as tase strs industry food processing beverages founded 1933 ; 83 years ago 1933 founder richard strauss strauss eliyahu fromenchenko & mara moshvitz elite headquarters petah tikva israel area served israel brazil north america central europe eastern europe russia key people ofra strauss chairwoman of board gadi lesin president & ceo products dairy products coffee chocolate mediterranean dips revenue 8 140 million 2014 operating income 746 million 2014 net income 371 million 2014 number of employees 13 000 subsidiaries elite max brenner tana industries grupo santa clara participa es sabra tami4 website www.strauss group.com richard and hilda strauss elite factory ramat gan strauss elite s factory in nazareth illit strauss group ltd. hebrew formerly known as strauss elite hebrew is the largest food products manufacturer in israel . it is the shared trademark of two companies strauss and elite that merged in 2004 . strauss focuses mostly on dairy products while elite focuses on chocolate coffee and dry snack foods . 1 contents 1 history 1.1 history of strauss 1.2 history of elite 1.3 history since merger 2 international activity 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit history of strauss edit strauss was founded in the 1930s as a commercial dairy by richard and hilda strauss german jewish immigrants from nieder olm who moved to nahariya at the time of the british mandate of palestine . at first the milking business wasn t successful enough so they started making cheese which did become successful . in the 1950s strauss grew and began focusing on ice cream products with about 50 employees in their nahariya factory . in 1969 after groupe danone purchased a part of the company s ownership strauss expanded from ice cream manufacture and began producing puddings and other individual packaged dairy desserts the most popular of which was dani and about 15 years later milky . in 1975 michael strauss son of the founders became the ceo of the company . in 1995 the company went into the prepared salads business . the strauss hummus brand achla became very popular in israel . in 1997 the company purchased 50 % of the ownership of the yotvata dairy . the same year strauss purchased elite and grew to over 7000 employees and a us 1 billion year turnover though the formal merger between the companies occurred only in 2004 . in 2001 ofra strauss michael s daughter became the ceo of the company . strauss was labeled by the israel antitrust authority as a monopoly in 2004 2 a status that essentially places the company under government regulation limiting the way it can change the price of its products to protect the consumer and smaller competitors . after criticism for supporting the golani brigade of the israeli defence forces through giving care packages a boycott campaign was launched against the max brenner brand in america 3 and australia . 4 strauss removed references to their support from their english language website in 2010 before later reposting a message of support stating . . we have adopted the golani reconnaissance platoon for over 30 years and provide them with an ongoing variety of food products for their training or missions and provide personal care packages for each soldier that completes the path . 5 history of elite edit eliyahu fromenchenko also spelled fromchenko a russian jew with his family launched a candy business in 1918 after preparing confections in his home kitchen . 6 fleeing the economic and political chaos that followed the rise of communism in the soviet union he moved to latvia and founded a new company laima in riga . in 1933 after the nazis came to power fromenchenko sold laima and immigrated to palestine 7 bought property in ramat gan and opened elite . production began in the spring of 1934 with the first product reaching the stores in time for passover . 8 the most popular brand was shokolad para cow chocolate whose name came from the image of the cow on the packaging . as the company grew factories were opened in safed and nazareth illit . in 1958 elite launched israel s first coffee company . its major competition both for chocolates and coffee was lieber which it bought out in march 1970 . 9 in 1982 elite launched its popular pesek zman line of chocolate bars . 10 the israeli snack food market had been traditionally divided by elite in the sweets market and osem in the salty market . in 1991 elite decided to expand by entering the salty snack market by establishing a new factory in sderot and specifically producing shush a copy of the bamba snack the most popular snack in israel made by osem . elite became the local licensee of frito lay products producing the best selling brand tapuchips . later elite started selling coffee outside of israel especially in europe and south america . the initiative caf 3 cora es did not reach its objectives but it signaled elite s start as an international company . similar to strauss elite was also labeled a monopoly by the israel antitrust authority in elite s case the instant coffee black coffee and chocolate fields . 11 12 in 2006 elite paid 5 million nis to the country without admitting to these allegations . history since merger edit strauss and elite merged in 2004 under the name strauss elite . in 2007 they renamed the entire company to strauss . strauss ice cream is not included in the strauss group portfolio and has remained under private ownership with 51 % of the company owned by unilever and 49 % owned by the strauss family . strauss ice creams are marketed under unilever s heartbrand in israel and north america the latter as a concession to the brand s kosher certification and the substantial observant jewish market in the us and canada . international activity edit strauss elite is the largest coffee company in central and eastern europe . 13 it owns the max brenner chain of chocolate cafes with stores in australia israel united states philippines and singapore . 14 in 2005 strauss elite acquired control of the new york based sabra food producing company . in december 2005 strauss elite merged its coffee activity with santa clara ind stria e com rcio de alimentos in brazil . the merged company santa clara participa es is the second largest coffee manufacturer in brazil . strauss elite has been found to charge more for their products in israel than for the same products exported to other countries . 15 in response to consumer complaints supermarkets have moved up their annual purim sale prices on strauss candies . 16 see also edit economy of israel references edit strauss elite.com the nfc article stating that strauss is a monopoly in hebrew . strauss group removes support for idf from website . jerusalem post . november 18 2014 . retrieved november 20 2014 . kim bullimore august 9 2011 . australia s repression of bds movement coordinated with israel . electronic intifada . retrieved november 20 2014 . friedman ron december 14 2010 . strauss reposts idf support commitment on website . jerusalem post . retrieved august 30 2011 . parting with ramat gan s elite landmark is sweet sorrow the murder of the jews in latvia 1941 1945 by bernhard press strauss elite history parting with ramat gan s elite landmark is sweet sorrow pesek zman . strauss group . retrieved october 11 2013 . the ynet article stating that elite is a monopoly in the fields of instant coffee and black coffee in hebrew . the ynet article stating that elite is a monopoly in the field of chocolate in hebrew . dun & bradstreet profile . strauss group . dun & bradstreet . 2010 . retrieved august 11 2011 . customers blast strauss after finding candy for half price in new jersey . haaretz newspaper . february 19 2012 . dovrat meseritz adi . israeli supermarkets rush to sell strauss candy in wake of consumer unrest . haaretz newspaper . february 21 2012 . external links edit official website dun & bradstreet profile v t e heartbrand a division of unilever calippo cornetto gb glace glidat strauss good humor hb kibon kwality wall s langnese magnum ol selecta solero streets viennetta wall s hb wall s v t e companies of the ta 25 index companies of israel avner oil exploration azrieli group bezeq cellcom delek delek drilling elbit systems fibi frutarom gazit globe hapoalim israel chemicals israel corporation israel discount bank isramco leumi mizrahi tefahot nice opko health ormat technologies osem paz oil company perrigo company strauss group teva retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title strauss company & oldid 723454688 categories food and drink companies of israelisraeli brandscoffee brandscoffee companiesdairy products companies of israelbrand name chocolatecompanies based in petah tikvacompanies listed on tasehidden categories cs1 hebrew language sources he use mdy dates from may 2014pages using infobox company with unsupported parametersarticles containing hebrew language textofficial website different in wikidata and wikipedia navigation menu 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