The Mautner Markhof companies, which can be traced back to Adolf Ignaz as the founder, remained in the hands of just one family for over 7 generations and more than 160 years and thus made Austrian industrial history. Inventions and developments that sound banal – on the one hand compressed yeast in 1846 and on the other hand mustard in 1921 and Hesperides` vinegar in 1927 – had given new impetus and enriched the entire food industry. Mautner Markhof was the leading food brand, vinegar and mustard in particular marked the success story, so that every table in Austria was set with the company’s own products. After 1945, the range was expanded to include horseradish and syrup. In 2001 the gourmet food section was hived off and then sold to the Bavarian company Develey, which has been successfully running it under the old brand name to the present day. The second large family assets, the Schwechater stake in the Brau Union, finally went to Heineken.
- 1690 the Mautner family starts producing brandy in Smiřice / Bohemia
- 1841 Adolf Ignaz Mautner (then from 1872 “von Markhof”) starts a beer brewery in St. Marx
- 1850 Adolf Ignaz Mautner and the brothers Reininghaus discover a pioneering process for the industrial production of yeast
- 1861 acquisition of the yeast and alcohol factory in Simmering
- 1864 establishment of the yeast and alcohol factory in Floridsdorf
- 1892 Georg I Heinrich Mautner v. Markhof founds the St. Georg brewery in Floridsdorf
- 1903 construction of the vinegar factory in Simmering
- 1913 Victor Mautner v. Markhof merges the St. Marx brewery with Schwechat.
Georg II Anton and Theodor I, sons of Georg I Heinrich, continue to run Floridsdorf and Simmering - 1936 Georg III Buwa acquires the majority of the shares in the Schwechat brewery for the family, St. Georg is shut down
- 1978 the Schwechat brewery was put into the Österreichische Brau AG
- 2002 sale of the Mautner Markhof delicatessen and brand to Develey Munich
It started when Adolf Ignaz Mautner succeeded in renovating the severely run-down small brewery in St. Marx and acquiring it 18 years later as property. After he had taken in his eldest son Carl Ferdinand as a shareholder, he called the company Ad. Ig. Mautner & Son from then on. From 1848 the company’s main businesses were beer and compressed yeast. At the same time, the company started also dealing with the production of spirit and spirits – from 1861 in the branch which was established for that purpose in Simmering, a district of Vienna. In 1903 the production of vinegar was started, in 1913 delicatessen products were added to the range.
In 1864 Adolf Ignaz allowed his third eldest son Georg I Heinrich to set up his own yeast and alcohol factory in Vienna Floridsdorf – with the condition, however, that all of the yeast produced there was to be delivered to St. Marx. From 1872 he ran a malt factory together with his brother-in-law Freiherr von Waechter (also in Floridsdorf), which developed into one of the largest in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was sold to Carl Ferdinand in 1890. In 1892 Georg Heinrich founded his own brewery, which he named “Zum St. Georg“.
In 1913, after Carl Ferdinand’s son Victor had merged St. Marx with Dreher and Meichl to form the United Breweries Schwechat, St. Marx, Simmering – Dreher, Mautner, Meichl Aktiengesellschaft (= public limited company), he also sold the yeast and alcohol production in St. Marx, including the branch in Simmering. It was acquired by Georg Heinrich’s sons Theodor I and Georg II Anton, who managed to preserve Adolf Ignaz’s lifework for the Mautner Markhof family. The business then was divided into two companies: Vereinigte Mautner´sche Preßhefe Fabriken Ges.m.b.H. (for yeast and spirit, including the later taken over and closed production facilities in St. Marx and Floridsdorf) and Th & G Mautner Ritter von Markhof (for vinegar and spirits).
These two companies formed the core of Mautner Markhof’s industrial establishments. Gerhard, Manfred I, Georg III, and Gustav I (“Group of Four”) later became the sole owners and personally liable partners of Th & G Mautner Markhof and at the same time acted as shareholders of the yeast factory, in which more than two dozen family members were involved as limited partners. The rise of the Simmering companies was accompanied by countless start-ups, reorganizations, the establishment of branch offices and registered offices and the purchase of other companies. In 1970 the merger with Wolfrum took place.
The last major restructuring took place in the 1970s. Although both companies had a common origin, they were two legally and financially different and independent companies. Georg IV J. E. recognized in his double responsibility as managing partner of Th & G Mautner Markhof and managing director of the yeast and alcohol factory that a merger would not only be in the interests of the company, but also that of the family. First the family businesses had to be converted into corporations. That was decided on June 18, 1975 for Th & G Mautner Markhof, eleven years later the yeast and spirit factory followed. At the beginning of 1979 the two Simmering companies merged to form a management holding company, the “SNG Simmeringer Nahrungs- und Genußmittel Beteiligungsaktiengesellschaft”, later “Mautner Markhof Nahrungs- und Genußmittel Beteiligungsaktiengesellschaft”.
In 1984 the shareholders of the holding company decided to issue common shares with voting rights as well as non-voting preference shares that were listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange. About 80 % of the ordinary shares were in the hands of the descendants of Adolf Ignaz. In that way, the Mautner Markhof Group was able to maintain its family influence despite being converted into capital companies and regardless of the stock exchange listing.
