History

Byodo brand – 152 articles
CateringLine – 68 articles
Raw materials business – 12 articles
Staff: 105 colleagues including 10 apprenticeships

Byodo celebrated 35 years of business on 25th July 2020. The anniversary was celebrated with a huge competition and a variety of interactive activities on social media.

Stephanie Moßbacher, the founder’s daughter, joined Andrea Sonnberger at Byodo as a managing partner. The news was a dream come true for company founder Michael Moßbacher and his partner Andrea Sonnberger: the future of the company will remain in safe hands. Stephanie Moßbacher is responsible for Purchasing, Marketing/PR, Product Management and Sustainability Management and is looking forward to the chance to inspire a great many people to adopt a sustainable lifestyle in this new role.

After three years as our commercial director, Josef Stellner decided to part company with Byodo. Andrea Sonnberger took over his duties and looked back with gratitude at the previous years: “Josef Stellner always put his heart and soul into his role at Byodo, and we are very thankful to him for all his hard work. We are even happier that we have been able to part company on such good terms.”

Organic pioneer Michael Moßbacher stepped down from the Management so as to focus all his efforts on his role as a shareholder. The founder had been actively preparing to leave the Management for a number of years. With his daughter, co-partner Stephanie Moßbacher, the second generation of the family business was already in the starting blocks.

Byodo has now been supporting and organising the Bio-Brotbox event in the region for a whole decade. As always, the focus is on healthy break-time snacks for first-year pupils in primary schools. Since its origins, the scope of the project has impressively tripled in size: 3,200 Bio-Brotboxes for 74 schools in the districts of Mühldorf, Altötting & Traunstein.

The big Byodo picnic campaign in spring and summer radiated a lot of desire for fun and great-tasting fun in the countryside. Delicious recipes, a big picnic photo competition and the poster campaign in Munich attracted not only long-time Byodo fans to the picnic blankets.

You can find some shots from the poster campaign with which Byodo broke new ground in advertising technology here.

Byodo started getting ready for the future challenges of the organic industry: Stephanie Moßbacher, the founder’s daughter, and GLS Beteiligungs AG became co-partners. The owner family still retained 70% of the shares. The new business structure allowed Byodo to establish a solid basis for its successful competitive existence.

With their new design, the Byodo products offer even greater pleasure. All the product groups received a makeover uniting a modern look with the familiar image of the Byodo products. The Byodo brand logo was also updated at the same time.

Josef Stellner joined the Byodo Management as Commercial Director in September 2017. At the same time, company founder Michael Moßbacher switched to the strategic management of the company.

One of the two Byodo owners’ greatest dreams came true in 2016 when the company premises were extended. In addition to a warehouse extension and the construction of new office spaces, an in-house organic shop and gourmet kitchen was integrated into the company headquarters in Mühldorf. Feinsinn offers a truly special way to experience “Only the finest organic produce” – it is a place to buy and enjoy, with an integrated Byodo world of enjoyment of course!

A lot has changed over our 30 years of company history, but 100% great taste, commitment & quality remain the same. And so, under the motto “30 Jahre starke Marke” (A strong brand for 30 years), we celebrated our anniversary together, in style and with plenty of exciting customer events and promotions.

Following the launch of the regional cultivation project in collaboration with the Waginger See / Rupertiwinkel environmental model region the year before, four partner farmers were able to bring in their first mustard harvests in 2015. The result was more than one ton of organic yellow mustard seed that we were able to put to good use for the Byodo Medium Hot Mustard.

Read more about the project. 

The Byodo warehouses were packed to the rafters and the office spaces were at full capacity too thanks to the steadily increasing workforce and stable growth, meaning the Byodo building needed to be extended. Ground was broken at the beginning of 2015. At the same time, the extension work was also intended to go hand in hand with the realisation of a special dream of an in-house organic shop.

In order to say “Thanks” and express their appreciation, the Byodo management dedicated 2014 to the company’s employees. A whole range of events and activities concerning the topics of health, society and the environment were held under the motto “Gemeinsam WERTE beWEGen” (Moving values together). The ideas came exclusively from within the Byodo team. For example, bird houses were set up on the company premises, berry bushes planted, massage opportunities made available and fun runs and cycling events organised for social causes.

