Meinl, Julius, geb. 1869#

b. Vienna, Jan. 18, 1869, d. Altprerau, Lower Austria, May 16, 1944, started working in his father's grocery shop in 1889. Under his management, the shop developed into a large food production and marketing group which long remained the leading enterprise of its kind in Austria (from 1919 Julius Meinl AG), with 493 branch outlets (1937) and numerous production facilities (chocolate, coffee, mustard, pasta etc.). A champion of modern sociopolitical ideas, Meinl founded the first vocational school for commercial apprentices (1907), introduced the five-day working week (1931) and built a vacation home for his employees. As a highly respected diplomat, he strove to achieve a peace agreement in 1917/18 and after the war organised relief programmes sending Austrian children to Switzerland. In 1933 his son Julius Meinl (b. 1903) succeeded him to the management of Julius Meinl AG.

Literature#