“We aren’t doing anything extraordinary, we are simply successful because we are doing quite normal things in an extraordinary manner” said Ueli Prager (born 1916), the founder of Mövenpick.

In 1948, Ueli Prager, the son of a Swiss hotel owner, opened the first Mövenpick restaurant in the Claridenhof in Zurich. The Swiss gastronomy scene was bowled over by the concept. Prager was offering delicacies for city people who are in a hurry. A seagull picking a morsel in midflight gave name to the restaurant, although the letter w in Moewe was changed to a v as it made for a better logographic expression of the bird’s flight.

Prager’s groundbreaking concept of fast and high-quality food spread rapidly across Switzerland. Further operations were opened in Bern, Geneva, Lugano and Zurich. In 1960 he founded his own purchasing and import company and set up a central factory. “Silberkugel” opened in Zurich as an American-style fast-food, take-away restaurant. About this time Mövenpick launched the first brand items. “Der Himmlische”, the first in a series of premium products, was soon a favourite among coffee connoisseurs. In 1963 Prager made the daring move across the border, opening a restaurant in Munich.

In 1970, the first wine cellars were opened in Germany and Switzerland and called Caves Mövenpick. In 1972, the production of Mövenpick Premium Ice Cream commenced in Bursins in Canton Vaud. Shortly afterwards, Mövenpick opened the first two hotels in Glattbrugg and Regensdorf - both in Switzerland - and sold licences for branded products in Germany. The first hotels outside Europe were opened in Egypt. In the early eighties two innovative gastronomy concepts were created: the Caveaux Wine Bar and Marché Mövenpick - a restaurant where guests wander between colourful market stands and watch their meal being prepared from fresh ingredients. In 1984, Mövenpick created the Almond Waffle, a tasty edible package for Mövenpick Premium Ice Cream. In the meantime, licensees in Canada, New Zealand, South Korea and the USA were distributing Moevenpick branded products.

In 1992, the founder Ueli Prager sold his majority stake to the German Baron August von Finck. More Marchés were opened in Switzerland, Austria, England, Germany, Indonesia and Singapore. In 1995, Mövenpick demerged the “Silberkugel” brand and eight operations in the city of Zurich. In the year of the 50th anniversary since the founding of the company, Mövenpick founded the Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts AG with Kingdom Holding as a 30 per cent stakeholder. On the motorway near to Wädenswil, Zurich, the first Cindy’s Diner, American retro-style fast food restaurant was opened.

Following the introduction of extensive organisation changes in 2000, Mövenpick began operating as a decentralised group with the five independent divisions Hotels & Resorts, Gastronomy, Wine, Fine Foods and Mövenpick Produktions AG.

Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts was repositioned as a hotel management company in the 4- and 5-star segment with focus on Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The division added operations in Italy, Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and the Gulf region to its portfolio.

In 2001 Mövenpick Produktions AG was renamed Deliciel AG; the division subsequently repositioned itself as an increasingly independent producer of fine foods.

As a consequence of group strategy adjustment and the ensuing compression of the scope of diversification, Mövenpick sold Deliciel AG to Panetta Holding in October 2002. On 31 March 2003 Mövenpick sold its ice cream business to Nestlé.
 
Since the beginning of 2003 Mövenpick has been transforming itself into a classic holding organisation with lean structures. The group divisions are consistently operated as independent subsidiaries and holdings, primarily on the basis of financial and strategic guidelines.