Manner (confectionery)

[2] The experienced businessman Josef Manner ran a small shop on Stephansplatz in Vienna, where he offered chocolate and fig coffee.

In 1900, Johann Georg Riedl took over half of the shares in the company and laid the foundation for the collaboration between the families that continues to this day.

[3] By 1913, Josef Manner had risen to become the leading confectionery producer in Austria-Hungary, when the Wilhelminenstraße in Vienna-Hernals factory which is still in use today, was built.

[6][7] During the National Socialist period, Manner benefited from orders from the Wehrmacht, the "Aryanization" of Jewish property and the exploitation of forced labourers.

[3] At the end of the war, the sugar and cocoa stocks still stored in the factory were requisitioned by the Russian occupying forces, and the company had to struggle with a shortage of raw materials for two years.

In 1960, with the introduction of packaging in aluminum-coated foils with the typical red tear-off strip, the flavor-proof sealing of the now famous slices was introduced.

In 1970 the competitors Napoli and Casali were taken over by way of a merger, whereby the product range was significantly expanded and the owner family of Napoli-Casali joined the Manner company.

[3] The corporate form is a joint-stock company listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange, in which a large part of the shares are family-owned.

Shares held by family members who no longer have an interest in the company are constantly being bought up by the majority owners, so that no outsider can become a significant co-owner.

The company management replied that the relocation of the production facility would be the result for economic reasons, which would cause outrage among a large part of the Viennese population.

[23] From 1924 the Manner wafers were offered in five rows of two, with a total of 75 g, initially in a folding box, from 1960 in a water vapor-tight packaging made of aluminium-paper composite foil with a tear-off strip and a tab, as a flat, almost square cuboid.

[24] In 2022, following a lawsuit by the Association for Consumer Information (VKI) on behalf of the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Vienna Commercial Court convicted the manufacturer Manner of misleading packaging (not final).