Our History

The Hamburg success story of Bösch Boden Spies began in 1913 with the founding of the company by Otto Bösch and Hans Lassen. Despite the First World War and economic challenges, they held their own in the dried fruit, spices and hides trade. After the Second World War and the arrival of Otto Bösch's son Karl-Heinz, the company underwent a reorientation.

In the 1950s, Karl-Heinz Bösch took over the trading company Georg Boden & Co., which specialized in importing Californian fruit and nuts. The company developed into a major player in the market, particularly through its collaboration with its partner Sunsweet and its focus on dried plums.

In 1973, Karsten Schmidt became the first non-family partner. This increased the number of suppliers and Bösch Boden Spies continued its successful development accordingly. Heinz-Ulrich Bösch took over the management of the company in 1987 as the third generation of the Bösch family together with Karsten Schmidt.

In the 1990s, the next generation joined the company with Michael Rund, who joined the company in 1990 and became a partner in 1996, and Dirk Schmidt, who joined the company in 1998 and became a partner in 2006 when he took over Karsten's shares. During this period, the Bösch Boden Spies Group also took over the Ludwig Spies commercial agency, which was then renamed Bösch Boden Spies GmbH & Co. KG in 2004. With the takeover of the Ocean Spray agency, the Europe-wide expansion began in 2000, which significantly expanded the sales area for all represented producers. This marked the beginning of the next stage in the company's development into the full-service supplier for the European food industry that it is today.

As part of this development, separate departments for quality management, product development, marketing and business development were created. In 2013, Bösch Boden Spies celebrated its 100th anniversary, underlining the company's long-standing market presence and continuous development. The acquisition of Contined in 2016 strengthened the company's position in the Benelux region. Bösch Boden Spies positions itself as a holistic B2B partner under the claim "360° food solutions".

Patrick Bösch joined the company in 2014 and, as the fourth generation of the founding family, took over the shares from his father in 2019, who retired that year. This ensured the cross-generational succession within the Bösch family at an early stage.

In 2020, Bösch Boden Spies integrated vertically for the first time and began producing its own regional fruit, in particular dried apple pieces and sweetened dried fruit, in Sieradz, Poland.

Patrick Bösch now represents the 4th generation of the founding family in the company and succeeds his father, who retired in 2019. With the departure of Michael Rund in 2021, Patrick Bösch and Dirk Schmidt are now the sole shareholders of the group of companies.

Bösch Boden Spies has been a partner of Food Harbour Hamburg since 2022. FHH acts as an innovation accelerator and "problem solver" by offering a diverse range of services. These include idea generation, workshops, targeted prototype development, efficient small series production and well thought-out go-to-market strategies.

Today, the company employs 100 people and moves over 75,000 tons of high-quality preserved and functional fruits and nuts from their origins worldwide to European trading partners and food manufacturers every year.