Darboven: Clinch in the Hamburger Kaffeeclan is stepping – is Jacobs coming?

Several members of the Darboven family are worried about the future of Hamburg-based coffee maker Darboven (Brands: Idee Kaffee, Mövenpick, Eilles, Alberto). At least, they announce this in an open letter: "We are deeply concerned about this society, in which we hold together 42.5% of the shares," writes Arthur Darboven – the 82-year-old son of Patriarch Albert Darboven – and his cousins ​​Arndt and Behrendt Darboven and their mother Helga Darboven.

The context is a conflict over the power and leadership of traditional coffee in Hamburg. Patriarch Albert has long since succumbed to son Arthur and now claims to give direction to Andreas Jacobs. The 54-year-old man comes from the family of coffee entrepreneurs Jacobs in Bremen.

The four members of the Darboven warn in their letter that it could thus "break with the values ​​of the company and the family". "It is completely incomprehensible to us that Albert Darboven, our father or uncle, wants to transfer the management of the family business to Dr. Andreas Jacobs," writes the young Darbovens.

Andreas Jacobs' father, Klaus, had already sold his own coffee company to the American company Philip Morris in 1990. Jacobs Junior previously ran the family holding company for about fifteen years, among other things in the field of chocolate. Since 2015 operates as an investor from Hamburg.

Jacobs lacks "close ties to our home"

A Darboven spokeswoman confirmed the contents of the letter over the weekend. The Jacobs-Holding in Zurich has received no comments on request. Until now, the leadership of Darboven society can only be passed on within the family. However, Jacobs does not have "close ties to our house," say the authors.

Arthur Darboven had left the company more than 150 years ago in 2009, when father and son had fallen apart. The junior is now even with green coffee. Earlier, his father Albert had hinted that someday he could adopt a successor or part of the assets in a foundation.

Darboven is the smallest of the top five German coffee makers. In 2016, the balance sheet of Albert Darboven Holding GmbH & Co. KG reported a loss of about 4.6 million euros.