Even as an apprentice, he takes part in coffee roasting and tasting activities thanks to his great sense of taste. Thus, Jacobs soon became one of the international companies.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, there was no separation process between coffee beans, different coffee beans were blended together and roasted. Therefore, it was not possible to preserve the aroma of the coffee. In the face of this situation, Johann Jacobs differentiated between coffee bean types. In the coffee roasting facility he established, he classified the coffee beans into 11 different types according to their origin and degree of hardness. Jacobs coffees, named after him, attracted attention with their aromas and made it easier for coffee lovers to reach the coffee experience they wanted.
Who is Johann Jacobs?
Johann Jacobs was born on May 20, 1869, in the town of Borgfeld, Bremen, Germany. Little Johann, the second child of the Jacobs family, who makes a living from farming, lost his mother when he was 2 years old. He completed his primary education in the village school while his older brother continued the farm work. At the age of 14, he started an apprenticeship at the village grocery store. It was during this period that he met with coffee. During his apprenticeship, he trained himself in coffee roasting and condiment preparation. When it became clear that he was skilled at these jobs, he was given full responsibility for the coffee business.
After 4 years of apprenticeship, Johann Jacobs took a job with a wholesaler in 1887. This wholesaler brought many products, especially coffee, from different geographies of the world to Germany and made good money from trade. Johann Jacobs decided to start his own business during this period. During the 8 years he worked with the wholesaler, he learned the intricacies of the trade. He learned from his boss that trade is not only about buying cheap products and selling them high, but also that important efforts should be made in the field of marketing. He quit his job in 1895 and opened his own shop in Bremen to sell coffee, cocoa, chocolate and biscuits.
Johann Jacobs Coffee Shop
Johann Jacobs opened his coffee shop with high hopes and put a lot of effort into it. However, things did not go as he had hoped and within a few years he was on the verge of bankruptcy. As a solution, he tried to relocate the shop and rented a nice shop on the street. His new shop was bigger and better decorated than the old one. Moreover, he started to advertise the location of his shop and the quality of his coffees to a wider audience. Johann Jacobs coffee shop was promoted with billboards and flyers on the most important streets of the city. As a result of these studies, Johann Jacobs was able to reach wider audiences.
By 1907, Jacobs coffees had gained a considerable reputation in Bremen. In addition to coffee, sales of cocoa, chocolate and biscuits were also doing well, providing a capital increase. When the turnover of the shop increased, Johann Jacobs decided to expand the business. For this, he first established a coffee roasting facility where he would roast the coffee himself. In this period, coffee roasting processes were carried out without paying attention to the differences between coffee beans. As a result, the aroma of the coffee deteriorates, and it is not easy to reach a coffee flavor once experienced. In the face of this situation, Johann Jacobs believed that it was necessary to differentiate between coffee bean types in order to preserve the aroma of the coffee. In the coffee roasting facility he established, he classified the coffee beans into 11 different types according to their origin and degree of hardness. In this way, he managed to preserve the unique aroma of each coffee bean.
This separation process performed by Johann Jacobs enabled Jacobs coffees to be separated from their counterparts. At the same time, he realized the most important stage in the branding process of Jacobs coffees. The fame of Jacobs coffee began to spread to the surrounding cities in the 1910s, with the influence of its advertisements. He served fresh coffee to different regions with the young people he employed in the coffee shop. However, with the First World War, various problems began in the business of Johann Jacobs, as well as in the German economy. During the war, coffee imports were stopped and, moreover, all coffee stocks were confiscated. Johann Jacobs, who closed his coffee shop in 1916, traded other food products such as rice, oatmeal and semolina during this period.
The Rise of Jacobs Coffees
After World War I, coffee imports in Germany were liberalized again. However, the level of profitability in coffee sales was very low due to the taxes collected. During this period, Johann Jacobs sought to revive coffee sales. He tried to attract the attention of the public with his advertisements and advertisements. However, the Great Depression that began in 1929 brought coffee sales to a halt once again. The bad economic situation experienced during this period had a negative impact on Johann Jacobs. As a result, he retired to his corner, handing over the business to his nephew, Walther Jacobs.
In the period between the two world wars, the European economy faced great problems. The state's withdrawal from the economy due to attempts to transition to liberalism led to the bankruptcy of many businesses. Along with the shortage of supply, the falling demand did not allow the economy to recover. During this period, Walther Jacobs made a very important decision and started selling freshly roasted coffee directly to retail stores. As a result of this decision, Jacobs coffees are now meeting with consumers at retail outlets in many regions outside of Bremen and its immediate surroundings. In this way, the recognition of the Jacobs brand has increased day by day.
With the currency reform in 1948, coffee sales revived. During this period, Jacobs coffees began to be consumed not only in Germany, but also in almost all of Europe. Thanks to the sales network developed by Walther Jacobs, Johann Jacobs had the opportunity to realize the dreams he had in his youth, offering his coffees to hundreds of thousands of users every day. He left a strong brand behind when he died on February 21, 1958. The introduction of Jacobs coffees to the world market was carried out by the third generation members of the family. Founded in Vienna in 1961 under the leadership of Klaus J. Jacobs, Jacobs Kaffee Ges In Europe, which was trying to erase the traces of World War II, it gained a rapid growth momentum.