ESS-FOOD is a global supplier of different food products within the Danish Crown family. With 21 offices in 18 countries and annual sales of over 343.000 tonnes, ESS-FOOD is among the leading suppliers of products to food manufacturers, retailers, caterers and distributors throughout the world. Our headquarter is placed in the center of Copenhagen and we employ about 155 people around the world.
Our range of chilled and frozen meat products is virtually endless. We offer a countless number of product combinations based on pork, beef, poultry, lamb and seafood. Cuts, recipes, packaging and other important elements can be customized to meet our customer’s specific requirements.
We see ourselves as much more than a supplier of different food products. Our goal is always to establish a value-adding partnership with our customers as well as our suppliers around the world. We are known for our thorough knowledge of local markets and thus we are able to meet local needs and demands, providing customers and suppliers with the highest level of service and competitive prices.
Our History
ESS-FOOD's roots dates back to 1890 where talks about the creation of a 'Fælleskontor' for all the coorporative pig slaugterhouses began. Seven years later, this turned into 'De samvirkende danske Andelssvingeslagterier', today known as 'Danske Slagterier' (Danish Slaughterhouses (DS)). The background for this cooperative of slaughterhouses was to create a powerful organisation, who would be able to take talks and discussions within the industry to the highest governmental level, while at the same time create a common quotation, classification and feeding system.
However, it wasn't until 1950 that the name ESS-FOOD was established acting as the commercial segment for the Danish Slaugtherhouses in Denmark, known as; 'Eksport Svineslagterierenes Salgsforening'.
Exporting Danish Products
During the 1950-1960, ESS-FOOD was responsible for the majority of all bacon export to the United Kingdom (UK), at one point in charge of 33% of all of Denmark's pig export. In 1967, an import milestone was established when ESS-FOOD and DFDS created the 'Container-Transport-System' which meant a system introducing;
- Baconsides transport un-packed i cooling containers from slaughterhouses and directly to the British buyers, without reloading in shipping or receiver ports.
- The sea-transport occurred with special built container-ships using the newest loading- and unloading methods on roll-on/roll-off basis.
This collaboration meant big investments, especially for DFDS who began building the special container ships. Two loading ports were chosen; Esbjerg and Grimsby.
Prior to the 'Container-Transport-System' being introduced, ESS-FOOD had begun 2 years prior the 'Bacon Container Central' in the port of Esbjerg, which was the primary driver to the entire container transport system. From the Bacon central, ESS-FOOD ensured proper planning of the transport from Denmark, the maintenance, the material used and how the baconsides were packed on the containers. It started with 400 containers and 30 prime movers (forvogne), including some stationed in Grimsby (UK).
The journey forward
The cooperative of the Danish slaugtherhouses didn't last forever and bit by bit, many decided to leave the 'Fælleskontor' where ESS-FOOD managed the Danish export. The turning point for ESS-FOOD and the cooperative occurred in 1984, when it was decided that ESS-FOOD should no longer hold and maintain the UK export, aswell as other markets that had been developed i.e. Japan. Instead, slaugtherhouses such as Tulip began exporting themselves leaving ESS-FOOD in a situation where owners and collaborating slaugtherhouses could now sell and export without going through ESS-FOOD. This meant new rules were agreed, defining the trading house ESS-FOOD is today;
- Danish slaughterhouses were no longer required to fullfill and deliver products to ESS-FOOD's requirements on product specifications and cuts,
- ESS-FOOD was no longer required to exclusively sell Danish slaughterhouse products,
This major turning point, also meant that ESS-FOOD, moving forward could sell products no matter the origin and the company could buy and sell from and to anyone.
The ESS-FOOD we know today
ESS-FOOD had already before 1984 established offices in various countries. These were not to be considered distributions offices, but instead began purchasing products locally for export, which kicked off the trading of ESS-FOOD as we know today.
During the mid-90's, Danish Crown (DC) had merged various slaughterhouses under one common name and owned the majority of ESS-FOOD. At this time, many of the DC slaughterhouses maintained their own export and many international offices had been changed from ESS-FOOD to DC name, whereby the existence of ESS-FOOD was questioned.
A decision to split ESS-FOOD in early 2000's, meant that the name 'ESS-FOOD' was put in the drawer and became DAT-Schaub International, DAT-Schaub A.m.b.a. and Emborg Foods (Emborg Foods was later sold). In 2007, the name and mergers had created confusion amongst customers, since DAT-Schaub A.m.b.a. was a well-known casing company and the function of DAT-Schaub International was trading.
The same year, a decision to revive the ESS-FOOD A/S name was taken.
155
Employees in our company
343.378
Tonnage 2022/2023
5.802,444
Revenue (1000 DKK) in 2022/23