Milestones in our history
STILL WRITING OUR SUCCESS STORY THAT STARTED IN 1688
In 2024, we can look back on over 330 years of Harry history. In this time, a little bakery in Altona near Hamburg has evolved into Germany’s market leader for bread and baked goods. Here are a few milestones from our company’s history. We look forward to many more of them in the future.
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1688
Johann Hinrich Harry opens his little bakery in Altona near Hamburg. He swears to closely follow the rules of the bakers’ guild.
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1890
Andreas Harry – the seventh generation of Harry bakers – modernises and expands his business in Altona. It starts showing signs of developing into a large-scale bakery.
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Ca. 1900
Harry’s rusks are transported to ports all around the world as provisions on board Hamburg’s major shipping lines.
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1929
Harry expands to Hannover: Franz Harry – Alexander Harry’s son – takes over the Hannoversche Brotfabrik factory (Habag) and runs it by the name of Harry-Habag. The bread is sold nationwide with the help of horse-drawn carriages and later vans.
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1963
The large-scale bakery in Schenefeld near Hamburg is set up (and remains our headquarters to this day). Fresh, pre-packed Harry bread appears on more and more shop shelves. Harry becomes a brand.
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1980
Harry starts supplying retailers in North Rhine-Westphalia in 1973. In 1980, it becomes necessary to build a new large-scale bakery in Ratingen near Düsseldorf to cope with the increase in market volume.
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1990
Following Germany’s reunification, Harry takes over the large-scale bakery in Berlin from the federal trust company and thoroughly modernises the business. Initially, all of the states in the former East Germany are supplied with Harry bread from here.
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1993
Harry penetrates a completely new segment in the bread market with Sammy’s Super Sandwich. Sammy’s remains the market leader here to this day.
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1993
Harry establishes the first large-scale bakery in a rural setting in Wiedemar near Leipzig. The states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia are supplied from here.
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1995
The takeover of a large-scale bakery in Schneverdingen/Nordheide makes it logistically possible to bake special varieties for the whole sales area and the export market.
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1997
Harry rolls out the pre-baked concept, making it possible for retailers to open in-store bakeries with lucrative products and attractive shopfittings.
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1999
The first large-scale bakery for frozen products is established in Osterweddingen near Magdeburg. Top-quality rolls and biscuits can be supplied for the pre-baked concept using a freezing technique. Capacity doubles in just two years.
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2005
A second production facility for frozen bakery products is built in Troisdorf to cater for growing demand and optimise logistics for Western Germany.
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2006
Football bread in promotional packaging featuring a pitch design becomes a huge success during the 2006 World Cup. The year-round promotion receives the Salescup award in 2007.
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2008/2010
Located by the A7 with great transport links, the Soltau site is planned as a dual facility: in two phases, a production plant for fresh bread and a bakery for frozen bread are built.
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2013
Harry celebrates its 325th anniversary with all of its employees and their families.
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2014
Awarded the Goldener Zuckerhut award by the publication Lebensmittel Zeitung.
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2015
Harry launches a freshness campaign: the brand records double-digit growth in some segments with overall growth of 6%. This is made possible by the optimum combination of the Frischdienst delivery service, material planning and logistics
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2016
With its innovative rose-shaped rolls, Harry recreates artisanal baking using a fully automated process. This product becomes the best-seller in the bake-at-home segment in a very short space of time.
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2018
Harry caters for consumers who want natural food with the successful launch of its spelt sandwich loaf.
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2019
The company takes over the Witten site, previously Kronenbrot. The Harry Frischdienst service is substantially expanded.
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2020
Harry shakes things up in the bread aisle once again by launching its anno »1688« and Protein Sandwich products.
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2021
Harry celebrates its 333rd anniversary by refreshing its branding and design.
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2023
Start of expansion of the Troisdorf site.