[4] The company traces its origins from two factories from the early 20th century: "Union", founded in 1911, by Yugoslavian Jews, including Slavaljub Deutsch, the oldest surviving chocolate manufacturer in southeastern Europe; and "Bizjak", founded in 1923, which manufactured toast, cookies and wafers.

These two companies, as well as a number of smaller confectionery manufacturers from Zagreb, merged in 1950 and took the name Kraš, in honor of Josip Kraš, a union leader and prominent Croatian communist who was killed in World War II.

[citation needed] To date, no restitutions have been made to Deutsch's surviving descendants.

In the aftermath of Yugoslav breakup, Kraš lost two-thirds of its market.

[6][7] In 2011, Kraš acquired the Osijek confectionary company Karolina, formed in 1891 and known as Sloboda between 1947 and 2003.