
THE LEIBNIZ STORY
We’re LEIBNIZ.
We’re a family.
One that’s been baking together for generations.

From our founder Hermann Bahlsen, 133 years ago to today.
We were born in Hannover in 1889. The place we’ve called home ever since.
Where we make the kind of biscuits that make everyday life a little nicer.
Things to nourish all sides of you. Not just the healthy bits, but the happy bits, too.
We’re here for every family, and all kinds of care giver.
Here to help your way of doing things.
Whatever that might be.
Welcoming you in with us, whoever you are - as you are.
HOW IT ALL BEGAN.

1891
LEIBNIZ Cakes are born.
Hermann Bahlsen created our very first biscuit.Originally called LEIBNIZ Cakes – known today as our butter biscuits.
LEIBNIZ was named after Hannover's incredible polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716).
Naming foods after well-known personalities was common at the time.
1893
Success at the World's Fair in Chicago.
At the World's Fair in Chicago, Bahlsen is awarded the gold medal for LEIBNIZ Cakes.
The jury’s official reason for us giving us the prize…
"LEIBNIZ Cakes is imitated in a similar form by the competition under a different name; the fine buttery taste, however, is unique to this product.”
At this point in time, the company has grown to 100 employees.

1898
New ways in advertising.
As early as 1898, Berlin residents could admire one of the first illuminated advertisements in Germany at Potsdamer Platz.
It was very big. It was very bright. And it was for our LEIBNIZ Cakes.
Also around this time, TET salesmen were helping shape the image of the era.
Travelling all over Germany, dressed in sharp, bespoke uniforms.

1904
The TET Symbol: Origin and meaning.
Our new dust-and-moisture-proof packaging is launched for the first time: known as our TET pack.
It is the first cardboard pack capable of keeping the biscuits inside, permanently fresh.
The TET symbol shows a rising sun and a snake – derived from an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph, meaning ‘everlasting’.

1905
Bahlsen: Pioneer of production.
Our founder Hermann Bahlsen always strove to stay ahead of the game.
In 1905, Bahlsen began producing LEIBNIZ Cakes on the very first assembly line in European industry, – eight years before Henry Ford introduced them to the automotive industry.
More than twelve million TET packs left our factory in 1912.

1911
Baking biscuits. Inventing words.
Industrially produced sweet biscuits were popular in England in the 19th century.
That’s where Hermann Bahlsen first had the idea of creating something similar in Germany.
In England, they were known as ‘cakes’, so that's what Bahlsen first called his creation, too: ‘Cakes’.
However, the more popular they became in Germany, the less right their English name felt.
So in 1911, Bahlsen gave them a more naturally German-sounding name, of his own creation: ‘Cakes’ became ‘Keks’.
A few years later, the product and their new name had become so popular, that it was added to the Duden (The German dictionary). Today, ‘Keks’ is the German word for all kinds of sweet biscuits.

1918
War and inflation.
The First World War arrived, bringing the rationing of raw materials.
It wasn’t until 1919 that LEIBNIZ KEKS could again be baked according to its true recipe.
The economic crisis and galloping inflation of the time, threatened to close Hermann Bahlsen's biscuit factory, for good.

1923
An (extremely) expensive indulgence.
Due to continued inflation in 1923, one pack of LEIBNIZ KEKS cost 400 billion marks!
To go shopping for essentials, people needed wheelbarrows, or even trucks, full of money.

1933-45
Bahlsen during the Nazi era.
Since many workers were drafted into military service during the Nazi era, Bahlsen employed more than 800 forced laborers from various European countries, mostly women from Poland and Ukraine. The company's role during the Nazi era was comprehensively researched by an independent team of historians from 2019 to 2024 and published as a book.
1944
Bye bye butter biscuits.
A reduction in the amount of butter available meant that for a short while, the production of LEIBNIZ KEKS, stopped.
As an alternative, Bahlsen created a high-quality hard biscuit that was the same size as the original LEIBNIZ KEKS. This short-lived creation was named ‘Union’.