A true innovation came about in 2014 with the invention of the Vegan Mayo. Until that point, there had been no suitable plant protein which could be used as a substitute for egg to produce the consistency of traditional mayonnaise and which still tasted as good. However, with a smart recipe, the help of organic sunflower protein and a long, rocky development process, Byodo was the first to manage to create a delectable, vegan mayonnaise that tantalises the taste buds of even non-vegans.

Many years of friendship with the Huber family and the Huberwirt inn blossomed into a professional cooperation with a high level of enjoyment as well in 2014. The award-winning chef Alexander Huber was already using Byodo products in his kitchen beforehand but has since also been available as a Byodo testimonial and creates delicious recipes for us. Read moreMichelin-starred chef Alexander Huber

In the summer of 2014, the subject of “Barbecuing” took centre stage at Byodo and was featured across various channels. A large and tasty barbecue collection campaign ensured barbecue and collection fun for Byodo customers, the first organic gourmet barbecue courses were held in cooperation with top chef Konrad Geiger and an extensive advertising campaign with its own barbecue motif, matching POS materials, barbecue badges and product samples was carried out as part of a wide-reaching promotion.

Byodo had already been striving to help the useful insects ever since the bee information stand was installed on the company site. In order to become even more active, the company decided to make 2013 the Byodo Bee Year and raise public awareness of the importance of the tiny creatures by means of an array of different campaigns and events.

In addition to a free screening of the film More than Honey at the cinema in Waldkraiburg, young organic beekeepers were trained at the information stand, a bee information table was erected on the premises, an interesting range of talks and a sweet sensory seminar with honey were held and bags of seeds with flowers for bee-friendly meadows were distributed.

The Byodo Collezione Andrea – D.O.P olive oil, extra virgin was awarded “BIOL Extra-gold” – the highest international award for an organic extra virgin olive oil at one of the world’s oldest and most famous olive oil competitions.

Organic food experienced a boom in out-of-house catering and Byodo was right there at the forefront. Chefs and caterers now have access to a wide range of products in catering sizes and help with the transition to organic cuisine in the successful Byodo workshops with top chef Konrad Geiger. The revision of the packaging design also optimised the handling for caterers and chefs. Clearly structured, designed in such a way that they could not be confused with other products and labelled in various languages, the products offer excellent support for the workflows in the kitchens and facilitate day-to-day work.

New Byodo projects to protect our environment were launched. It started with a bee information stand at the company site, followed by a spa hotel for insects and a large-scale tree-planting campaign with a whole range of employees and allotment holders from Mühldorf with the aim of reducing CO2.

Byodo attended BioFach India for the first time. Susanne Groer (Head of Export) and Andrea Sonnberger (Management) travelled there together and presented the Byodo products to the international audience.

A new, bright and clear design was introduced with the aim of establishing a uniform umbrella brand across all the product groups and the brand was repositioned even more strongly in the premium segment.

Byodo took part in the nationwide Bio-Brotbox event for the first time – as a sponsor and organiser in the Mühldorf district. The concept focuses on healthy and organic break-time snack boxes for first-year pupils. Around 1,000 Bio-Brotboxes were packed for 24 primary schools.

The Byodo consumer panel is a tool created to allow customers’ opinions to be integrated in the scope of the product development and to gather valuable feedback. Under expert guidance, the same participants from the region were and still are trained in their sensory skills too.

Michael Moßbacher was awarded the “Umwelttaler ” (environment medal) for the new company building. In addition, the Raspberry Balsam and Pomegranate Balsam also earned Byodo the bronze medal in the “Biomarke des Jahres 2009” (Organic Brand of the Year 2009) competition. To top it off, the company was also delighted to receive the honorary certificate from the “Umweltpakt Bayern” (Bavarian Environment Pact).

After 10 years in Mühldorf , Byodo moved to the new company headquarters, which remains a figurehead for the company today with its special architecture and award-winning energy concept. The “green headquarters” does not use any fossil fuels at all.

