Franck, the Croatian coffee giant

You have seen Franck mentioned on this blog already, and with good reason - it is the coffee giant of Croatia. We have a large number of roasteries - not only in Croatia but in Zagreb itself, however Franck sells probably more coffee than all the rest of them combined. The majority of cafes in Croatia will sell Franck coffee.

Zagreb factory, 1892.

The brand has a long and interesting history. It started in the year of 1828, in a town near Stuttgart, Germany, called Vaihingen an der Enz where a young enterpreneur called Johann Heinrich Franck started his business, at first called "Landkaffee Manufaktur" to produce a chicory-based coffee substitute. The business grew immensely in the following decades, opening branches in multiple countries. By that time it was already reorganized as Heinrich Franck Söhne OHG, and in 1914. it became Heinrich Franck Söhne GmbH. The Croatian factory was opened in Zagreb, back in 1892., in the same location where it can be found today.

Kneipp barley coffee substitute 1918 ad
Still available today

Company profile in 1890's. Zagreb listed as Agram.
Click to enlarge

Its' growth was slowed after WW1, and it merged with some other coffee substitute companies: in 1930. with Swiss-based Helvetia, and in 1943. with Kathreiners Malzkaffee Fabriken GmbH. After WW2, the Croatian factory was nationalized and no longer connected to others...

The German Franck introduced a new popular substitute, called Caro back in 1954. In 1964., they reorganized themselves under the name Unifranck. Nestlé bought them in 1971., and several years later all factories except the formerly central one in Ludwigsburg were closed. It still operates to this day, employing 114 workers and with a yearly output of 8000 tones of coffee substitutes sold under Nestlé name.

The Croatian factory kept being called Franck despite being nationalized. Since 1950., it switched to workers' management system. However, the Croatian - and Yugoslavian - market needed something less specialized than a coffee substitute producer.

So Franck had to branch out to other products. Soups, house items such as coffee grinders, baking powders, flavors, snacks, puddings, teas, instant foods etc. Not all of these products are still made today.

1960. was crucial, as that was the year when Franck started roasting and selling coffee.

To better understand coffee back then, it should be said that (real) coffee was somewhat of a luxury item back then - much more than it is now. It was expensive, and usually purchased and brewed in smaller quantities.

Today the coffee lovers can afford to be snobbish about coffee - about origins, blends, roast profiles, gear, extraction methods etc. But back then, having coffee was luxury - and Franck was one of the companies that enabled that. They roasted coffee and distributed it to stores. For the first time, it was widely available at peoples' homes.

As the decades passed, Franck brought new coffee products on the market: pre-ground coffee, vacuum-packed coffee and various new coffee blends were introduced.

As the period of communism ended, Franck was the leading producer of not only coffee and coffee substitutes, but also snacks, teas and many other items.

During transition to the free economy, the company was privatized using the model where the shares were sold to workers. However, the model was set up where no single party could control over 25% of shares. The management model was not significantly changed, and there were no huge shocks and downsizing which accompanied plenty of other privatized companies.

However, the free market environment brought in a lot of competition from foreign businesses. The company, however, reacted very flexibly, improving their existing products, increasing product range and expanding flexibly.

To the right is an image of pre-ground, vacuum-packed Jubilarna coffee. The coffee (as a whole bean) was launched in 1972 (with Minas and Prima coffees), but the popular "brick" form was introduced in 1993. It became and remained the best-selling household coffee since that time.

The first post-war decade saw the international expansion of Franck - new facilities were opened in Slovenia and Bosnia, and the range of products grew.

Nowadays they also offer instant coffee, capsule espresso machines, new espresso blends, and much more. In 2008 they bought Gloria, one of their biggest competitors on the home market - and shut them down after they transfered the production (and a few employees) to Zagreb.

Superiore and Stretto are their new premium espresso blends, and a lot of cafes now carry them. This has a lot to do with the coffee distribution strategies in Croatia: distributors entice the cafe owners to sell their coffee, by offering them free machines, cups, etc. if they sign up the multi-year contract. These blends are better than their regular one, and resemble popular Italian blends. It's interesting to see that each blend is marketed separately, and has its' own merchandise.

Franck is often considered to offer "average" coffee - a measuring stick to which everything else is compared. While their history is filled with both success and criticism, they are truly omnipresent in Croatia and they had a lasting impact on the local coffee culture. In any place that serves coffee, it's likely that they're offering Franck. They even have their own app with a reward program for cafes that offer Franck coffee. A brick of Jubilarna, the most commonly brewed Turkish coffee at home, is a typical gift when you visit someone at home.

My recommendations: Jubilarna is one of the best pre-ground Turkish coffee blends available here, and one of the few pre-ground filter blends (I'd still recommend you grind your own beans, but if you don't these are better than most). Superiore and Stretto can make decent espressos, comparable to the popular Italian blends. I'd avoid their regular instant coffee, but their instant cappuccinos compare favorably to many others.

And let's not forget to mention: they still sell various coffee substitutes that their once-parent company started with almost two centuries ago...