OTG

OTG (Ostfriesische Tee Gesellschaft) is a German tea manufacturer. According to its website, it belongs with its three brands Meßmer, MILFORD and OnnO Behrends to the leading tea manufacturers of Germany and is the largest subsidiary of the Laurens Spethmann Holding. The company states it has been on a growth path for over 115 years. It was founded in 1907 by Laurens Janssen; in 1953 Laurens Spethmann, grandson of the company founder, led the business from a classic tea importer to a tea packer.

OTG was founded in 1907 by Laurens Janssen as the Ostfriesische Tee Gesellschaft. In the mid-1950s Laurens Spethmann, grandson of the company founder, took over the leadership of a small tea business in Hamburg; he recognized that alongside traditional loose tea the future belonged to tea bags and adjusted his company accordingly. Although founded in 1907, the company describes the 1950s as the actual birth of OTG, when the small tea business became an international group. In 1953 Laurens Spethmann led the company from a classic tea importer to a tea packer. In 1966, as a private-label producer, OTG became a branded-goods company with the creation of the MILFORD brand. In 1972 internationalization began with the acquisition of Grosch Tee Österreich (later Milford Tee Austria). In 1988 the East Frisian tea company OnnO Behrends, Norden, became part of OTG. In 1989 the tea packer Ludwig Schwarz, Buchholz (later Milford Tea) was acquired. In 1990 Meßmer, Frankfurt am Main and Grettstadt, became part of OTG. In 1992 PAGÈS SA, France was acquired and OTG Lager- und Frachtkontor GmbH, Buchholz was founded. In 1996 the Laurens Spethmann Holding was founded, taking over all OTG holdings; company management passed to the fourth family generation, Jochen and Michael Spethmann. In 2000 the conversion to knot technology began.

1. 1OTG Webseite: OTGotg.de
2. 2Unsere Geschichte: OTGotg.de