ALDI Group – Company History
The ALDI Group is a budget food retail chain based in Germany and founded in 1946 by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht.
Following World War II, Karl and Theo took over their parents’ small grocery store in Essen, Germany, and transformed it into a discount retail operation called Albrecht KG. The brothers began opening more locations and, by 1950, owned 13 stores in Germany’s Ruhr Valley.
By 1960, the company had over 300 locations. That same year, a rift between the brothers over the selling of cigarettes led to the creation of two separate divisions. Theo took control of Albrecht-Diskont Nord, which sold cigarettes, while Karl became the CEO of Albrecht-Diskont Süd. ALDI Nord took over stores in the north of Germany while ALDI Süd operated the stores in the south. The ALDI group began to expand internationally in 1967 when it took over Hofer, an Austrian grocery chain, then into Belgium in 1973. The group began US operations in 1976.
ALDI now operates over 10,000 stores in 20 countries worldwide, including popular US chain Trader Joe’s, which operates 475 stores. The ALDI South Group alone accounts for more than 5,900 stores and 85 regional distribution centres with 126,000 employees.
- Family name: Albrecht
- Sector: Consumer Products & Retail
- Founded: 1913
- Founder: Karl and Theo Albrecht
- Country: Germany
- Company headquarters: Germany
- Managers:
- Revenue: US$82.2 billion
- Rankings:
- Family ownership: 100%
- Employees: 162,579
- Website: www.aldi.com