Dr. Oetker Stories
Dr. Oetker Australia: more than 10 years of Down Under
The Australian Dr. Oetker national subsidiary is one of the youngest: in 2020, the colleagues celebrated their 10th anniversary.
9.6.2022 • Company and Culture
The history of the Australian brand Queen has some parallels with that of Dr. Oetker in Germany. The traditional company, acquired by Dr. Oetker in 2015, was founded in 1897 by two pharmacists – Dr. Oetker was also founded by a pharmacist in 1891: Dr August Oetker. Since its foundation, the Queen brand has been part of Australian birthdays and celebrations – just like the Dr. Oetker brand in Germany and many other countries.
"Generations of Australians have learned to bake using Queen from their parents and grandparents. When they choose a Queen product today, their choice is influenced by these experiences and the trust in our brand."
Amie Wood, Executive Manager Marketing, Dr. Oetker Australia
Australian consumers can choose between twelve different Queen Vanilla products across extracts, paste, and pods in various packaging formats.
Growing the vanilla business
Dr. Oetker Queen – The fact that the Australian national company also has Queen in its corporate name is thanks to the popularity of the baked goods brand in Australia. Queen Fine Foods has been part of Dr. Oetker since 2015 and has now merged with Dr. Oetker into a single company. The Corona period has seen a rise in demand for baking ingredients in Australia and New Zealand, particularly vanilla. It is the most commonly used baking product in Australia, followed closely by chocolate and cake mixes. And the Australian team would like to make even greater use of the expertise in the vanilla sector:
“Growing the vanilla business locally and internationally is our main goal, and the outlook is good. We are continuously investing in our manufacturing capacities at the Brisbane location.”
Claudio Christen, Head of Vanilla Centre of Excellence, Dr. Oetker Australia
Everything the (baker's) heart desires
From its humble origins in vanilla essence, Dr. Oetker Queen has evolved into a modern bakery brand that offers everything to make a baker's heart beat faster: colors, extracts and flavors, baking ingredients, decorations, syrups, and much more – Queen‘s particular expertise in this area is reflected in the diverse range on offer and is confirmed by the strong market position in Australia and New Zealand as well as the growth in many international markets. Whether professional confectioners and chefs or gourmets and amateur bakers: everyone appreciates Queen's vanilla products for their quality and their ability to turn every recipe into something special.
“Compared to Europe, the New Zealand consumer definitely has a sweet tooth when it comes to baking. A cake is not complete here without a lot of icing!”
Jolanda Bossers, Executive Manager Sales & Marketing New Zealand and the only employee at the Auckland location.
New Zealand
In New Zealand, in addition to Queen, the Hansells and Taylor & Colledge brands are part of the range of baking ingredients. Hansells has a greater brand awareness than Queen here due to its history and presence in many grocery categories. Queen acquired the baking arm of this brand in stages between 2012 and 2014, and our strategy in New Zealand is to establish Queen as our focus brand, as we can tell consumers a strong, authentic story, especially in our core segment vanilla.
Pizza Ristorante is the market leader
It is not only the variety of baking ingredients that convince consumers “Down Under”. When the Ristorante frozen pizza was launched on the Australian market, it immediately stood out from the comparatively simple products that had been available on the frozen pizza market until then.
"Because we believe in our product, in the first few years we concentrated mainly on making the Ristorante more well-known. And since 2016, Ristorante has successfully been the market-leading brand for frozen pizza in Australia. To this day, consumers contact us through all communication channels 'just' to report how good they liked the pizza last night."
Amie Wood, Marketing Manager at the Melbourne site