Melitta USA history

The concept and the company took off in 1909 when Melitta and Hugo showed their product at the Leipzig Trade Fair, which drew the owners of housewares stores from across Germany.

In 1911, the Melitta coffee filter received gold and silver medals at the renowned international Dresden Hygiene Exhibition.

In 1915, the business was moved into an old locksmith workshop in Dresden's Wildermannstrasse.

After the war had ended in 1919, the coffee filter business took off again.

In 1922, the Bentz family began exporting their coffee filters to Czechoslovakia and Switzerland.

One year later, they officially registered their company under "Bentz & Sohn." By 1925, a number of competitors had emerged that imitated "Melitta" coffee filters.

In 1926, the company started a new promotional campaign, sending "coffee filter demonstrators" on a national tour of major household appliance stores.

In 1929 the company outgrew its Dresden factory and moved into a new location in Minden in northwestern Germany.

The year 1932 saw the introduction of so-called "fast-drip-filters," square filter paper that was pushed into the filter with the help of plungers.

In 1938, with her sons in charge, she founded Melitta Aid, a social fund for company employees that still exists today.

The onset of World War II, in September 1939, once again interrupted Melitta's development.

Hugo Bentz died in January 1946, only a few months after the war had ended.

Bentz died on June 29, 1950, four years after her husband.

In 1962, the company launched ground coffee in a vacuum pack for the first time.

1963: Melitta introduces its own line of food wrapping products.

1971: The company starts selling vacuum cleaner bags.

In 1992, Melitta acquired German specialty paper manufacturer Neu Kaliss Spezialpapierwerke.

1996: The food wrapping products division Cofresco Frischhalteprodukte GmbH & Co.

In 1999, the company launched a new advertising campaign which had been developed for over a year behind closed doors.

By 2001, private-label production accounted for one quarter of Melitta's total paper filter production.