Caro is available as an instant powder or as Caro Extra in granulated form. The name "Caro" references the German word "Karo", the term for the diamonds playing card suit, as seen in stylized form in the product logos used in Germany and the United States, and in the Spanish product until the early 2000 when the branding was restyled.
History
The company's history goes back to the time of Frederick II, who imposed high taxes on coffee beans. The company's founder, Johann Heinrich Franck, found a coffee alternative in chicory, which was mixed with grain and roasted. In 1828 production started in Vaihingen an der Enz and in 1868 it was relocated to Ludwigsburg because of the better transport connections.
The brewable Linde's grain coffee, which is still colloquially called Muckefuck in parts of Germany, comes from the same house. With this, however, the war and post-war period was associated. A new brand name was therefore sought for the soluble substitute coffee in 1954 and formed from components of the word coffee substitute extract (with a C instead of the introductory K): Caro.[1]
In 2012, 114 employees were employed in the Ludwigsburg plant, producing around 8,000 tons of Caro coffee, Kathreiner malt coffee and Linde's grain coffee.[2]
For the brand, long-standing signature music in advertising was a textually rewritten version of the song I like by Volker Lechtenbrink, who also interpreted the advertising song.
In June 2018, Nestlé announced that it would close the Ludwigsburg plant at the end of 2018 and relocate production to Portugal.[3]
1 Brand owned by General Mills; Produced by General Mills in the U.S. and Canada. Produced by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand elsewhere. 2 Brand owned by General Mills; U.S. and Canadian production rights controlled by Nestlé under license. 3 U.S. production rights owned by The Hershey Company. 4 U.S. rights and production owned by the Smarties Candy Company with a different product. 5 U.S. rights and specific trade dress owned by Nestlé; rights elsewhere owned by Associated British Foods. 6 Produced by Cereal Partners, branded as Nestlé. 7 Brand owned by Post Foods; Produced by Cereal Partners and branded as Nestlé in the U.K. and Ireland. 8 Philippine production rights owned by Alaska Milk Corporation. 9 Singaporean, Malaysian and Thai production rights owned by Fraser and Neave. 10 Used only in Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia. 11 Used only in the Philippines. 12 U.S. production rights owned by the Ferrara Candy Company. 13NA rights and specific trade dress to all packaged coffee and other products under the Starbucks brand owned by Nestlé since 2019. 14 Brand owned by Mars, sold by Nestlé in Canada. 15 Produced by Froneri in the U.S. since 2020.
