Karl Dusterberg, apetito founder, enjoys 90th birthday celebration.

Karl Dusterberg, who received Quick Frozen Foods International's Golden Crystal Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997 as a pioneer of the German frozen food industry, observed his 90th birthday recently. It was nearly a half-century ago that he founded apetito AG, Germany's leading caterer to the foodservice industry, and paved the way to making it a very successful international group.

Herr Dusterberg started by delivering food to company canteens, and thereafter innovated by setting up equipment for the storage and preparation of frozen foods. In 1971, in cooperation with the German Red Cross, he developed a system for delivering frozen ready meals and dishes to house-bound senior citizens, and the Meals on Wheels concept hit the road.

Karl Dusterberg was born on May 7, 1917, in Deutsch Krawarn, Silesia (now Krawarze, Czech Republic). He apprenticed in his father's nursery garden, and later worked as a gardener. His career was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II, leading him to join the Air Force and, among other things, undergo pilot training. His military career took him to Rheine, near the Netherlands border, where he met and married a local lady.

After four years as an American prisoner of war, Herr Dusterberg returned to Rheine, where he managed his mother-in-law's bakery. He soon added a wholesale fruit and vegetable business, which became very successful. An advertisement in Life magazine for frozen TV dinners gave him an inspiration. Why not, he asked, process and freeze the food items he was selling to his customers?

Germany's First Ready Meals Packer 

Herr Dusterberg founded apetito in April of 1958, as the first firm in Germany to produce quick frozen ready meals. The name derives from the Italian greeting "Buon appetito!" The company's initial home was a former slaughterhouse in Rheine, but it moved in 1965 to a specially-built facility capable of producing 50,000 ready meals a day. It still occupies the building, which has been modernized many times over the past four decades.

In 1982, upon reaching the age of 65, Herr Dusterberg turned the firm over to his eldest son, Wolfgang, who managed it until earlier this year, when he relinquished management responsibilities to Andres Ruff. Karl Dusterberg remains with the company as honorary chairman of the Supervisory Board.

For many years Herr Dusterberg was a member of the committee of the Deutsches Tiefkuhlinstitut (dti). In addition to Quick Frozen Foods International's Golden Crystal Lifetime Achievement Award, he has received many other honors, including Germany's Federal Cross of Merit and the Golden City Medal from his home city of Rheine.

As a passionate flier, he was involved in the extension of the Rheine-Eschendorf Sport Flying Field. For many years Herr Dusterberg served as chairman of the Rheine Aviation Association, and still remains its honorary chairman.

Apetito today is an international specialist in modern catering, with an annual turnover of more than EUR 500 million. A million people a day dine on the company's products, in nurseries, schools, company canteens, hospitals and senior citizen homes, or as customers of the Meals on Wheels program. It is now also marketing an expanding range of retail ready meals in supermarkets.