History

At the beginning of the 1950s, the at that time 28 year old agriculturist Ernst Schnetkamp made the plan to open up his own business. The chances were good: After attending an agricultural college, he worked for several years on behalf of the Agricultural Chamber Oldenburg in the sector of potato farming. In this job he was mainly responsible for the certification of seed potatoes. Therefore, it was obvious for him to set up a company for growing and propagation of seed potatoes.

In 1954, Ernst Schnetkamp got self-employed with a wholesale business for seed potatoes and potatoes and during the same year he established a wholesale firm for potatoes. Sorting and processing of the traded potatoes was done on his parents’ farm in Evenkamp near Löningen. The farm became the nucleus of today’s enterprise.

Three years later, in 1957, plans for the building of a new sorting centre at the old freight depot in Löningen were made and realized in 1958. The company „Ernst Schnetkamp“ was entered in the Commercial Register, later on the firm name „Südoldenburger Kartoffelhaus“ was added. In the sorting centre the seed potatoes were delivered, sorted, processed, stored and distributed. With its modern sorting equipment the company soon counted among the leading businesses of this kind in the region.

Besides cultivation and propagation of seed potatoes, Ernst Schnetkamp developed a system for the „contractual growing“ of potatoes, which was revolutionary at that time. Big users of potatoes placed their orders already several months before the potatoes were harvested - thus they could calculate with fixed prices and the farmers had guaranteed purchase commitments on hands for the harvest time.

With the currency reform the living standard of the German population improved slowly but steadily. And demands increased as well: From the middle of the 1950s onwards, consumption of „plain“ basic food like potatoes declined. Instead, consumers brought more meat, eggs, vegetables and fruits to the federal German tables. The falling consumption of potatoes lead subsequently to a decreased growing of potatoes in total, and therefore also the requirements of seed potatoes declined, especially in the Südoldenburg region. Something had to be done to counteract the tendency. At this stage Ernst Schnetkamp saw the possibility to formulate novel and marketable products from the raw material „potato“.

At the beginning of the 1960s, when freezing as an opportunity to conserve foods and at the same time maintain valuable nutrients became more and more popular in Germany, the idea suggested itself, to launch potato products as frozen food on the market. Ernst Schnetkamp ventured to enter this „virgin territory“, which lead to many activities to begin with: Before you had the finished product, many experiments were made, technical equipment had to be designed and built and a suitable procedure for freezing had to be found.

The next successful step in the company’s history followed in 1963: Südoldenburger Kartoffelhaus was expanded with a division for the manufacturing and storage of deep-frozen potato products. The popular German dish „Potato Pancake“ was the first item to be industrially manufactured at Südoldenburger Kartoffelhaus. For the lasting success it was also of special importance to find sales markets and distribution systems; they had to be scouted in detail as well. The production lines were running around the clock to prepare different frozen products out of fresh potatoes.

Now the  groundwork for the production and distribution range, which is existing still today, was created. The potato wholesale business turned into a modern processing facility for food products - a step of enormous importance for the further development of the company, for the region and for the entrepreneur Ernst Schnetkamp - a real pioneer achievement! In 1963, a new trademark was created: “Schne-Frost“ - a play of words out of the name „Schnetkamp“ and the German term „Frostung“ (German for freezing). Dead easy to remember and more than catchy. The snow (German: Schnee) brings frost – and frozen food. In 1965 the company Schnetkamp was registered in the Commercial Register with the new name „Schne- Frost“.


The brand "Südoldenburger Kartoffelhaus" exists until today as the senior brand of Schne-frost and is characterized by a cheap and good quality.