75 years of expertise
Genuport Trade GmbH is a globally operating family-owned enterprise with a workforce of approximately 160. Our core areas of expertise are the distribution and marketing of international food brands. Founded in 1949, our company is now one of the biggest importers and distributors of foods in Germany and has evolved into a dynamic and global organisation.
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COMPANY PHILOSOPHY
A family-owned enterprise with expertise
We are proud of our company’s history. Founded as a garage company in 1949, the company remains entirely in the hands of the family to this day. Over the years, we have evolved into a global business in the international confectionery and food industry which boasts expert and modern organisation and growing turnover.
Service Excellence
We still believe in evergreens such as ‘The customer/the supplier is always right’. Drawing on innovative concepts, we succeed in establishing and positioning brands from all over the world in Germany. We seek to continuously improve our business processes on the basis of high quality standards and to always achieve the best possible result. We are both routineers and pioneers. We supply the German food retail sector with high-quality products and, thanks to our E-Commerce unit, are trailblazers in the area of online growth too. Our company stands for partnership and trust.
Leadership & Entrepreneurship
Genuport is a modern and innovative company – it is always ahead of its time. The company is well connected within the food industry and is a member of various international organisations and associations (ESMA, Sweets Global Network). The company management is always willing to explore new avenues and take entrepreneurial risk.
Responsibility
As a medium-sized family-owned enterprise, sound business management and budgeting are important to us. We want to consciously and sustainably invest in new business models and lay the foundations for success in the future. As a modern business, we are aware of our social responsibility for the consumers, for our employees and for the environment. We wish to play our part in social responsibility with our various jobs which are governed by a variety of work models. Together with the brand owners, we ensure that our products are of the highest quality and are sourced from sustainable supply chains.
HISTORY
We are responsible, success-oriented and business-minded
Dual leadership in the management
Konstantin Lebens becomes CEO and forms the company's dual leadership together with Dr. Uwe Lebens.
Digitalisation and e-commerce
The foundations have already been laid for the future of the family-owned enterprise – Konstantin Lebens joined the company in 2020 and has assumed responsibility for the area of e-commerce. One of the core tasks here is to further expand and develop the distribution channels by adopting new approaches.
50 years of the ISM
Genuport was a founding member of the ISM, the global confectionery trade fair, and has had representation at the ISM with its own company stand uninterrupted ever since. The fair remains an important platform for international industry dialogue.
Expansion
Acquisition of the UK distributor Trustin Foods, thereby expanding the distribution area to the two most important markets in Europe.
Conversion of the warehouse in Norderstedt into modern offices
The acquisitions of the sports companies Tripoint and Atlantic Brands as well as the company’s general growth result in an increase in staff numbers in Norderstedt and the need for more office space. The warehousing space is converted to create a modern workplace with loft character.
Sports nutrition is made a new business line
In 2019, the company acquires the brand Multipower. Genuport moves into functional foods and sports brand marketing, thereby setting another strategic milestone in the company’s development. Genuport becomes a modern, globally oriented company.
Broad foundations, new categories, entry into frozen foods
The company’s foundations are broadened as it moves into new food categories. In addition to confectionery, the company begins to distribute salty snacks, beverages, breakfast products, fine foods and, from 2017, also frozen foods. Its first frozen food brand is Valsoia.
Warehouse moves to Mannheim
The company warehouse is bursting at the seams. We need more space. In Mannheim, our new logistics partner Dachser offers us a central warehouse to house all of our brands. Genuport’s professional services now include state-of-the-art warehousing systems and delivery times which are accurate to the hour.
Beverages as a new category, beginning of a partnership with Wander AG
We move into the beverages category with cocoa powder and tea from the brands Ovomaltine, Caotina and Twinings. In the years that follow, the brands Ovomaltine, Caotina and Twinings made by the company Wander become major growth drivers for Genuport.
Distribution brands and own brands
We broaden our business model and invest in own business development. In addition to marketing distribution brands in a variety of categories, Genuport develops its own brands, initially above all sweet baked goods, savoury snacks and chocolate.
Partnership with Mondelez begins
Genuport begins to distribute the first brands made by Mondelez (known at the time as Kraft Jacobs Suchard), such as Oreo and Marabou. This marks the beginning of a long-standing successful partnership. Other brands such as Daim, Cadbury and Côte d’Or follow.
A time of growth and restructuring
In 1989, Dr Uwe Lebens becomes the manager of Genuport, setting additional milestones in the acquisition of global brand partners (Mondelez, Wander, Roland, The Hershey Company, to name but a few) and promoting the company’s further development in the direction of an agile trading company.
Founding member of the ISM
Guntram Peiser gets involved in association work. Genuport therefore becomes a founding member of the international confectionery fair ISM (first held in Cologne in 1971) and is currently a member of various international networks (ESMA, Sweets Global Network).
Company founded during Germany’s Wirtschaftswunder – business starts with confectionery
We have continued to grow ever since the company was founded in 1949. Guntram Peiser founds a garage company, laying the foundations for Genuport’s success. It makes its first deliveries with a VW bus. As a classic Wirtschaftswunder company, Genuport begins with systematically marketing high-quality confectionery from abroad throughout Germany.