Frosta AG

FRoSTA AG

FRoSTA AG 5 DM initial stock certificate
Company type	Public (AG)
Traded as	FWB: NLM
ISIN	DE0006069008 [1]
Industry	Food processing, Foodservice
Predecessor	Nordstern AG
Founded	1905 Nordstern AG 1988 Nordstern Foods 1997 FRoSTA AG
Founder	Dirk Ahlers
Headquarters	Bremerhaven , Germany
Number of locations	15[2] (2017)
Area served	Europe
Key people	Felix Ahlers (Chairman) Juergen Marggraf (COO) Maik Busse (CFO)
Products	Frozen food
Brands	List FRoSTA Elbtal La valle Degli Orti Mare Fresco Surgela tiko Buitoni (license)
Services	retail brands[3] private label foodservice
Revenue	€ 501 million[4] (2017)
Operating income	(2017)
Net income	€ 23.4 million[4] (2017)
Total equity	€ 162 million[4] (2017)
Number of employees	1,709[4] (2017)
Website	www.frosta-ag.com

Frosta AG (stylized as FRoSTA) is a frozen food company headquartered in Bremerhaven, Bremen, Germany. The corporation owns production facilities in Germany and Poland, with sales and distribution subsidiaries in the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Romania. It had 1709 employees and revenues of Euro 501 million (USD 581.36 million) in 2017. FRoSTA is the market leader for frozen food in Germany and one of the largest in Europe.

FRoSTA specializes in frozen fish, vegetables, fruits, herbs and ready-to-eat meals in three segments: brand business, private label and foodservice. Its brands include FRoSTA, Elbtal, La Valle Degli Orti, Mare Fresco, Surgela, and tiko. The private label business operates under the FRoSTA and COPACK names, with sales channels to European food retailers such as Aldi, Lidl, and Norma. The foodservice segment focuses on hospitals, catering and industrial customers.

The history of Frosta AG began in 1905 with the founding of Nordstern, a German deep sea fishing company. During the 1970s and 80's frozen food entrepreneur Dirk Ahlers bought several frozen food firms, including Nordstern, and organized them under the holding company "Nordstern Foods." He expanded the business further by acquiring the top East German frozen food brand during German reunification in 1990. The group was renamed FRoSTA AG in 1997 and became an international concern through acquisition of a Unilever manufacturing plant in Poland in 1999.

In 2003, the company became the first frozen food company in Europe to adopt sustainable sourcing and eliminate food additives. This so-called "FRoSTA Purity Standard" was planned to double profitability within 5 years, but instead resulted in the largest losses in company history. The CEO was dismissed and founder Ahlers came out of retirement to lead a turnaround. After adjustments to pricing, brand identity and marketing, net income recovered and FRoSTA became the fastest growing brand in its category by 2013.