Douwe Egberts is a Dutch brand specialising in

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

and related products. It is owned by of

JDE Peet's JDE Peet's N.V. is an American-Dutch Multinational corporation, multinational coffee and tea company headquartered in Amsterdam. The company owns over 50 beverage brands, mostly of coffee, tea and hot chocolate. It was formed in 2015 following t ...

, a Dutch global coffee and tea company. The brand is marketed to retail consumers in

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Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

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South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

History

Beginnings and expansion (1753–1978)

Douwe Egberts' origins are in Joure, Netherlands where Egbert Douwes established a grocery shop called "De Witte Os" ("The White Ox") in 1752. The company later started dealing specifically in

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

, and

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

. The company transferred to his eldest son Douwe Egberts (as in Douwe, the son of Egbert) in 1780, from whom it adopted its current name. In 1925, it introduced its logo, a red seal with a "D.E." initialism. Douwe Egbert's former tobacco brand White Ox was named for the original De Witte Os grocery store in Joure (Douwe Egberts later sold White Ox to

Imperial Tobacco Imperial Brands plc (originally the Imperial Tobacco Company of Great Britain & Ireland, and subsequently Imperial Tobacco Group plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, England. It is ...

in 1998). In 1948, the company began to sell its products in Belgium, followed by France, Spain and Denmark. It founded a new holding company, in 1968, and a year later took over the Dutch coffee manufacturer Kanis & Gunnink. The company expanded through Europe, acquiring other tea, coffee and tobacco companies, such as the UK tea distributor Horniman's Tea.

Sara Lee Corporation (1978–2012)

In 1978 Douwe Egberts was taken over by Consolidated Foods Corporation, later the

Sara Lee Corporation The Sara Lee Corporation was an American consumer-goods company based in Downers Grove, Illinois. The Sara Lee name was used of a number of frozen and packaged foods, often known for the long-running slogan "Everybody doesn't like something, b ...

. In 1989, Douwe Egberts purchased Van Nelle, its main Dutch competitor in coffee, tea and tobacco. It sold its tobacco interests, including Van Nelle and Drum rolling tobacco, to

in 1998. In 2001, the company collaborated with

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

to produce the

Senseo Senseo is a registered trademark for a coffee brewing system from Netherlands, Dutch Company, companies Philips and Douwe Egberts. The system is known for the Single-serve coffee container, coffee pods (called pads in some countries) it uses to ...

coffee maker. The following year it established the Douwe Egberts Foundation, an independent entity that initiates and manages coffee and tea projects in countries of origin. In 2007, Douwe Egberts sued the Dutch Province of Groningen for requiring coffee machine suppliers to meet the EKO organic standard and fairtrade criteria established by Stichting Max Havelaar, specifically a minimum price and development premium. Douwe Egberts, which marketed its own ethically sourced coffee brands, claimed the requirements were discriminatory. The Province of Groningen prevailed in court. According to Coen de Ruiter, director of Stichting Max Havelaar, the victory was a landmark, enabling governments to mandate fair trade coffee in

purchasing Purchasing is the procurement process a business or organization uses to acquire goods or services to accomplish its goals. Although there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary gr ...

policy to support

poverty reduction Poverty reduction, poverty relief, or poverty alleviation is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. Measures, like those promoted by Henry George in his economics classi ...

efforts.

D.E Master Blenders 1753 (2012–2013)

With profits from the coffee division under threat from rivals such as

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

and

Kraft Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

, and being unable to find a buyer, in 2012 Sara Lee split off the coffee division into D.E Master Blenders 1753, offering share-holders one share in the new company for each main share they held. The main Sara Lee company changed its name to

Hillshire Brands The Hillshire Brands Company was an American food company based in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to its acquisition by Tyson Foods, the company employed over 9,000 people and generated nearly $4 billion in annual sales. History Founding and early ye ...

. In 2012 Douwe Egberts became an independent Dutch company again, trading under the name D.E Master Blenders 1753 NV.

Jacobs Douwe Egberts (2013–2020)

In 2013, the German investor group

JAB Holding Company JAB Holding Company S.à r.l. (JAB or Joh. A. Benckiser) is a German conglomerate, headquartered in Luxembourg, that includes investments in companies operating in the areas of consumer goods, coffee, luxury fashion, animal health, and fast food, ...

made an offer to purchase D.E Master Blenders 1753 for $9.8 billion. The company appointed a new management and delisted the company from the

Euronext Euronext N.V. (short for European New Exchange Technology) is a European bourse that provides trading and post-trade services for a range of financial instruments. Traded assets include regulated equities, exchange-traded funds (ETF), warrant ...

stock market. D.E. Master Blenders 1753 later bought Norway's Kaffehuset Friele coffee manufacturer. In May 2014 the company announced plans to merge with the coffee division of American food conglomerate

Mondelez International Mondelēz International, Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational confectionery, food industry, food, Holding company, holding, drink industry, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an annual rev ...

. The merger received approval from the

European Commissioner for Competition The Commissioner for Competition is the member of the European Commission responsible for Competition (economics), competition. The current commissioner is Teresa Ribera (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party). Responsibilities The portfolio has r ...

Margrethe Vestager Margrethe Vestager (; born 13 April 1968) is a Denmark, Danish politician who formerly served as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age between December 2019 and November 2024 in the Von Der Leye ...

on 5 May 2015, subject to several conditions. These included a requirement that Merrild and Carte Noire brands be sold (now owned by competitor Luigi Lavazza S.p.A.), and that the Senseo brand in Austria be licensed to a competitor ( Luigi Lavazza S.p.A.).

JDE Peet's (2020–)

Jacobs Douwe Egberts merged with

Peet's Coffee Peet's Coffee is a San Francisco Bay Area-based specialty coffee roaster and retailer owned by Dutch multinational coffee and tea company JDE Peet's. Founded in 1966 by Alfred Peet in Berkeley, California, Peet's introduced the United States to ...

, another coffee business owned by JAB Holding, to form JDE Peet's which would own the Peet's chain, as well as brands including: Jacobs Coffee, Douwe Egberts, Moccona, Super Coffee, Owl Coffee,

OldTown White Coffee OldTown Berhad (doing business as OldTown White Coffee; ) is Malaysia's largest halal-certified coffee restaurant chain. The company also manufactures and sells instant beverage products and mixes. It operates over 200 café outlets located thr ...

, Kenco and Pickwick, and brewing systems including

and

Tassimo The Tassimo Hot Beverage System is a consumer Single-serve coffee containers, single-serve coffee system that prepares one-cup servings of espresso, regular coffee, tea, hot chocolate and various other coffee drinks, notably those including milk ...

. The company was listed in Amsterdam in May 2020. JDE Peet's has an annual turnover of approximately €7 billion.

References

External links

* * {{official website, http://www.douwe-egberts.com/ JDE Peet's Coffee brands Food and drink companies established in 1753 Drink companies of the Netherlands Dutch brands Tea brands Buildings and structures in Utrecht (city) Coffee in Europe Agriculture companies of the Netherlands