The Egetürk story

In the following sections, we are going to explain just how one ingenious idea evolved to become an all-time favourite brand, and what is behind the very special taste of Egetürk products.
1966
1983
1993
2000
2017
1966

The initial inspiration

The first “guest workers” in Germany often lamented the lack of availability of traditional Turkish foods – and Burhan Öngören had an idea. He travelled to his home town of Izmir and, over the course of a few days, learnt how to make halva and sucuk, before returning to Germany with the recipes in his pocket.

1967

Irresistible rise

Word of his sucuk spread rapidly in Cologne, and demand now began to rise irresistibly. Burhan was no longer able to stem production on his own and hired additional staff, making the jump from labourer to entrepreneur.

1970

The “guest worker” boom

As the number of Turkish guest workers in Germany rose, so too did demand for Turkish foods. The fame of this sucuk spread throughout Germany, and demand exploded. The production of sweets was stopped – and from now on the business concentrated on “beefing up” on sausage production!

1972

Set on growth

In order to serve rising demand, Burhan leased a factory building in the Dünnwald district of Cologne and now began to produce several tons of sucuk per day. But even this semi-mechanised solution was soon to reach its limits.

1972

The Egetürk brand was born

In 1972, Burhan’s home country found itself in the grip of a crisis. When the Greek-Turkish conflict over the waters of the Aegean broke out, Burhan was heard to thump on the table and shout: Ege Türk‘tür! – the Aegean is Turkish!

And from this impulsive cry, the brand name Egetürk was born.

1974

The sucuk tree

Sucuk sausage needs time to mature, just like the fruit hanging on a tree. And from this idea came the design of an unusually striking trade-fair stand: a giant sucuk tree with three tonnes of delicious sucuk hanging from its branches! Visitors from all over the world thus acquired a taste for the Egetürk sucuk.

1979

Sucuk goes global

The company’s first export went to Kuwait. The company had emerged on the international stage. Today, Egetürk dominates the European halal market in particular, with a market share of over 70%.

1980

Construction begins on today’s huge production plant

In 1980, the foundation stone of today’s plant was laid in Feldkassel in Cologne, and it was gradually extended over the following years to reach today’s area covering over 70,000 square metres. The plant currently has a capacity of around 150 tonnes – daily.

2000

Even more taste

The plant continued to expand, and a further 45 new products were added to the range alongside the classic products. With their unique flavour and convenient packaging in small, pre-cut portions, they are everyone’s favourite products.

2004

Younger generation takes over

In 2004, Burhan named his nephew Ahmet Eden as the new managing director. He aims to take the Egetürk brand still further – without of course compromising on quality or the delicious recipes for which Egetürk is known and loved worldwide.

2019

Egetürk today

Today the Egetürk plant in the Feldkassel industrial area in Cologne has a daily output of 150 tonnes and, apart from supplying the German market, the company exports mainly to EU countries.
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