Friele (''Kaffehuset Friele'') is a Norwegian

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 ...

manufacturer and

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

based in Midtun, a commercial and residential district of the borough of Fana in

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

, Norway. Friele is the largest producer of coffee in Norway. It is part 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 ...

Company history

The company was started in 1799 when ship captain Herman Friele (1763–1843) landed in Bergen to start trading. He bought a property in Bergen and established an import business with emphasis on coffee. Towards the middle of the 19th century, coffee consumption was growing due to falling prices from increased global production. Herman Friele ran the company until his retirement in 1835, when his youngest son Berent Friele (1810–1897) took over. In 1862, he took two partners on board; his son Herman Friele (1838–1921) and son-in-law Alexander B. Grieg. The company name was also changed to ''B. Friele & Sønner''. Friele and Grieg owned the company together until 1897, when Grieg left and Friele's son Berent Friele (1862–1902) became partner. In 1900, the older Friele took another son Herman (1877–1961) on board as partner, and retired himself. When Berent died in 1902, Herman became the sole owner and remained so for many years. Berent's son Einar Friele became junior executive in 1925, but was killed during World War II. Friele was owned by the seventh generation and chairman Herman Friele until the sale of the company to DE Master Blenders 1753 in 2013. Friele buys its coffee beans from 9–10 different countries, mainly from

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. Until the mid-1980s most of the coffee was sold in Western and Northern Norway, but since it has expanded throughout the country. The present plant was constructed in 1981. Friele Frokost Kaffe is the leading brand with a

market share Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a Market (economics), market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those ...

of 29%. Friele's product line also includes the brands Kronekaffe and Café Noir. Collectively all the Friele coffee brands have a total national market share of 35%.

References

External links

Kaffehuset Friele official website
{{Authority control JDE Peet's Food and drink companies of Norway Manufacturing companies established in 1799 Manufacturing companies based in Bergen Coffee brands 1799 establishments in Norway Norwegian brands Norwegian companies established in 1799 Coffee in Europe Agriculture companies of Norway

Company history

See also

References

External links