Company History

Successful relationships and long-standing partnerships have shaped the entire history of the Glatz company. The business divisions have evolved organically over time. The company has survived two world wars and navigated structural changes in both agricultural trade and the food sector. During these turbulent periods, the Glatz family built a traditional enterprise and established it as a permanent fixture in Austria. Today, the company is a leading private agricultural wholesaler in the grain and fertilizer sector and an important trading partner for the food retail and food industry.

4th generation

Jakob Glatz 2002 – today

At just 24 years of age, Jakob Glatz took over the management of the family business and gradually steered it away from the traditional agricultural world and toward a brand-driven future.

In the early 2000s, Glatz expanded its business through targeted activities in horticulture, fertilizer logistics, and grain trading in Austria, Italy, and Poland. Subsidiaries such as Fertlogistik and the stake in Agrar-Speicher-Betriebs-Gesellschaft strengthen the international agricultural and logistics network. At the same time, brand expertise in the food sector is expanded: the first own brands are listed, new distribution companies are founded, and the brand portfolio is deliberately broadened through the acquisition of F. Url’s canned food and rice business in 2013.

Jakob Glatz

120 Jahre

2016 marks a milestone in Glatz’s current identity: the purchase of the traditional Portuguese manufacturer Pinhais, producer of the iconic Nuri sardines. With this acquisition, Glatz not only secures the continued existence of a cult brand, but also enters the world of production and premium food craftsmanship for the first time – a strategic step towards becoming a brand house.

In 2018, the group underwent a comprehensive restructuring: silos in Marchfeld and Burgenland were sold, the Hungarian companies were merged, and Glatz focused its organization more strongly on brand management and international food products.

During the Covid years 2020-2022, Glatz deliberately focused on modernization: The office is completely redesigned, digitization is massively advanced, and the conditions for a scalable, international brand business are created.

With the expansion of the brand business, another transformative phase of today’s Glatz brand house begins:

2021 Integration of the brand agency “Markenagentur Olivier”, acquired 10 years earlier with a focus on confectionery, into the sales structure of Glatz GmbH.

2022 Acquisition of the “Marilussys” brand – leading peanut butter brand in Hungary.

2022 Acquisition of Olasagasti, including the Olasagasti and Orlando brands – entry into Italian/Spanish super-premium fish-preserves production and expansion of the premium portfolio for the global market.

2024 Launch of the e-commerce platform “The Timeless Tin” and establishment of an international direct-to-consumer platform.

Finally, in 2025, another strategic step follows:
Glatz completely divests its remaining raw materials and agricultural trading divisions and focuses 100% on the food brand sector – a bold, consistent, and forward-looking change.

With these steps, Glatz is evolving from a broadly diversified trading company into a specialized European house of brands for high-quality food products with its own production, a clear strategy on brand business, and global expansion.

3rd generation

Fritz Glatz 1971-2002

Following Konrad Glatz’s accidental death at the age of 28, his son Fritz takes over the management of the company earlier than planned. However, he is well prepared for the task. The young man has been working alongside his father at Glatz since 1968.

In Vienna’s Albern Danube port, Glatz began using a second-hand packaging machine to package wholesale goods imported in bulk for retail sale and resell them as a wholesaler. In 1977, Glatz began packaging food in a specially built hall in Korneuburg: hazelnuts from Turkey, raisins from Greece, poppy seeds from Hungary and the former Czechoslovakia, as well as almonds, rice, and coconut. Soon, three large packaging machines were running in Korneuburg.

Fritz Glatz

Abpackung

During the Fritz Glatz era, the food division developed into a brand manufacturer. With Nuri and Delamaris, Glatz had already gained experience in developing and maintaining brands. The trading company was also familiar with the expectations and demands of large retail chains in terms of logistics.

The food division developed extremely positively. Thanks to its flourishing business, it contributed significantly to Glatz’s overall success. In stark contrast to the agricultural division, Glatz was not only a raw materials trader, but also an importer and logistics provider for articles packaged for consumers.

At the end of the 1980s, the agricultural division underwent yet another change: in 1988, Austrian grain exports peaked at 1.2 million tons, only to decline steadily thereafter due to the increasing cultivation of alternative products. At Glatz, the feed and protein business grew significantly. Ten percent of Austrian soybean meal imports passed through the Glatz headquarters in Johannesgasse in Vienna.

In 1994, Austria became a member of the European Union. Overnight, the free market economy replaced the grain business with fixed margins and defined territories that had been practiced for decades.

In 1996, Glatz acquires the Linz-based wholesaler Hermann Oder KG from fertilizer producer Agrolinz. As a wholesaler of regional products and grain, Oder is one of Glatz’s competitors, which also trades in peat, substrates, and potting soil. The acquisition thus expands Glatz’s product portfolio.

Glatz’s connections to Hungary were never completely severed. In 1998, Glatz acquired a stake in F. Glatz Kft. in Hungary, followed by the establishment of the agricultural products trading company F. Glatz as a subsidiary in 2000.

Like his father Konrad, Fritz Glatz died suddenly. He was not even 59 years old when he died in a car accident.

2nd generation

Konrad Glatz 1934-1971

Months before the death of his father Friedrich, Konrad Glatz was already managing the trading company. Due to his industry expertise, he was not drafted into military service, but was assigned by the Nazi regime to organize the grain industry. During the war years, the Glatz trading company was converted by the Nazis into a semi-governmental agency and thus lost its entrepreneurial freedom.

