Memories

The history of a family-owned business

The story of Ulmer Chocolates GmbH & Co. KG goes back to the year 1859 in Berlin, the very year the construction of the Suez Canal started and Charles Darwin published his main work "The Origin Of Species". These days, the company was called "Werckmeister & Retzdorff".

Barely half a century later, the first member of the Ulmer family entered the scene. In 1908, Georg Justus Ulmer bought the company and paved the way for a family-owned business to last for many generations. But already in the early days, there were obstacles in the way. Bomb attacks during World War II completely destroyed the factory of "Werckmeister & Retzdorff". But vision was stronger than destruction: In 1950, Herbert Michael Ulmer, Georg Justus' son, reconstructed the plant in Wilhelmshaven.

Soon after, the third generation of the Ulmer family joined the company. Michael Herbert Ulmer, chocolate maker by profession, started to work for the company in 1964. He is a remarkably creative person and developed the idea to focus exclusively on the production of chocolate flakes and shavings. This specialisation was very successful, so the rented properties were by far not sufficient for production any more. So Michael built an all new plant in 1972 on 7.000 sqm premises, about the size of a soccer field. In the following years, there were constant expansions of buildings and ground, so that the company today has production-, storage- and office facilities of over 10.000sqm on more than 3 ha premises.

Today, the company is completely specialized on production of all kinds of small-sized chocolate pieces for industrial uses. In that sector, Ulmer is one of the leading companies in the world. Ice creammakers, cereal manufacturers and bakeries worldwide rely on Ulmer products, which are exported to more than 25 countries. Can you imagine children in Japan, 9.000km away from Germany, eating ice cream with Ulmer chocolate?

Ulmer's range by today has grown to a variety of over 3.000 different chocolate products. Unbelievable, you could eat a different kind or shape of chocolate every day for 6 years! Plain chocolate hearts, milk chocolate stars, white chocolate flowers, there is the fitting chocolate item for every tale Ulmer's customers want to tell with their products.

Next to the great product variety, quality is a main objective at Ulmer Chocolates. Since 2004 Ulmer is continuously IFS (International Food Standard) certified (newest certificate dated 2010). This makes the family very proud since special carefulness has always been their virtue.

Over the years, Ulmer Chocolates has grown to an excellent company knowing to combine tradition and quality with creativeness. And the story goes on, always be curious for new Ideas In Chocolate!