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Strauss (company)

Strauss Group Ltd.
Public
Traded as STRS
Industry Food processing, beverages
Founded 1933; 84 years ago (1933)
Founder Richard Strauss (Strauss), Eliyahu Fromenchenko & Mara Moshvitz (Elite)
Headquarters Petah Tikva, Israel
Area served
Israel, Brazil, North America, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Russia
Key people
Ofra Strauss, Chairwoman of Board, Gadi Lesin President & CEO
Products Dairy products Coffee, Chocolate, Mediterranean dips
Revenue Increase  8,140 million (2014)
Increase  746 million (2014)
Increase  371 million (2014)
Number of employees
13,000
Subsidiaries Elite, Max Brenner, Tana Industries, Grupo Santa Clara participações, Sabra, Tami4
Website www.strauss-group.com

Strauss Group Ltd. (Hebrew: שטראוס‎‎) formerly known as Strauss-Elite (Hebrew: שטראוס עלית‎‎), is the largest food products manufacturer in Israel. It is the shared trademark of two companies – Strauss and Elite, that merged in 2004. Strauss focuses mostly on dairy products while Elite focuses on chocolate, coffee, and dry snack foods.

Strauss was founded in the 1930s as a commercial dairy by Richard and Hilda Strauss, German Jewish immigrants from Nieder-Olm who moved to Nahariya at the time of the British Mandate of Palestine. At first, the milking business wasn't successful enough so they started making cheese, which did become successful. In the 1950s, Strauss grew and began focusing on ice cream products, with about 50 employees in their Nahariya factory.

In 1969, after Groupe Danone purchased a part of the company's ownership, Strauss expanded from ice cream manufacture and began producing puddings and other individual packaged dairy desserts, the most popular of which was "Dani" and about 15 years later, "Milky". In 1975, Michael Strauss, son of the founders, became the CEO of the company.

In 1995, the company went into the prepared salads business. The Strauss hummus brand, "Achla", became very popular in Israel. In 1997, the company purchased 50% of the ownership of the Yotvata dairy. The same year, Strauss purchased Elite and grew to over 7000 employees and a US$1 billion/year turnover (though the formal merger between the companies occurred only in 2004). In 2001, Ofra Strauss, Michael's daughter, became the CEO of the company.


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