As a youth, the younger Dreyfus made frequent trips to nearby Basel, Switzerland, delivering grain for sale from the family farm.

[2] In 1864, the company moved to Zurich, Switzerland and in 1872, after the Franco-Prussian War when France ceded Alsace to Germany, Louis Dreyfus chose French citizenship.

[6] Thereafter, the company expanded internationally: in 1909, it opened an office in Duluth, Minnesota and began exporting durum wheat; in 1911, it started trading cotton in Brazil; and in 1913, it set up operations in Melbourne.

He was awarded the title of Commander of the Legion of Honour (French: Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur) on 19 April 1912.

[5] In 2013, the Louis Dreyfus Group is considered to be one of the "big four" global food trading companies in the world, competing with Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge Limited, and Cargill Inc.[3]