Bell Food Group

On 29 March 1869, Samuel Bell-Roth (1840-1920) opened "Ochsenmetzg" (ox butchery) at Streitgasse 13 in Basel. The first store opened two decades later. The Samuel Bell Söhne company was founded in 1899 by Samuel Bell-Roth, Eduard Bell, Samuel Bell-Vollenweider and Rudolf Bell. It was converted into a stock corporation in 1907. In the same year, an area was acquired at Elsässerstrasse 174–188 in Basel, which still serves as the headquarters and production site today.

As early as 1912, Bell was the largest meat producer in Switzerland and one year later it entered into an alliance ("Bell Alliance") with what was then the Association of Swiss Consumers (now Coop).

The group of companies was converted into a holding company in 1999. In 2001, Bell took over all Coop butchers' headquarters. In 2002/2003, Bell took over SEG-Poulets AG in Zell (LU) and integrated it into Bell Holding. The chicken producers from Bell are united in the Mästerorganisation SEG (Organization of fatteners, MOSEG for short). Bell spun off its own butcher shops in 2004 by means of a management buyout. In 2005, Bell brought the retail division (Bell Gastro Service and Grande Boucherie du Molard), with the exception of Bell Catering, into the Transgourmet joint venture, which was newly founded between Coop and the German Rewe Group.

In 2006, Bell entered into foreign markets, at first by exporting meat to Luxembourg, and later by acquiring French charcuterie manufacturer Polette, and German sausage manufacturer Abraham. On 1 October 2008, Bell AG acquired a 70 percent stake in the German meat products manufacturer Zimbo in Bochum. In November 2008, 75 percent of Abraham Schinken was acquired. At the end of 2009, all catering activities were sold to the SV Group. With effect from the beginning of 2011, Bell incorporated the Convenience division into the Liechtenstein company Hilcona. In return, Bell took a 49% stake in Hilcona AG (the other of the two Hilcona shareholders were the Toni Hilti family trust). On 1 May 2015, Bell redeemed the agreed option for a further two percent of Hilcona AG and thus became the majority shareholder with 51 percent.

The majority shareholder of Bell Food Group AG, which is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange, is the Coop Group Cooperative based in Basel, with a share of 66.29 percent. Another shareholder with a 3.01 percent stake is J. Safra Sarasin Investmentfonds AG (a subsidiary of Bank J. Safra Sarasin). The rest of the shares are in free float (as of 31 December 2014). In June 2022, Coop announced that it intended to increase its stake to 66.67 percent.

In 2014, the German Federal Cartel Office imposed a three-digit million fine on 21 sausage companies in the so-called sausage cartel, including Bell Deutschland, for illegal price fixing. On 23 June 2017, the German Federal Cartel Office dropped the proceedings against Bell Deutschland.

With effect from 1 March 2016, Austria's largest poultry meat producer, Hubers Landhendl, was taken over. On 1 April 2016, Bell acquired the Zurich-based Eisberg Group, which produces lettuce, employs 400 people in Switzerland and Eastern Europe and has a turnover of CHF 55 million. Also in 2016, Bell took over Cher-Mignon SA, which specializes in charcuterie and is based in the Valais municipality of Chermignon and has annual sales of CHF 13 million. On 1 October 2016, Bell acquired Geiser AG, which specializes in supplying caterers and is based in Schlieren (ZH). With 120 employees, the company achieves annual sales of around CHF 45 million.

Investments planned in Oensingen for the replacement of Bell's existing cattle slaughterhouse on Dünnernstrasse and the location of the pork cutting plant were not well received by the Swiss Traffic Club (VCS). The VCS criticized that the parking garage was being built for all of the future 1,200 employees. In the traffic forecast of the environmental impact report, it is assumed that all employees travel to work individually in a motor vehicle. As a result, the VCS argues that carpooling, public transport users or non-motorized traffic with bicycles and pedestrians were not taken into account in these calculations.