The construction of the new corporate building was also the perfect opportunity for Byodo to open its own factory outlet in a small, adjacent storage room. Consumers from around the Mühldorf region had the opportunity to purchase Byodo products at a discount (10% off) every Wednesday afternoon and, in the years that followed, once a month on a Saturday too. There were also a variety of product tastings and recipe ideas awaiting the organic customers from week to week. As it proved so popular, when Feinsinn opened in 2016, the factory outlet was integrated directly into the organic food shop as a Byodo world of enjoyment.

The two innovative new products remain firm favourites right up to today and are an established part of the Byodo range.

Dr. Karin Huber took over the running of the Quality Assurance and Quality Management department. Her additional qualification as a specialist in sensory analysis for organic foodstuffs made it possible to examine Byodo products in-house from both an analytical and sensory perspective for the first time.

The double quality assurance – conducted once by our partner suppliers and then a second time during Byodo’s in-house product controls – has been a distinguishing feature of our methods ever since and remains a fundamental component of our high quality requirements.

The first catering size product from Byodo – the medium mustard in a 5 kg tub – reached the market back in 1992. Around nine years later, the company launched its own range of premium organic products in catering sizes under the “CateringLine” brand, paving the way for Byodo products to be used in gastronomy and canteen kitchens as well.

Byodo continued to expand its export activities and attended the BioFach trade fair in Japan. We even printed special business cards in Japanese just for the occasion.

Byodo continued to grow and finally relocated from Garching near Munich to Mühldorf. The company built and shared the business premises with the organic muesli manufacturer Barnhouse.

This proximity has resulted in a close friendship between the two companies lasting right up to the present day.

Taking to the Internet! The first Byodo website went online – back then just like now, we could/can be found at www.byodo.de.

The expansion of Byodo’s marketing activities in 1995 included the first large-scale advertising campaign in the specialist magazines Schrot & Korn and BioHandel. In addition, Byodo also had its own stand and was represented by its sales team at organic trade fairs in the region.

Together we can move trees: Andrea Sonnberger joined the Byodo management and became the second co-owner alongside Michael Moßbacher.

Byodo gave up the wholesale business and immediately began focussing on the brand and expanding its specialised organic trade.

In cooperation with a small pasta cooperative in North Italy, Byodo was one of the first manufacturers of organic foods to launch light varieties of pasta on the market – a move which was absolutely innovative and required some explanation at the time, as only wholemeal organic pasta had been available up until then.

The EU Organic Regulation introduced Europe-wide control regulations for organic farms and processing and trading companies for the first time. Byodo has been regularly audited and certified by the organic inspection body QC&I for compliance with these standards ever since.

Partnerships with the first key manufacturers developed and paved the way for the first and still important Byodo product groups such as rice cakes, mustard, vinegar and oil. The first products launched under the premium organic brand Byodo are all still available today: sweet mustard, clear apple vinegar, rice cakes with and without added salt as well as the particularly dark pumpkin seed oil.

This was also around the time when we began working with associations such as BNN e.V. (Association of Organic Processors, Wholesalers and Retailers) and Bioland e.V. The photo shows the BNN general meeting in 1988. The cooperation between Byodo and BNN is still going strong today.

When the “Wholesale health food distribution” division was founded, in-house production of tofu and tempeh ceased. The company was now focusing on the distribution of organic products under the “Byodo” brand and an expanded wholesale range within Germany. This photo shows the team in 1987 with its own Byodo delivery vehicle.

Alongside the in-house tofu and tempeh production, the entrepreneurs then began importing, selling and distributing organic raw materials such as soy, mung beans, millet, sesame, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds.

Michael Moßbacher, Hermann Konrad and Harry Whitfort founded Byodo Naturkost GmbH together on 25th July 1985. Loosely translated from the Japanese, the name Byodo means “the common path” and this journey started off with the idea and goal of producing high-quality organic soy products. The fans of organic food were among the first in Europe to product fresh, organic tofu and tempeh in a small garage in Ismaning near Munich – in 100% organic quality right from the start.