PALUX celebrates its 90th company anniversary
Happy birthday, PALUX!
Smart kitchen solutions and individual concepts for 90 years
From the coffee machine to the complete kitchen line – PALUX looks back on an eventful company history on its 90th birthday. Started in 1929 as a small family business, the kitchen expert has developed over the past decades into one of the world's leading manufacturers of efficient technology and holistic concepts for professional kitchens.
The secret of PALUX's success: investment-safe kitchen concepts, user-friendly products and quality “made in Germany”. The manufacturer of commercial kitchens has everything a professional kitchen needs, regardless of the type and size of the object. For tailor-made results, PALUX orientates itself on the needs of its customers and develops individual solutions together with them. “We see the gastronomic kitchen as a complex unit – with all the technical, organisational, conceptional, service and training requirements of an efficient business. Therefore we deliver everything from one source”, explains Torsten Hehner, member of the board of PALUX AG.
“PALUX – die große Freiheit”
Under the motto “PALUX – die große Freiheit (The great freedom)”, the full-range supplier combines its solution competence for kitchen concepts: With coordinated service, the experts accompany their customers from the needs analysis to the handover of the "turnkey" kitchen – including conception, production and assembly, instruction in work processes and after-sales services. “Die große Freiheit” also refers to the PALUX concept of time-shifted production, which gives chefs more space, more freedom and more passion for their culinary art.
High-quality “made in Germany”
At the company headquarters in Bad Mergentheim (Germany), around 300 employees develop, produce and distribute user-friendly products today – from high-performance combi steamers and individual ranges to tailor-made kitchen lines. The company works with local partners worldwide to create kitchen equipment to meet every requirement. Target groups are
- Hotel business
- À la carte gastronomy – from country inn to star restaurant
- Communal catering
- System gastronomy
- Bistros & snack bars
PALUX realises its individual solution concepts with a wide product range for all sizes of companies. "We focus on maximum benefit, best possible ergonomics and highest quality of our components and kitchen lines", explains Dr. Hilmar Rudloff, Spokesman of the Management Board of PALUX AG. The technology specialist adheres to the highest standards in production for safe and stable appliances. PALUX lives openness in partnership and acts fairly and respectfully towards customers and employees. At the same time, the company acts environmentally consciously and sustainably with regard to the raw materials used as well as in production.
In the beginning was the "PALUX" coffee machine
PALUX looks back on an eventful history. Hugo Patzner founded Patzner & Co., a factory for electrical apparatus, in 1929 in Groß Schönau (Northern Bohemia). In 1934 the engineer developed the "PALUX" fresh water coffee machine, which he produced in series and exported. Already in 1935 the company expanded and opened a branch in Sebnitz (Saxony). In 1941 the company moved from Groß Schönau to Niedereinsiedel (Northern Bohemia). During the Second World War, the success story turned: Instead of coffee machines, Hugo Patzner now had to build special electric hand drills. His Bohemian business was expropriated and dismantled after the end of the war in 1945. In Sebnitz, Saxony, he started a new production of tools and drilling machines in the previous branch. Shortly before a new expropriation he left the Soviet occupation zone and arrived in Bad Mergentheim in March 1949.
New beginning in Bad Mergentheim
In a barn he dared a new beginning here. At first he repaired the PALUX coffee machines sold before the war, but his company expanded rapidly: in 1951 he caused a sensation with a mocha machine that prepared a cup of mocha within seconds. Grill appliances, the PALUX fryer or the Paluxette filter coffee machine gradually expanded the range of household appliances. From 1953, the engineer successfully participated in the post-war moped boom with engines from his own production.
From the mid-1950s onwards, Patzner KG with its 400 employees was one of the leading companies in Germany and abroad, manufacturing electrical appliances ranging from coffee machines to canteen kitchen equipment. In 1959 about 200,000 hotels and restaurants were working with Patzner appliances. In 1967 the company founder developed the "The Golden Series", a modular appliance and furnishing system for the professional kitchen. In 1969 he exported his products to more than 20 countries, including Argentina, Japan, Norway and South Africa.
