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Our History

Family owned company

The history of Chr. Olesen began in the northern part of Denmark, in Aggersund, near the Limfjord, when a young and enterprising man named Mads Chr. Olesen started a local grocery and goods store. He later expanded his shop into a wood and hardware store and then further into supplying grain and feed to the local farmers. In the following generations, Mads Chr. Olesen’s son, Godik Christian Olesen, and grandson, Ole Olesen, developed this business into a supplier of grain and animal feed with a loyal customer base on both sides of the fjord. This success was achieved through skill, hard work, and timely attention to detail, as well as a high level of trustworthiness among customers and business partners.

In the 1990s, when consolidation in the farming industry increased, the fourth generation, Mads C. Olesen, saw new opportunities to develop the business into the distribution of feed ingredients. Through the fourth generation, Chr. Olesen has developed into an international group of companies and a “brand” surrounded by great respect within distribution of feed, food, pharmaceutical and technical ingredients.

Today, the fifth generation is onboarded, and Chr. Olesen continues to expand into global markets while staying true to the fundamental values passed down from the forefathers, which are the important base of the business.

Published by Chr. Olesen A/S in 2019.

The following book (available only in Danish as a PDF file) weaves together the history of the company and the Olesen family including the development of the surrounding community.

RELIABLE SINCE 1885

1

1st Generation (1885-1929) - Mads Chr. Olesen

Mads Chr. Olesen founded the business as a grocery and goods store in Aggersund, Denmark. He then expanded into a wood and hardware store and later into a supplier of grain and animal feed, which became the foundation of the business for the following generations.
2

2nd Generation (1929-1954) - Godik Christian Olesen

The son of Mads Chr. Olesen, Godik Christian Olesen, took over the company in 1929. The business was heavily affected by World War II starting from 1940, but despite this, Godik Christian Olesen managed to develop the business by making new investments. For example, he was among the first to replace the horse carriage with a truck for transporting volumes of grain to the farmers.
3

3rd Generation (1954-1992) - Ole Christian Olesen

Ole Christian Olesen, the only son of Godik Christian Olesen, took over the business. He invested in silos and technology to ensure the efficient handling of the heavy volumes of grains and feed in the growing business.
4

4th Generation (1992-) - Mads C. Olesen

Mads C. Olesen, the current owner and CEO, took over the family business and sold the original grain and feed business, turning the company into the trading of feed ingredients under the name Chr. Olesen & Co. A/S. Over the next 30 years, the business grew into a global distributor of feed, food, pharmaceutical and technical ingredients that we know today.
5

5th Generation (2022) - Christian Dam Olesen & Phillip Christian Olesen

In 2022 and 2023, the fifth generation consisting of Christian Dam Olesen and Phillip Christian Olesen started in Chr. Olesen.
Else Marie og Mads C. Olesen siddende i midten omgivet af børn, svigerbørn og børnebørn samt familien Langgaard i haven til Brogade 42. Chr. Olesen ses stående bag sin far, og Ole Olesen sidder med fodbolden lige foran bedsteforældrene.
Dette luftbillede markerer det tætte naboskab mellem Chr. Olesen og Han Herreders Tømmerhandel.
Lastvogn med gødningsspreder fra Chr. Olesen
Mads Chr. Olesen og Steen Astrup samt kontormedarbejdere i Aggersund
Mads C Olesen

I. GENERATION Mads Chr. Olesen

Chr. Olesen - 1885-1929

Mads Christian Olesen (born March 14th, 1858) arrived in Aggersund in the early 1880s and initiated the characteristic Olesen entrepreneurship, starting up his own wood and hardware store in 1885. Mads Chr. Olesen was a successful merchant, involved in the growing trade and commerce in Aggersund. Chr. Olesen grew to become one of the most significant suppliers for the farmers in the area, and a new ferry connection was vital to his feed store as many farmers came to Aggersund for livestock sales and slaughter products. He eventually sold the grocery and hardware department to focus on the grain and feed business. Mads Chr. Olesen was married to Else Marie Godiksen, and they had six children. Godik Christian Olesen was their second child.

II. GENERATION Godik Christian Olesen

Chr-Olesen 1929-1954

Godik Christian Olesen was born on November 18, 1898, in Aggersund. He received his education in his father’s grain and feed business as well as at a merchant school in Aalborg. In 1929, he took over the familiy business. Godik Chr. Olesen brought the company through the heavy crisis of the agricultural industry in 1930 and 1931 and unwards until the world war II started in 1940. Despite of this, Godik invests in the first truck in the local area to transport the loads of feed products to the farmers, in this period. Godik was married to Othilia Sørensen and they had two children – Ole Christian Olesen and Elsebeth Kirstine Olesen. In 1954, he formed a partnership with his son and renamed the business to Chr. Olesen & Son.

III. GENERATION Ole Christian Olesen

1954-1994

Ole Christian Olesen was born on 28th November 1930 in Aggersund. In 1951, Ole spent one year as a volunteer in England to enhance his international skills. In 1953, he graduated with a commercial diplomacy degree from Niels Brock’s Merchant School in Copenhagen and started working with his father in Chr. Olesen & Son in 1954.

Ole Christian Olesen was entrepreneurial like his forefathers and developed the Chr. Olesen & Son address in Aggersund into a modern technical facility with silos, lifts and conveyor belts to efficiently store the grain and feeds for the farmers. Ole was married to Tove Elinor Minor, and together they had two children, Annemarie and Mads C. Olesen. Ole Christian Olesen’s era was another period of significant structural changes in the agricultural industry and therefore a period of great development for the company. However, in the 1990s, the structural changes of consolidation in this market began, and changes were needed. This is where the next generation, Mads C. Olesen, comes in.

IV. GENERATION Mads C. Olesen

1992-

Born in Aggersund on 16th March 1962, Mads Christian Olesen was educated as a hardware trader at Chr. Hjortkjær A/S in Aars from 1979 to 1981. Mads served as a sergent in the military from 1981 to 1983. He graduated from Niels Brock’s Business School in Copenhagen in 1985 and completed his Bachelor’s degree in Finance in 1992. In 1992, Mads C. Olesen joined Chr. Olesen & Son and led the transformation of the business into the international distribution of Feed, Food, and Pharma ingredients business as it is today. Mads C. Olesen changed the company into Chr. Olesen & Co. and later into Chr. Olesen Group. He moved the company closer to the international airport in Copenhagen in 1997 and today, the company has more than 20 subsidiaries in Europe, the US, Brazil and Mexico, and is a well-recognised player in the international ingredients industry.

Christian Dam Olesen and his brother Phillip Olesen walk through the HR office of Chr. Olesen in Copenhagen

V. GENERATION

Christian Dam Olesen & Phillip Christian Olesen

2022-

In 2022 and 2023, the fifth generation of the Olesen family, Christian Dam Olesen and Phillip Christian Olesen, joined Chr. Olesen.

Christian and Phillip bring experience to the company, having worked in positions outside of the family business. Christian has experience in the feed industry, while Phillip has worked in the food industry. Growing up with Chr. Olesen as an integrated part of their upbringing, they have a deep understanding of the industry and the needs of our stakeholders.

As the company continues to evolve, the new generation will carry on the tradition of staying ahead of the curve in terms of the development and innovation of the company.

Chr. Olesen's history in pictures

A Global Distributor across Europe, Latin America, and the USA

Chr. Olesen Group is a family-owned company established in Denmark in 1885. Since 1992, we have expanded with subsidiaries in Europe, the USA, Brazil, and Mexico. Today, we operate with over 20 local companies in 8 countries.

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