Caffè Molinari, a Modenese family business with 200 years of history, was acquired by the German group Tchibo, specialized in the production of coffee and which manages a European network of over 900 coffee shops. The controlling holding of Tchibo is Maxingvest, of the Herz family , which also controls 51% of Beiersdorf, the cream giant Nivea.

The economic terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

That of the Modena-based company, which also owns a famous bar in the center, is a story of entrepreneurs that went down to Giuseppe Molinari, 59, an engineer, expression of the sixth generation of the family, who holds the role of general manager of Caffè Molinari. In 2019 the company had a turnover of around 20 million euros.

Molinari was founded in 1804 as a Giuseppe Molinari trading company, while the Molinari bar in Modena was inaugurated in 1911.

The Tchibo group, born in Hamburg in 1949, is spread with over 900 shops and coffee bars in most of Europe, from Germany to Austria, from the Czech Republic to Poland, from Hungary to Romania. It is one of the largest coffee chains, a colossus with a turnover of 3 billion. But it's not just about coffee. In 8 countries it operates an e-commerce of non-food services that change from week to week and more than 24,300 retail stores.

The group is controlled by the holding company Maxingvest which, in addition to having 100% of Tchibo GmbH, also controls 51% of Beiersdorf AG (which, in addition to Nivea, manages the cream brands Eucerin, La Prairie, Coppertone). Maxingvest is wholly owned by brothers Michael and Wolfgang Herz and by mother Ingeburg Herz.