Gmunder and Jäger join forces

For more than 90 years, the milk from local farmers has been processed and marketed together in the Gmundner Molkerei, but now a merger to form a joint dairy with Milchwerk Jäger strengthens both companies and creates the prospect of being able to continue to exist in the globally dominated milk market in the future.

“In our cooperative, a living democracy and transparency were and are central values. Every member has the right to contribute their own point of view and thus also to contribute to the formation of opinions for such a central decision,” said the chairman of the Gmundner Molkerei, Hannes Trinkfass, during the 2022 general assembly.

The decision at the assembly paved the way for a joint company. After a merger, 800 million lit43s of raw milk are to be processed at the company locations. With around 800 employees and around 3,000 dairy farms, the community dairy looks positively to the future. As the last hurdle, the federal competition authority still has to agree to the common path.

“We are confident that we will also successfully complete this step,” says Hermann Jäger, owner of the Jäger dairy.

Even if the structures of the two companies are very different, they are strongly influenced by the values of family businesses.

“Our farms are mostly run for generations – a past that also the Milchwerk Jäger can look back on. The common understanding of a responsibility spanning generations also shaped the negotiations with the Jäger team,” says Trinkfass.

“Even if the new company creates a new, modern structure, we still have a common set of values,” adds Hermann Jäger.

Both he and the owner representatives and employees of the Gmundner Molkerei have had time to get to know each other, as they have been cooperating for the past three years. Pasta filata from around 100 million kilograms of raw milk per year have been processed by Jäger at the Gmunden site since the beginning of 2021.

“We know each other not only from negotiations, but also from operational projects. There is already good cooperation in many areas. The people involved now know each other personally very well. A foundation on which to build”, says Markus Gottesberger, who, along with chairman Hannes Trinkfass, is responsible for safeguarding the interests of the members in the new company.

In addition to the cheese specialties from the Gmundner Molkerei, the Jäger dairy is considered a pasta filata specialist and supplements the existing range with a large number of mozzarella products.

With an export share of over 80%, Jäger also brings additional strength through international connections.

Merger or not, the Gmundner Molkerei’s investment programme is fixed. Around €15 million is to be invested in each case by the end of 2024 and processing at the Gmunden site is to be expanded.