Sale of Ber­ief Food GmbH to the Un­ternehmens­gruppe Theo Müller suc­cess­fully com­pleted

Beckum, 6 July 2026 – Following today’s closing, Berief Food GmbH is now officially part of the Unternehmensgruppe Theo Müller (UTM). For over 40 years, Berief Food has been one of the most successful independent manufacturers of plant-based foods in Germany. The sale was successfully completed after the German and Austrian competition authorities granted their final approval. This is an important milestone – for Berief, for UTM and for the joint further development of the plant-based products business.

Within UTM, Berief will operate as a largely independent business unit under the proven leadership of Bernd Eßer. UTM sees great potential in Berief and intends to further strengthen the Beckum site. In the short term, investment in two additional filling lines for plant-based drinks is planned to create extra capacity and lay the foundations for further growth.

In an evolving and growing market, Berief Food is set to further expand the plant-based products business segment within UTM. To achieve this goal, the specific collaboration between UTM and Berief will be structured with a view to the future over the next three months. The focus will be, in particular, on defining interfaces, clarifying responsibilities and working out the future strategic direction.

The merger with UTM represents a positive outlook for the Beckum site.

“The rapidly growing demand for plant-based products and our ambitious growth plans form the basis for our strategic development. Berief brings strong expertise, many years of experience and a very good market position to the table. We intend to build on this together with UTM. The aim is to effectively combine Berief’s strengths with UTM’s potential and to implement the next stages of growth together,” said Managing Director Bernd Eßer.