History
The establishment of the company F.L. Michaelis as agency
and commission business was made public with a letter of the
merchant Franz Ludwig Michaelis on January 1st. He also
appointed, besides various no longer existing companies in
Hamburg, London and Vera Cruz, the company Heinr.
Rüppel & Sohn of Bremen as reference. The first comptoir
was resident in Bremen, an der Schlachte 27. The registry
in the commercial register took place on January 4, 1875
and is today considered the day of establishment. A bank
contact was soon established to the today's company bank
Carl F. Plump & Co. Franz Ludwig Michaelis (an uncle of the
later short term Chancellor (during German empire) and
Prussian Prime Minister Georg Michaelis) had previously
spent many years in Latin America. During the first decades
after its establishment the company was mainly occupied
with agencies in the shipping business.
The grandfather of the today's proprietors, Conrad Dietrich
Rudolf Hohn, joined the company as procurator in 1897 and
became a partner in 1903. He carried on with the company
as sole proprietor after the death of the founder in 1919.
As a result of the expanding representatives of foreign
shipping companies right after the end of World War I
a branch office was established in Bremerhaven in 1921.
At this time the company represented among others the
renowned English shipping company Royal Mail Lines.
1930 Conrad Rudolf Hohn, consul of Guatemala since
1909 and in Bremen also a doyen of the consular corps
accepted his oldest son Conrad Henry Hohn as partner
of the company. 1936 his second son Wilhelm Ludwig Hohn
also joined the company as partner, after returning from a
long term occupation on a coffee plantation in Haiti.
As the senior was further concentrating on the agency business, his two sons were building up a merchandise business. Up to the beginning of the second world war the trade with green coffee and tea was constantly expanding, and during that time the company had already had a faithful number of customers in the whole former area of the German empire.
As the start of the second world war put a sudden end to the import trade as well as to the shipping agencies, it was still possible, inspite of all difficulties, to keep up the business with the trade of merchandise and substitute products. During the war commotions of the year 1944 the business in the Langenstrasse were completely burned down. Nevertheless, the company continued its operation until the end of the war under extremely difficult conditions in a subburb of Bremen with a few undaunted employees.
Instantly after the end of the war in an assembly room of a restaurant in the Kirchbachstraße the production, packing and trade of substitute teas and vegetables was taken up again. The working order for the up to 20 packers of this production work room was being interrupted regularly because of electricity deficiency during lack of daylight. Effervescent powder, which was loved by children, was produced. The older Bremen citizens will remember the product with the strong colors and distributed under the name of "Brausejunge". The first vehicle for deliveries was a bicycle with auxiliary motor and small wagon. 1946 the senior, Consul Hohn, passed away at the age of 80, and the agency business was given up.
At the end of 1948 it became possible to take up the import trade with green coffee and tea again and to fully concentrate on this business.
In the year 1963 Conrad Henry Hohn passed away and his son, Henry Rudolf Hohn, joined the company as a partner. During this time the import business was further expanding by the import of fruit and vegetable preservatives from oversea countries. But this branch was given up again at the beginning of the 90's due to the considerable concentration in the merchandise trade.
In 1991 Wilhelm Ludwig Hohn passed away at the age of 84. Until then he was still occupied in the business of the company. His son Bernd Hohn also became a partner of the company after the death of his father, after already working for the company for ten years.
The business premises of the company have been in the Parkallee 63 since 1966. From there the company is still importing green coffee and tea. Coffee roasters and tea specialists in all German Federal States and neighbouring countries are being delivered. The storage fo the import goods is basically being maintained in the port area, but also an own small city storage is being maintained for deliveries.
The managing directors, Henry Hohn and Bernd Hohn, are especially pleased about the long standing company relationship of all of the employees. They are being especially supported by the procurator Peter Fischmann, who, after four decades of appertaining to the company, has the reputation of a versed coffee expert. In a for an intermediate company not always easy surrounding, we, at the Parkallee, are looking at the future with a healthy optimism.