Jo Ballet Acquires German Chocolate Brand DreiMeister
- Belgian entrepreneur Jo Ballet has purchased the brand rights and machinery of insolvent German chocolate manufacturer DreiMeister, securing a second life for the traditional brand after operations collapsed...
- The traditional chocolate manufactory in Werl, North Rhine-Westphalia, faced severe financial pressure before filing for insolvency in May.
- The company, which traced its origins back to the opening of Café Schröder in the 1950s and its formal founding by Hans Schröder in 1973, succumbed to soaring...
Belgian entrepreneur Jo Ballet has purchased the brand rights and machinery of insolvent German chocolate manufacturer DreiMeister, securing a second life for the traditional brand after operations collapsed earlier this year, BILD reported.
Insolvency and Closure of DreiMeister in Werl
The traditional chocolate manufactory in Werl, North Rhine-Westphalia, faced severe financial pressure before filing for insolvency in May. Insolvency administrator Michael Schütte stated in July that intensive efforts to find a buyer had failed. Trotz intensiver Bemühungen hat niemand ein konkret umsetzbares Angebot für einen Einstieg oder die Übernahme des Unternehmens abgegeben,
Schütte told BILD in July.
The company, which traced its origins back to the opening of Café Schröder in the 1950s and its formal founding by Hans Schröder in 1973, succumbed to soaring raw material and energy costs alongside severe cocoa harvest failures. High cocoa prices heavily impacted the broader confectionery industry. Following the failed investor search, operations ceased entirely and all remaining 101 employees lost their jobs, receiving their dismissal notices during a staff meeting on July 1.
Acquisition and Relocation to Belgium
Jo Ballet, who was a manager at the Belgian biscuit maker Jules Destrooper since 2017, stepped in to acquire the machinery and brand rights of the German firm. The production equipment located in Werl will be dismantled and transported to Waregem in Belgium, according to the Soester Anzeiger. Up to 30 trucks are scheduled to transport the manufacturing assets westward starting in late October.
Ballet established a new enterprise this year named the Belgian Chocolate Studio in Waregem, where the acquired equipment will form the foundation of a new specialty chocolate production site. While the physical manufacturing footprint in North Rhine-Westphalia is dismantled and the original workforce remains laid off, the acquisition ensures the survival of the DreiMeister brand name.
Production Restart in Waregem
Manufacturing operations for the revived brand are scheduled to commence in January at the new facility in Waregem, the Soester Anzeiger reported. The relocation shifts the operational home of the historic German praline maker across the border into Belgium, utilizing the acquired machinery under Ballet’s newly founded studio.