Thomy
Introduction
Thomy is a famous Swiss brand that produces food products such as mayonnaise, mustard, salad dressings, tomato puree, warm sauces and cooking oil.
Background
In 1907, Helvetia became the first company to produce mustard on an industrial scale in Switzerland. Its mustard was sold in bulk in large stoneware pots under the Langenthaler Senf brand. Subsequently renamed Thomi’s Lagenthaler Senf, the brand was eventually registered under the name Thomy’s Senf in 1930, with the ‘i’ being replaced with a ‘y’ in Thomy to make it a more internationally marketable name.
Hans Thomi, the founder of Thomi & Franck SA also decided to sell his mustard in a tube to set it apart from that of his competitors. The tube, a worldwide packaging innovation at that time, is said to preserve the mustard better while also being recyclable. This started a revolution in which mustard and mayonnaise began to be marketed in tubes. In 1951 Thomy began mayonnaise production as well, while in 1976 they expanded to introduce bottled salad dressings. Thomy was acquired by Nestlé, the world’s largest food company in 1971.
The Thomy man character, or “Thomymännli”, was the product of a competition held in 1931 in which the company asked its consumers for submissions. The competition received 20,000 responses, and the name Senf-Thomy was chosen along with the famous tube shaped character. This character’s charisma and humor has made him the main icon for Thomy since the early 90’s. [1]
Thomy is currently only produced in Switzerland and Germany, where production was begun in 1956, although it is exported throughout Europe.
Thomy currently runs operating plants in Karlsruhe and Neuss in Germany, and in Basel, Switzerland.
Popularity in Switzerland
Thomy has been voted among the twenty most popular Swiss brands for the last ten years, demonstrating its popularity in Switzerland. It also enjoys a 99% recognition rate in Swiss households, and is consumed in over 2.3 million households.
An average Swiss household consumes about 5 THOMY mayonnaise tubes a year as well as 3 THOMY mustard tubes. The per capita consumption of mayonnaise and mustard in Switzerland is 1kg and 500g respectively.
Thomy has a strong presence in schools around Switzerland, providing many school materials and creating drawing contests. It has a strong presence on the field too, with Swiss ski schools and football tournaments complementing their sponsorship of football and hockey stadiums around Switzerland. St. Jakob's Park in Basel, home of F.C. Basel, is among the parks that Thomy sponors
Recent News
In 2008 Thomy launched a new Tartare Light mayonnaise, containing 50% less fat and mayonnaise made from rapeseed oil.[2]