Douwe Egberts

This international company is organized along two divisions: coffee and grocery, and household and personal care products.

Douwe Egberts was founded in 1753 by Egbert Douwes and his wife Akke Thysses. They began selling coffee, tea, and tobacco their small shop, De Witte Os (The White Ox), in Joure, a small village of the Dutch province Friesland.

Originally Egbert Douwes only sold his product locally. However his son, Douwe Egberts who entered the business around 1780, built up a national reputation by supplying coffee and tea to shop owners throughout the country, spreading the fame of the Douwe Egberts brand.

Friesland was soon too small for the company’s activities and it started new production in Utrecht in 1919.

Gradually, the company grew to become the Dutch market leader for coffee. Douwe Egberts internationalized in 1927 opening production and distribution activities in Germany. By the 1950s, the company was responsible for over 59 percent of coffee exported from the Netherlands.

During the 1980’s the product range is broadened into household products realized mainly through acquisitions. Since 1978 there has been a joint venture with the US American based Sarah Lee. However brand names are strong and can be put to good use. In 2002, Douwe Egberts again went to the stock market under its own, slightly embellished, name, as De Master Blenders 1753.
Douwe Egberts

History of Lipton tea

The most famous of the new shopkeepers towards the end of 19th century modern shopping industry in Scotland was Thomas Lipton.

Thomas Lipton was born in Glasgow in 1850. He opened his own shop in 1870. Within a few years new Lipton’s shop were opened all over Scotland.

At the beginning Lipton shops sold mainly hams, eggs, cheeses and butter. Later, Lipton entered the tea market and again with dramatic success. Thomas Lipton was the first tea manufacturer to buy his own tea estates as a means of ensuring consistently high quality.

In 1880, he move aggressively to replace coffee with tea, then went on to build the Lipton brand of Ceylon into the giant of the Western tea world.

By 1890, he had organized a chain of 300 stores in the British Isles, then entered the tea market, introducing the idea of individually packed blends.

Lipton’s business empire grew, and his stores were in many lands. His name, known around the world associated with ‘Lipton’s Tea’ became a household word.

Lipton died in 1931.

In 1952 Lipton Tea Company patented its Flo-Thru tea bag; a four sided, double chamber bag that allowed the tea greater contact with water and more room to expand in the bag.

Unilever acquired Lipton n 1972.

History of Lipton tea