Leading coffee machine manufacturer
On his 70th birthday in 1969, Hugo Patzner also celebrated his 40th company anniversary and was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit. Unfortunately Hugo Patzner died just one year later and his nephews Norbert and Helmut Patzner took over the company's helm. They increased the production of coffee machines in 1975: with the brands "PALUX" and "bremer", Patzner KG was one of the largest manufacturers of commercial coffee machines of that time. In 1990, Patzner GmbH+Co KG was converted into a corporation. In the same year, the company invested in new production technologies and turned to convection steamers, the Rotimat roasting appliance and the microprocessor-controlled bremertronic coffee machine as its bestsellers.
Everything from a single source: PALUX AG
In 1991 PALUX took over the Maschinenfabrik Bad Gottleuba in Saxony to absorb capacity bottlenecks. 470 employees now produced coffee machines and complete kitchens according to the motto "Everything from one source". Fresh capital for further expansion was to be provided by the conversion into a public limited company in 1993. In 1994 PALUX introduced the kitchen series Topline and the new bremer fully automatic coffee machines of the VIVA series.
In 1999 the financial investor Equita (Bad Homburg) took over the company completely and with additional capital enabled an extremely positive development, especially in the coffee machine sector. When the bremer coffee machine division was sold in 2002, PALUX restructured and GUSTATUS Holding GmbH was founded.
Further expansion and new products
At the same time as the sale of bremer, the GUSTATUS Group acquired the current Salvis AG in Switzerland in return. During further restructuring, the complete production of Salvis AG was transferred to PALUX AG, which has been the central production location for the group since then. With a management buy-out, the previous PALUX board member Erhard Ikas took over the business in 2007. In the course of further expansion, a new Salamander was introduced in 2008 and a family of deep fryers with many variants was introduced in 2009. In 2011, after only 18 months of development, PALUX presented a complete combi series with outstanding design and operating elements.
In 2017, CTO Dr. Hilmar Rudloff was added to the Management Board, and is now the Spokesman of the Management Board. At the end of 2018 Erhard Ikas resigned as Chairman of the Management Board and in 2019 he became Chairman of the Supervisory Board. He was succeeded on the Executive Board by Torsten Hehner, responsible for Sales, Marketing and Human Resources. "Professional kitchens are in use all over the world and have to meet the most diverse requirements. PALUX offers tailor-made solutions – from single appliances to complete solutions. The basis of our success are our employees, who embody the high competence of our company", summarises Torsten Hehner.
Connected to Bad Mergentheim
The Patzner family had a close connection to Bad Mergentheim: Hugo Patzner was local chairman of the German Red Cross, chairman of the tennis club Rot-Weiß and a member of the city council for twelve years. His younger brother Willi Patzner, mechanical engineer and limited partner in the company, was for many years a member of the board of the Local Traffic Guard Association and chairman of the representatives' meeting of the General Local Health Insurance Fund.
After the original production facilities in Holzapfelgasse and Herrenwiesenstraße in Bad Mergentheim had become too small, Patzner KG moved to a large site in Schillerstraße (today Buchener Straße) in 1956. In the 1970s, this site had also become too small, so that in 1978 the company found a permanent home in the newly built Plant II in Edelfingen.
Plant II was expanded in 1989 and has housed all PALUX divisions since 2004. The former location Schillerstraße/Buchener Straße was demolished in 2012 and the site sold to the neighbouring Caritas hospital in 2017 for its further expansion.
Partner PALUX AG
PALUX AG is a member, partner and supporter of numerous associations, organisations and events. Among others:
- German Football Team of Star Chefs and Restaurateurs
- German Hotel and Catering Association DEHOGA
- Euro-Toques Germany
- Foodservice Consultant Society International (FCSI) Germany-Austria
- HKI industrial association of House, Heating and Kitchen Technology
- Association of German Chefs
References from all over the world
Many well-known customers, among them also numerous star chefs, trust in the proven kitchen solutions of PALUX. An overview can be found online at https://www.palux.de/en/references.