Uncompromising quality, optimal product safety and outstanding flavour form the foundation of everything we do; innovations and a proactive team are the drive that allows our company to continually grow.

Dr. Dirk Gloy, CEO

Abbelen – a success story

Whether hot or cold, a classic dish or a food trend demand for convenience products remains high – but these products should not just be simple; first and foremost they should taste good. Abbelen’s history and an annual turnover of about 200 million euros show that this combination has been an enormous success for us.

Our company was founded in 1958. At that time, trained butcher Heinz Abbelen sold home-made meatballs in his village shop. They went down really well! And Heinz Abbelen thus recognised the trend for out-of-home consumption early on, as well as the desire for foods and dishes that could be prepared simply and quickly. For this reason, he founded a meat product factory around a decade later in the district of Vorst. Snack bars and catering outlets could now be supplied with schnitzels and meatballs manufactured by Abbelen. Eventually, the retail sector also developed a taste for it.

Under the leadership of Dr Dirk Gloy, Abbelen has since become a leading, state-of-the-art major player in the European convenience-meat-goods sector and is even the leading meatballs manufacturer! This is also thanks to our approx. 690 employees, who ensure seamless processes and the consistently high quality of our products day in, day out. And all this for our customers, who are the focus of our work! Independent thinking and action, fault tolerance, and innovation – these are also driving forces behind our company’s success.

Our development

  • 1958

    Heinz Abbelen founded the family butcher’s shop

  • 1969

    The Heinz Abbelen meat product factory develops from the family butcher’s shop

  • 1976

    Due to increasing demand, production capacity is increased to 630 sq. m

  • 1986

    Sons Jörg and Klaus Abbelen take over management of the company

  • 2000

    Production capacity increases by a further 10,000 sq. m thanks to a new building

  • 2017

    Abbelen now has a production area of more than 15,000 sq. m and becomes part of More than Meals S.à.r.l.

  • 2018

    Dr Dirk Gloy becomes the new CEO of Abbelen

  • 2019

    Michael Boy joins management as CFO (chief financial officer)

Our leadership team - we create the future of our company

Dr. Dirk Gloy

Dr. Dirk Gloy
CEO

Michael Boy

Michael Boy
CFO

Michael Busch

Michael Busch
Director Human Resources

Marc de Ahna

Marc de Ahna
Director Sales & Marketing

Sven Ankenbrand

Sven Ankenbrand
Director Purchasing

Andreas Springer

Andreas Springer
Director Supply Chain

Alla Dautzenberg

Alla Dautzenberg
Head of Operations Projects

Dieter Rips

Dieter Rips
Director Quality Assurance

Andrea Brenner

Andrea Brenner
Director Product Development

Ralf Brümmer

Ralf Brümmer
Plant Manager

We are still growing

We are proud of our roots as a family butcher’s shop. Our demand for uncompromising quality, optimal product safety and outstanding flavour are our company’s anchor. But we are also driven by a desire to tread new ground and make daily enjoyment even easier. Since 2017 we have been part of the More than Meals group, with a strong financial investor behind us who thinks sustainably, Deutsche Beteiligungs AG. This and the restructuring of our company from a family operation to a group opens up various opportunities to continue to move forwards.

The modernisation of the plant and upgrading of our production machinery are just one part of our optimisation process. We are focusing more heavily on customer orientation and innovation – they drive our actions. Last but not least, the fuel is provided by our innovation team, who always have their eye firmly on the food industry. The development of much-loved classics and trend dishes in convenience format is just as much a focus as the ongoing testing process for our existing range. We are thus able to align our products to our customers and to relevant trends in an even more targeted way.

We take responsibility

Sustainability is an integral part of our corporate philosophy. A conscious approach to resources forms the basis for a healthy environment, as well as for good food. For this reason, we actively support environmental protection. And we therefore implement far more than what is legally required:

  1. With the installation of a thermal afterburning system, we clean the air extracted from our fryers. We thus gain heat energy, which we use to cover the operation’s warm-water requirement, among other things. In this way, our energy consumption is reduced by around 30% compared to conventional systems.
  2. We treat waste water with the aid of a purification plant. No less than 50% of the cleaned waste water can be used as cooling water in our technical installations.

Furthermore, we at Abbelen also support food banks. For several years, we have been donating surplus production of impeccable foods to the region’s food banks, therefore allowing those in need in e.g. Krefeld, Kempen, Mönchengladbach, Dormagen and Mettmann to enjoy a delicious meal.

We show commitment

Behind every successful company are the people whose day-to-day work facilitates the success. We therefore consider it our personal responsibility to support other people in their actions: through various sponsorship partnerships with regional, non-profit and social associations.

Our quality promise