The MAUTNER MARKHOF GROUP comprised Mautner Markhof Food and Beverage investment stock corporation as well as all companies in which that holding was directly or indirectly involved:
- Mautner Markhof Nahrungs- und Genussmittel Beteiligungsaktiengesellschaft
- Mautner Markhof und Wolfrum Gesellschaft m. b. H.
- Th & G Mautner Markhof Aktiengesellschaft
- Mautner Markhof-Ferm
- Mantzell AG.
- Süd-Ost-Melassehandelsgesellschaft m. b. H.
Its area comprised a total area of 141,476 square metres. The headquarters in Simmering covered 94,855 m2 (Mautner Markhof and Wolfrum Lt. 57, 961 m2, Th & G Mautner Markhof public company 36,894 m2). 46,621 square meters related to other properties in Graz, Klagenfurt, Traun and Vienna.
In order to be able to guarantee the consistently high quality of the products manufactured in the Mautner Markhof Group, extensive investigations of raw materials, intermediate products and finished goods were carried out in two state-of-the-art laboratories using the latest methods. The constant monitoring of hygiene during the entire production process represented an essential part. Constant tastings checked the quality of the food and luxury goods produced for smell and taste, and all products were officially inspected by an authorized testing institute at precisely defined intervals.
Effects of EU Accession on the Mautner Markhof Company Empire
As even the distilling of spirits was a state monopoly, liqueurs and all forms of schnapps, whiskey and Campari could only be produced or imported with a licence. In most cases, the import duties for alcohol were so high that it was more favourable for the manufacturers to produce locally. This lucrative business came to an end when Austria joined the European Union (1 January 1995), as the market situation changed significantly. In other words, alcohol was allowed to be traded duty-free within the EU and the state monopoly on alcohol production was abolished. This meant that Mautner Markhof found itself competing with other alcohol producers in Europe that were ten times larger, which very quickly made it clear that it was no longer in a position to produce competitively. In addition, all of Th & G Mautner Markhof KG’s licensed products (Campari and Bols) became obsolete because the manufacturers were able to import directly. The company was no longer needed as a licence producer and new distribution networks were formed, to which the private labels also had to be sold. Th & G had also been a customer of its own spirit factory (a division of Vereinigte Hefefabriken Mautner Markhof & Wolfrum KG), had purchased the raw alcohol there and processed it in the company’s own production facility. As a result of this loss, Th & G’s production costs for the remaining own brands (Mautner Rum, Bouchet Weinbrand, Charly liqueurs) and the vinegar naturally also increased, as the reduced quantity meant that the company itself now had to purchase more expensive products.
Mautner Markhof had also been highly favoured in yeast production – thanks to the yeast cartel, of which it was the largest member. When Austria joined the EU, the cartel had to fall and other producers were able to supply Austria unhindered. Due to historical friendship with the other European yeast producers and an old tradition of co-operation and technology exchange, the Austrian market was not immediately overrun by the new competitors. Mautner Markhof was able to form a joint venture with the largest, Lesaffre, in order to jointly serve the markets of the former ‘Eastern countries’, which had also recently joined. Why? Vogelbusch’s in-house planning office was a global specialist in the construction of small to medium-sized yeast production plants of outstanding quality. In Romania, for example, a plant from the 1960s was still working perfectly in the 1990s, while Romanian replicas had to be shut down again after a short time. The joint venture got off to a good start, but it was soon realised that the Viennese plant was completely unprofitable compared to a Lesaffre plant of the same size – by a factor of two hundred (Lesaffre produced in just one day what they produced all year round). The reason for this was the lack of own investment in modernisation from the 1980s onwards. In order to remain competitive, new markets would also have had to be opened up, for which, however, the equity outlay would not have been manageable. In the end, the family threw in the towel and decided to sell all yeast businesses to Lesaffre. Unfortunately, a lack of investment led to losses in several areas. For that reason the company was also unable to maintain its position as market leader in baking ingredients and premixes. For example, ‘Kornspitz/Backaldrin’ managed to become the successful market leader through investments – more or less out of nowhere.
After joining the EU, attempts were made to restructure the company and replace the lost trademarks with own brands. For example, instead of Kupferberg sparkling wine, ‘Markhof’s’ was launched with the slogan ‘Markhof’s Magic Moments’. However, after the product had been well introduced, the management was unable to maintain the good quality of the first production series, which meant that it had to be withdrawn from the market after a while.
After the success of the Heinz Ketchup and Worcester Sauce brands, a Meinl Bank consultant recommended investing in various food sauces. Unfortunately, this was not followed up. This is all the more thought-provoking as Mautner Markhof’s delicatessen production was ultimately taken over by Develey Senf & Feinkost GmbH, the house and court supplier of McDonald’s sauces.
All these circumstances meant that the 6% fixed interest rate with which Mautner Markhof Nahrungs- und Genußmittel Beteiligungsaktiengesellschaft had gone public on the Vienna Stock Exchange was difficult to earn. Years of structural reorganisation began in the areas of administration and sales, and from the year 2000 the holding company under Georg IV J. E. began to hold sales talks.
