Fressnapf Tiernahrungs GmbH is a German

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

company for pet food. With over 1400 stores and 8000 employees in 12 European countries it is the largest European pet product retailer.Press release (german)
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History

At 24 years of age, Torsten Toeller founded his first store for pet food and pet supplies in

Erkelenz Erkelenz (, li, Erkelens ) is a town in the Rhineland in western Germany that lies southwest of Mönchengladbach on the northern edge of the Cologne Lowland, halfway between the Lower Rhine region and the Lower Meuse (river), Meuse. It is a med ...

, Germany. Inspired by similar American pet superstores, he adapted the concept for the European market. From 1992 on, franchise stores were developed. In 1997, the first stores outside Germany were founded. Since then, the company has been awarded several prizes in Germany, ranking the franchise system among

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based restaurant c ...

and

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold ...

Franchises

Today, Fressnapf has stores in eleven European countries. The highest number of stores is in Germany (777), followed by

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

(90) and

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

(52). The company is also present in Switzerland, Belgium, France, Hungary, Denmark, Poland, Luxembourg and Ireland, and Italy. In many non-German speaking countries, the chain is called Maxi Zoo, with the exception of Fressnapf in Hungary. Jumper in the Netherlands no longer has a partnership with Fressnapf. Fressnapf used to have stores in Italy under the MaxiZoo brand but in 2022 they fused their MaxiZoo italian branch (MaxiZoo S.p.a.) into their competitor Arcaplanet, who was bought by the

Cinven Cinven is a global private equity firm founded in 1977, with offices in nine international locations in Guernsey, London, New York, Paris, Frankfurt, Milan, Luxembourg, Madrid, and Hong Kong that acquires Europe and United States based corporat ...

investment fund earlier. The merging left Arcaplanet as the only surviving brand, with Fressnapf being a minority shareholder of the Arcaplanet chain, while Cinven holds the majority of shares. So Fressnapf, while not having any store in Italy holding their own brand's name (MaxiZoo) anymore, is now (partially) an owner of the italian Arcaplanet brand and partner of Cinven.

References

External links

fressnapf.com
Franchises Retail companies established in 1990 Retail companies of Germany Companies based in North Rhine-Westphalia Krefeld {{Pet stores