years 1981-2006
“ T h e O n l y P a r t n e r f o r M c D o n a l d ‘ s “ “Andreas, you’ve got the job.” The call, which came in June 1981 from Michael Gerling (McDonald´s Purchasing Manager in Germany at that time) was one Frigoropa Germany had been eagerly awaiting for a number of weeks. The “you” in question was the still young trading company from Duisburg. A subsidiary of Frigoscandia, it had been supplying frozen foods to the ex- panding quick service restaurants group in Germany since April 1978. Andreas? Frigoropa’s Managing Director Andreas Rost. The job? McDonald’s had decided in principle to purchase the logistics for its entire range of frozen, chilled and dry goods from a single source as of November 1, 1981. That single source was to be Frigoropa Germany, having successfully bid for the role of “Total Distributor Germany” in competition with major national and international players. During the course of the conversation that followed, McDonald’s and Frigoscandia quickly agreed to form a joint venture for this business, in which both partners should have equal share. For McDonald’s, this model is new and unusual, as its policy is not to take shares in suppliers. However, in this case, the company is determined to get its franchisees on board in order to whet their appetites for the strategy of supply from a single distributor, which they are not familiar to yet. The specially founded holding company offers franchisees cost transparency by means of control and co-management, as well as a share in profits. In choosing this solution, Frigoscandia believes that it is minimizing the risk of 19 - 19 1 T h e Fo u n d a t i o n o f W L S partners suddenly bailing out in case of a change of heart (leaving it with a large volume of goods and nobody to sell them to). Both partners also agree that the Managing Partner should be allocated shares in order to encourage his entrepreneurial spirit. Finally, the capital stock of 100,000 German marks is shared 45:45:10 between McDonald’s, Frigoscandia and the designated Managing Partner, Andreas Rost. It is Rost who comes up with the name by which the joint venture will be known as of November 1, 1981: WLS GmbH Warenhandel + Logistik + Service. Let’s now take a moment to step back a little further into history. Frigoscandia Deutschland GmbH first starts distribu- ting McDonald’s frozen foods in July 1975. According to the contract concluded on June 18 that year, “Frigoscandia shall purchase from known suppliers at the specifications negotiated by McDonald’s exclusively for McDonald’s and McDonald’s licen- sees”. In principle, the agreement has retained its validity for Fri- goscandia successor companies. The two parties agree a margin Frigoscandia Germany and, since April 1978, the Frigoscandia affiliate Frigoropa have been exclusive suppliers to the German McDonald’s restaurants. While affiliated companies in Austria, Denmark, France, Sweden, and Switzerland at that time deliver frozen, chilled, and dry goods to the restaurants in their respective countries, Frigoropa in Germany is only responsible for frozen goods. History & Future Did you know that as early as 19 1 potential new customers were interested in working with WLS? offers • Administrate attendance lists • Work on a firm basis • Create jobs • Archive documents • Carry out audits • Watch the red dot • 9
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