Konrad Glatz

Import Schiffe

Fuhrpark

Rhenus

1945 Immediately after the end of the war, the company used the “Maria Theresa authorization certificate” to trade in all kinds of goods. Inventive in times of need, the company traded in an astonishing range of goods. These ranged from brooms and shoe polish to Gugelhupf cake mix and marzipan to liquid soap and needles.

Austria suffered greatly from the aftermath of the war. A flour distribution center was established to distribute flour. Glatz was put in charge of the organization, and the Vienna Bakers’ Cooperative was responsible for implementation. This required the creation and management of a complicated ration card system. At the same time, the company was also responsible for other foodstuffs.

In 1947, Ernst Weiner, then only 28 years old, was granted sole power of attorney in recognition of his performance and loyalty. Having joined the company as an apprentice in 1933, he took the reins immediately after the war and successfully guided the company through the early post-war years. In 1949, the management team expanded to a trio: Chief Accountant Raimund Klotz was also appointed as an authorized signatory. He had been with Glatz since 1915 and was one of the company’s veterans.

After the expiry of aid deliveries from the USA, the grain business changed: Glatz now began to import grain itself. Domestic production was still far from sufficient to meet demand, and Austrian grain was inferior in quality to the industrially produced varieties from overseas. Glatz’s international flood grain wholesalers, mainly in the USA and Canada, were handled by the foreign trade department. Austria imports up to 900,000 tons of grain annually in the post-war years.

In addition to its foreign business, Glatz’s domestic business is also growing: partly because competing cooperatives are expanding their product ranges, Glatz is also expanding its business areas. The company now also sells soybean meal, oil cake, fish and meat meal for animal feed, fertilizers, and increasing quantities of seed.

On September 1, 1950, Glatz registers “Agrar-Speicher-Betriebs-Gesellschaft m.b.H.” in the commercial register. The purpose of the new company is to operate the Rhenus and Hansa storage silos in the Danube port of Vienna-Albern, which are under Soviet administration. Glatz stores the large quantities of grain that come from overseas in the silos.

In 1952, Paul Bruck from Leopoldsdorf became an important strategic partner for Konrad Glatz: together with the son of a family of regional produce traders, he founded Paul Bruck KG. The company established 15 locations in the Marchfeld region and northern Burgenland. Over the years, Glatz increased his share in the joint company until Paul Bruck KG became wholly owned by Glatz.

From Vienna and Lower Austria, Glatz conquers the entire Austrian market. With newly hired representatives, the company starts doing business with mills and other customers as far away as Tyrol from its new office location in Wels. Glatz representatives in Styria and Carinthia also systematically and successfully develop the southern part of Austria.

In 1960 and 1970, Glatz builds two large silos with a storage capacity of 40,000 tons in Korneuburg, directly on the Danube, in a convenient location for transport.

In the 1960s, the company establishes its own department for dried fruit, rice, and canned goods, which by the 1980s already accounts for a quarter of total sales.

1st generation

Friedrich Glatz 1892-1934

At the age of 13, Friedrich Glatz began working as an intern at Elsö Budapesti Gözmalom Rt., the first Budapest steam mill company. He learned the wholesale business of grain, flour, and milled products from the ground up.

It wasn’t long before he was given tasks with increasing responsibility. Friedrich Glatz founded his first company in 1884 at the young age of 27. He ran his trading agency in Budapest for eight years.

When his parents died in 1892, Friedrich transferred his company to his brother Georg, who was eleven years older and had extensive experience in the agricultural business, and set off for Vienna.

Friedrich Glatz

Handelsregister Antrag

Vertretung Ungarn

Börse

Import Schiffe

Mitarbeiter

1892 On July 13, 1892, Friedrich Glatz registers his new business in Vienna. It is prosaically named “Friedrich Glatz, Trade in Milling Products.” The customer base soon includes not only retailers and wholesalers, but also bakers, farmers, and estates. Permanent representatives at the stock exchanges in Budapest, Prague, Breslau, Brno, and Pressburg, as well as an import area covering Hungary, Italy, and Romania, are impressive evidence of the successful development of the founder’s business activities.

In addition to its offices, the Vienna Stock Exchange is Glatz’s second home. Trading takes place once a day on weekdays and twice on Saturdays in the huge trading hall. Two of Glatz’s own stock exchange trading tables still stand today. They are a reminder of a bygone era of stock exchange trading, when every company active on the stock exchange had its own table with a nameplate. Glatz is represented here day in, day out by seven traders.

Stock exchange history 1914 With the outbreak of World War I, the trade and transport of grain, flour, milled products, and animal feed is transferred to the state-owned “Kriegs-Getreide-Verkehrsanstalt” (War Grain Transport Agency). Friedrich Glatz volunteers to set up and manage the flour department. Not only are all of Glatz’s purchase contracts transferred to the new authority, but also the entire company staff.

1921 After the war, Friedrich Glatz is forced to come out of retirement and make a fresh start with his company. The wholesale trade in grain, flour, and animal feed remains nationalized even after the end of the war. It is not until 1921 that the republic slowly releases it again. Glatz is one of the first in the industry to re-enter the business. The Glatz company gradually returned to trading in agricultural products and milled goods. In 1921, the leading Hungarian Concordia mill once again appointed him as its representative in Vienna.

The seasoned businessman recognized the potential of overseas markets. In order to tap into them, Friedrich Glatz, at the age of 64, went back to school and learned English. Armed with this language skill, Glatz soon began importing grain from Canada and the USA.

His son Konrad joined his father’s company in 1923 at the age of 17 after graduating from business school and was granted power of attorney in 1930.