Hero Group is a

privately held A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose Stock, shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in their respective listed markets. Instead, the Private equi ...

consumer food manufacturer and marketing company based in Switzerland. Focusing baby and toddler food, healthy snacks, and natural spreads, the group brands include Corny Snack Bars and Semper Baby food.

Overview

In 1995, Dr. Arend Oetker acquired a majority shareholding in Hero and re-positioned the Group to focus on branded business. Business segments that no longer fitted this brand strategy were divested. In parallel, the Group embarked on a major geographic expansion program. Today, Hero is producing products in its core product categories. The Group's operations are based predominantly in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

History

The Hero Group was founded in 1886 in Lenzburg, Switzerland by Gustav Henckell and Gustav Zeiler, two German immigrants. In 1888, investor Carl Roth joined the business. After Zeiler’s death in 1890, the first two letters of Henckell and Roth's names were combined to name the company ‘Hero Conserven Lenzbourg’. In 1995, Arend Oetker took a majority holding in Hero with full ownership of the company being transferred to the Oetker family in 2003. In 2024, Hero bought the 'Deliciously Ella' brand, founded by Ella Mills.

References

External links

Official SiteHero SwitzerlandHero BeneluxHero Spain
{{Authority control Food and drink companies of Switzerland Companies based in Aargau Lenzburg Swiss companies established in 1886 Food and drink companies established in 1886 Swiss brands