In 1900 April, on behalf of a canning factory in Bozen, South Tyrol, J. Eugen Dieffenbach visited Elek Kada, the then mayor of Kecskemét, and made a proposal to establish a canning factory to produce canned fruit and vegetable dishes.
The well-known and respected culture of growing fruits and vegetables in the area, the ideal weather conditions, the cheap and freely available labour force, and last, but not least, the benefits offered by the town all spoke for Kecskemét.
On 31 May 1900 the contract of founding a canning factory was signed.
On 14 June 1901 production already began in Gyümölcs- és Főzelékkonzerv-készítő Rt. (Joint Stock Company of Canning Fruits and Vegetable Dishes), which company was considered modern that time.
In 1921, inspired by the success of the well-functioning First Canning Factory in Kecskemét, János Platter built a new one to produce canned fruits and vegetable dishes.
In 1957 a ministerial decision merged the two factories, as a result of which the new one became one of the largest canning factories in Hungary. In the early years, the following products were processed: peas, beans, carrots, cut beans, asparagus, tomatoes, and apricots, peaches, Prunus domestica plums, pears, cherries, nuts, strawberries, currants and wild strawberries.
In 1976-77, due to the hard work of an innovative team of professionals, new products appeared on the range of products: the first vacuum-sealed canned corn made in Hungary, then the first tomato powder produced in Central Europe.
In September 1980, the company was also the first one in the country to start the production bottled baby food. The popularity of baby foods among expectant mothers, doctors, nurses and distributors of the time was growing rapidly.
By 1981 already 32 baby foods and 4 baby drinks were on the domestic market, due to the countless demonstrations, events of product tasting and intensive activities of promotion.
In 1982, the yearly rate of production was close to the maximal capacity (5000-6000 tons). This year, for the first time, exports were also launched in minimal quantities.
In 1987-88 new, aseptic, state-of-the-art lines of tomato thickening and preservation were put into operation.
During the privatization made in 1992, two world-renowned companies, H.J. Heinz in the US and Hillsdown Holdings in England, acquired the shares of the factory.
In July 1995, Heinz became the owner of 97% of the shares of Kecskeméti Konzervgyár Rt. (Canning Factory Co.). At this time, HEINZ Kecskeméti Konzervgyár Rt. sold one of its two production plants in Kecskemét, the one making canned fruit. The profile of the factory changed significantly; the main products remained the canned sweet maize / corn, green peas and beans, tomato concentrate, together with baby food.
In its present form, Kecskemét Konzerv Kft. was established in the spring of 2005, as a company in exclusively Hungarian ownership.
During the period since 2005 our company grew, and has become the largest Hungarian-owned canning factory. Our specialised volume of production is over 70 thousand tons per year calculated on the equivalent of 140 million ½ type cans. This volume is basically from two products: peas and sweet corn.
