The company's history goes back to the time of Frederick II, who imposed high taxes on coffee beans.

The company's founder, Johann Heinrich Franck, found a coffee alternative in chicory, which was mixed with grain and roasted.

In 1828 production started in Vaihingen an der Enz and in 1868 it was relocated to Ludwigsburg because of the better transport connections.

The brewable Linde's grain coffee, which is still colloquially called Muckefuck in parts of Germany, comes from the same house.

In June 2018, Nestlé announced that it would close the Ludwigsburg plant at the end of 2018 and relocate production to Portugal.