The entrepreneur Ernst Freiberger

Innovator in the food industry

Ernst Freiberger, founder and owner of the Freiberger Holding, was 25 years old when – having completed his degree in business studies at the Ludwig Maximilian
Ernst Freiberger

University in Munich – he undertook his first venture as entrepreneur. In doing so, he deliberately chose the option of establishing his own enterprise rather than entering his parents firm. In 1976, he took over a small pizza delivery business that was threatened with bankruptcy. At that time, some 20 members of staff were engaged in producing 6,000 deep-frozen pizzas daily.

Within just a short space of time, Ernst Freiberger restructured the firm and developed innovative forms of production and marketing with the help of his young and highly committed management team. Using the co-packing model, i.e. producing his own brands, he succeeded in “democratizing the prices” – thus making deep-frozen pizzas an affordable food product for everyone. In the process, they became the best selling item in the frozen food industry. Success in the market, cost leadership through efficient production processes and record levels of anti-cyclical investment in Berlin made the firm the largest producer of deep-frozen pizzas, baguettes and pasta products in Europe – turning out some 1.5 million units daily.

For his services to the food industry as an innovative and exemplary food producer, the entrepreneur Ernst Freiberger was awarded the highest distinction of the “Goldener Zuckerhut” (“Golden Sugarloaf”) in 1983. Similarly, for his services to agricultural science, he received the “Albrecht Daniel Thaer Medal” from the Humboldt University . In 1988, he sold his food company Freiberger Lebensmittel GmbH, to Südzucker AG. This European market leader is one of the few remaining manufacturers to still have its headquarters in Berlin.

Innovator and shaper of historical architecture

Ever since 1988 Ernst Freiberger has been systematically extending his activities in the field of property development with the focus on acquiring
Humboldt-Mühle

and constructively re-developing properties listed under monument protection. The aim is always to strike an economically sensible balance between preservation and renovation. The series of re-shaping architecture of historical interest began with the acquisition and re-vitalization of the historic Humboldt Mill at Lake Tegel. And it was for his exemplary restoration of this Mill that Ernst Freiberger was awarded the “Bauherren” Construction Prize and the Alexander von Humboldt plaque.

In 1990, Ernst Freiberger gave the historic Bolle dairy plant a new and cosmopolitan look in the form of the “Spree-Bogen project”: a modern office and service complex – at the time the largest private property development project to be undertaken following the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Together with his management team, he restored and modernized the Belle Epoque Grand Hotel in Kitzbühel, Austria, and turned the architectural treasure into an international training and staff development center.

Forum Museumsinsel

With his project of the “Forum Museumsinsel”, the culturally most prominent landmark of the German capital – at the very center of the center – Ernst Freiberger intends to breath new, urban life into a unique ensemble of architecture embracing three centuries and to complement it with modern architecture.

Innovator in the field of healthcare

In 1995, just before the reform of the German healthcare system more or less brought to an end the basis of traditional rehabilitation clinics, Ernst Freiberger purchased the EFA clinics from his family.
Medical Park St. Hubertus

While many other clinics around him were closing, Ernst Freiberger invested anti-cyclically, gearing his activities to future medical requirements and creating in the process the concept of Medical Park, a successful business model. Here, just as he was starting up as an entrepreneur, he had to find short, sharp solutions to find his way out of the crisis.

Commitment to society

Ernst Freiberger’s experience as a successful entrepreneur, his awareness of social issues and the
The Ernst Freiberger Foundation

conviction that business success should be expected to give something back to society led him to establish his own foundation in 1994. It supports exclusively charitable causes and is dedicated to the culture of remembrance, the needs of the older generation and scientific research into fundamental social problems.

At home in Berlin, at home in Chiemgau

Since 1976, the focus of Ernst Freiberger’s business activities has been concentrated on Berlin. In March 2008, on the recommendation of the Berlin’s provincial government, the German President awarded Ernst Freiberger the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his outstanding services to the city as entrepreneur, property developer and patron of social and cultural causes.
Amerang

Some years ago, Ernst Freiberger decided to re-locate the headquarters of his company to Amerang in Chiemgau – back to the roots from where the Freiberger family originated in 15th century. Since 2007, the management of the newly established Freiberger Holding, the activities of which Ernst Freiberger has developed over the years into their existing form, lies with Karsten Schween, who heads the company together with a professional management team.