1948
Welcome back, butter.
Finally, production of the original LEIBNIZ KEKS begins again.
Using the original, true recipe (with butter), and to the same high standard that had been established, and loved, before the war.

1956
Introducing the magic of thermoplastic.
From 1956, LEIBNIZ KEKS began to be packaged in a brand new way - the thermoplastic pack.
This new technology perfectly protected the biscuits from moisture.
And for the first time, kept them crisp and dry – or "oven-fresh" as we liked to say – for much much longer.

1971
Hello yellow.
LEIBNIZ KEKS is relaunched, now in distinctive yellow packaging.
Maybe because yellow stands out very well on a shelf.
Maybe because no other biscuits wore yellow.
Maybe because yellow emphasises that our signature biscuit is baked with butter.
We no longer know why yellow was chosen.
But we’re glad that it was.
The very same colour is still proudly on our packs, to this day.

1973
The arrival of LEIBNIZ Choco.
Our biscuits met chocolate for the very first time. Our already popular LEIBNIZ KEKS were sunk into slabs of smooth chocolate – and many people’s new favourite treat was born.
LEIBNIZ Choco have been a much loved part of our range, ever since.

1985
The travel biscuit.
A poster from 1985, advertising LEIBNIZ as the ideal ‘travel biscuit’.

1987
Growing LEIBNIZ, with wholegrains.
For the first time, LEIBNIZ KEKS are baked with natural wholegrains.
Expanding our range in new ways.

1990
LEIBNIZ takes over the ZOO.
Our ZOO biscuits were first introduced by Bahlsen in 1966. Quickly becoming a favourite for kids.
But by 1990, LEIBNIZ had already become the Bahlsen brand that took care of treats for families, so we were handed the keys to the ZOO. Taking over the baking and selling of our little animal-shaped biscuits, that we still make in their millions, today.

1996
A big little innovation.
LEIBNIZ Minis are created. Delicious little versions of our equally delicious bigger biscuits.
The world gets a perfect new thing to nibble on.

2008
Less sugar, but no less delicious.
Biscuits aren’t often the best thing when watching what you eat.
Which is exactly why we created our lower sugar biscuits.
The recipe of the original LEIBNIZ butter biscuit, just with less sugar.

2013
The great golden biscuit robbery.
Beautiful chaos.
Perfect imperfection.
A glorious.
Wonderful.
Mess.
That’s being a family.
The original LEIBNIZ KEKS had been part of the big little moments in life, for every kind of family, for 125 years.
Being something that helps makes family life a little sweeter is why LEIBNIZ exists. So we celebrated this milestone moment with lots of pride.

2016
LEIBNIZ celebrates 125 years.
Beautiful chaos.
Perfect imperfection.
A glorious.
Wonderful.
Mess.
That’s being a family.
The original LEIBNIZ KEKS had been part of the big little moments in life, for every kind of family, for 125 years.
Being something that helps makes family life a little sweeter is why LEIBNIZ exists. So we celebrated this milestone moment with lots of pride.

2016
LEIBNIZ KEKS N' CREAM
What could be better than a biscuit?
Two biscuits.
But what could be better than two biscuits?
Two biscuits with chocolate cream in the middle.
Launched in 2016 and instantly popular, today this range is also available in a cocoa biscuit recipe, with milk cream as well as chocolate filling.

2017
No Gluten. No lactose. No less delicious.
We launch two of the most popular LEIBNIZ biscuits – LEIBNIZ MINIS and LEIBNIZ ZOO – in a brand new gluten- & lactose-free recipe.

2021
Speltacular.
We continue to find new ways of making new delicious biscuits. This time by introducing the latest addition to our KEKS range – LEIBNIZ Spelt KEKS – baked with 100% spelt flour, from farmers we trust.

2022
New look. Same yellow.
We've redesigned our packaging for the first time in a long time.
Creating designs that deliberately focus on our most unmistakable features – our beautiful biscuits and our bright yellow.
It may seem strange, but this redesign is part our effort to focus more on our responsibility.
By designing packs that we know we won’t have to think about for a long time, we can think about the more important things instead.
Like making those packs, and our business, more responsible as a whole.