus that focuses on dairy products. With 24,000 employees and a turnover of 11.6 billion euros (2018), Koninklijke FrieslandCampina is one of the largest dairy groups in the world. FrieslandCampina Germany is the successor to the former Südmilch AG. Well-known brands on the German market are Landliebe, Tuffi, Chocomel, Frico and Holland Master.

Database of the largest food producers in Germany – available as easy-to-download Excel-file

With the list of the largest food producers in Germany, ResearchGermany offers a unique overview of the German food industry. The database contains the top-selling food companies and allows detailed market and competition analyses. Thanks to the included turnover and employee figures, it is possible to filter and sort the list according to your own requirements. If you are looking for new business partners, you can use the contact data contained in the database for immediate contact. Our industry lists are regularly updated and we will send you the updates free of charge within one year after the purchase of the list. You do not need to take out a subscription and have unlimited access to the Excel list, which is available for download immediately after purchase.

This information is included in the database

• Company name
• Indication of the industry and the field of activity (see below for a breakdown by industry)
• Sales figures for 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015 as well as employee figures (taken from the annual and consolidated financial statements)
• General contact information (address, e-mail address, telephone number, website)
• Names of the companies’ executives

These industries are covered by our list of the largest food manufacturers in Germany

• Dairies (e.g. Molkerei Alois Müller GmbH & Co KG, DMK Deutsches Milchkontor GmbH)
• Beverage producers & breweries (e.g. Radeberger Gruppe KG, Gerolsteiner Brunnen GmbH & Co KG)
• Meat product manufacturers (e.g. Edeka Südwest Fleisch GmbH, Tönnies Lebensmittel GmbH & Co KG)
• Bakeries (e.g. Harry-Brot GmbH)
• Ready-to-eat meals (e.g. Dr. August Oetker Nahrungsmittel KG)
• Confectionery manufacturers (e.g. Ferrero Deutschland GmbH)
• Coffee & tea (e.g. Alois Dallmayr KG)
• Food chemistry (e.g. C. Thywissen GmbH, Stern-Wywiol Gruppe GmbH & Co KG)
• Fish (e.g. iglo GmbH, heristo holding gmbh)
• Cereals & plant products (e.g. GETREIDE AG)
• Wine & spirits (e.g. Mast-Jägermeister SE)
• etc.

Why ResearchGermany is the best partner for identifying the largest food companies

Research Germany has specialized in making hard-to-understand industries easily accessible. Our experienced research team uses web crawlers and specially developed software to identify the largest companies in an industry. All captured entries are checked individually and manually enriched with valuable data (such as turnover and number of employees). This saves you hours of research on potential business partners and you can start approaching them immediately. Our portfolio of high-quality industry lists has grown steadily, especially in the industrial sector. For example, we offer a list of the largest chemical companies in Germany and a list of the largest mechanical engineering companies with the highest turnover. If you can’t find the right list for your project in our online shop, we would be pleased to receive a short message to contact[at]researchgermany.com. We would be happy to create individual market overviews for you. Even if you would like to receive a free preview file of our databases, just send us an e-mail. This will give you a better impression of the structure and data quality. We would be pleased to welcome you as our customer.

Picture sources: Arshad Pooloo, Peter Bond

Map showing the regional distribution of the largest German food companies’ headquarters

Location of the largest food manufacturers in Germany separated by federal state

The ResearchGermany database of the largest German food producers allows to get some interesting insights about the food industry in Germany. Bavaria, Northrhine-Westfalie, Lower Saxony and Baden-Württemberg are the most important federal states when it comes to food companies. The distribution can be seen in the graph below.

The German food industry: Statistics and facts

The food industry is one of the largest employers and most important economic sectors in Germany. Its core consists of the food industry, the food trade and the food trade (retail and wholesale). In a broader sense, it also includes agriculture (food production) and gastronomy.

The food trade and, to a lesser extent, the catering trade form the interface to the end consumer in the food value chain. In 2019, the food retail trade achieved sales of around 208.5 billion euros. It is characterized by a strong concentration. Around two thirds of the market is dominated by the five large chains Edeka, Schwarz-Gruppe (Lidl), Rewe, Aldi and Metro. The hospitality industry, which is organized on a small scale, generated sales of 89.7 billion Euro.

In 2019, the food industry generated sales of around 179.6 billion euros, the food trade 40.6 billion euros. The largest contributors to industry turnover were meat and meat products with a share of almost a quarter, followed by milk and dairy products, bakery products, confectionery and alcoholic beverages. The food industry, and even more so the food trade, is structured on a medium-sized basis. In 2019, there were a good 6,100 companies in industry and just under 33,000 in the food trade, while agriculture generated sales of 58.8 billion euros in 2019, which were generated by 295,000 companies.

With 5.72 million employees, the food industry is one of the largest employers in the country. Most of the employees work in the hotel and restaurant industry (2.392 million) and in the food retail trade (1.226 million).