Inventiveness and know-how right from the start

Nutritional chemicist Otto Hoffmann started producing baking soda as a student.

Otto Hoffmann ran a large company producing a wide range of candies and nutritional products in the Sudentenland (modern Czech Republic)

leitet Otto Hoffmann im Sudentenland (heutiges Tschechien) einen großen Betrieb, der eine Vielzahl an Nährmitteln und Süßwaren herstellte.

Hoffmann founds "Forsting Nutrition Factory" near Wasserburg am Inn in Bavaria, West Germany. Using very basic equipment, Hoffmann and his team start producing nutritional products from the very limited supplies available then: Baking flour, whipping cream, ersatz chocolate and marzipan and corn molasses.

The company moves to Stephanskirchen by Rosenheim. A modern candy factory is constructed on the grounds of a former Flak base under the new name of "Pit", producing filled and unfilled hard caramel candies and lollipops.

Pit produces the first fizzy cube suckers and the popular Fizzy Pit. The first "Tex Schmelz Glucose Drops" are produced under Swiss license. (The brand will soon become a Pit brand.) The founder's son Rainer Hoffmann joins the company.

Company founder and manager Otto Hoffmann passes away.

Pit reacts to the changing market: Along with candy, Pit now produces nutritional supplements, such as yeast, Propolis, Spirulina and first and foremost wheat germ tablets. The company undertakes major investments into technology. For example, a continuous fluidized bed system was installed for granulated sugar in 1999 to replace the old, laborious process.

Rupert Hoffmann joins the company in the third generation. The two East German classics "Peppy" and "Citro" are included in the line-up. First organic certification through BCS Nuremberg.

Pit modernizes and expands its equipment pool. Production and storage area expanded to approx. 6000 sqm (65000 sq. ft.), including new two-piece gel capsule filling machines for powder and pellets, as well as stick-pack, fliptop box and blister machines. Customer base grows beyond German borders. An IFS5 (higher-level) Quality Management System is implemented.

Rupert Hoffmann assumes company management.

Pit takes over production and distribution of "Becks Cocoa" brand, a German-language chocolate maker.

Pit Suesswaren Nährmittelfabrik GmbH & Co.KG is renamed Pit Hoffmann GmbH & Co.KG.
Extension of the office building and new construction of a new warehouse.

In the field of own brands, Pit aims to increase market penetration and market development both domestically and abroad.