METRO celebrates 60th anniversary at ONE METRO Campus Düsseldorf and worldwide

An eventful week lies behind METRO: the period from 7-10 October was dominated by the company's 60th anniversary. Many activities were organised for employees and guests at the ONE METRO Campus in Düsseldorf to celebrate the anniversary.

The events kicked off with the Global Supplier Conference, to which over 100 international suppliers were invited, in a marquee set up in the car park of the METRO store in Düsseldorf. This was followed in the early evening by the 'METRO Chef Festival', a customer event at which restaurateurs from Düsseldorf and the surrounding area served up culinary delights to participants at their trucks and stands. METRO customers were also invited to special events in the store the following day. The secret star of these events were the "METRO Chef" own-brand products, which many HoReCa customers use daily in their restaurants and which were also used extensively that evening.

Around 300 guests from the worlds of politics, business and gastronomy were invited to a gala dinner the following day, at which 10 celebrity chefs from Germany and abroad, including Tim Raue, Sven Elberfeld, Thomas Bühner and Alex Atala from Brazil, presented a very special 10-course menu. North Rhine Westphalia Minister President Hendrik Wüst and Düsseldorf's Lord Mayor Dr Stephan Keller were also present to offer their congratulations from the federal state and city. Judith Rakers, former Tagesschau presenter, hosted the evening. This was followed on Wednesday and Thursday by the annual leadership conference, which brought together 300 executives from over 30 countries at the campus in Düsseldorf. The highlight of the event week was the Global ONE METRO Festival on 10 October, at which around 2,500 METRO employees celebrated a big party and toasted the future together with colleagues worldwide via video link at the Düsseldorf event location The Frame.

Employees at the ONE METRO Campus were also involved in a variety of activities throughout the week: As part of ONE METRO Festival Week, divisions and companies were able to introduce themselves to colleagues with presentations and many interactive hands-on activities. Christiane Giesen, Chief Operating Officer and Labour Director of METRO AG, summarises: "We not only used this special occasion to celebrate together and strengthen team spirit. We also conveyed what METRO is all about today and what we stand for. We therefore honoured colleagues who have worked for METRO for a particularly long time or who are considered role models for their colleagues in the countries as part of the anniversary celebrations."

METRO can look back on 60 eventful years as a company: in 1964, the first wholesale store of the then Metro-SB-Großmärkte GmbH & Co. KG opened its doors in Mülheim an der Ruhr. The concept was aimed at supplying business customers such as restaurateurs, hoteliers, caterers, small businesses and the self-employed with a comprehensive range of products. Fresh food, non-food items and products for gastronomy were offered at competitive prices. The model was very well received, and this was followed in the 1970s and 1980s by further stores in Germany and expansion into Europe and Asia. Originally launched as a pure wholesaler, METRO expanded its business activities to include retail in the 1990s with the acquisition of well-known brands such as Kaufhof, Praktiker and Media-Saturn and was listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange for the first time on 1 January 1996. In the 2000s, however, the company gradually withdrew from individual investments, in 2017 the electronics and food business was split into Ceconomy AG and METRO AG and in 2020, with the sale of real, METRO finally refocused clearly on the wholesale business. With the sCore strategy presented at the beginning of 2022, METRO has set itself the ambition of strengthening and expanding its position as a leading international food wholesaler for HoReCa and Trader customers by 2030.