Knorr
An international food brand under Unilever, offering soups, seasonings, and more in Australia. Knorr is a global food brand, owned by Unilever, whose Dutch-market range includes cooking aids, soups, sauces, stock products and meal solutions.
Last updated October 14, 2026
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Overview
Knorr is a global packaged-food brand owned by Unilever. It is principally associated with bouillon cubes, stock powders, soups, sauces, seasonings, noodles, side dishes, and other products intended to make everyday cooking faster and more flavorful. The brand is sold under locally adapted ranges and names in many countries, with recipes, pack formats, flavors, and nutritional positioning varying by market. The business traces its origins to Heilbronn, Germany, where Carl Heinrich Theodor Knorr established a food-processing enterprise in 1838. Knorr’s early industrial work focused on preserving and processing plant-based foods, including vegetables and chicory. The company later developed concentrated soup and stock products that could be stored, transported, and prepared more easily than traditional ingredients. This industrial approach helped establish the brand in an era when packaged foods were becoming increasingly important to urban households. Knorr became particularly well known for dehydrated soups and bouillon. Concentrated stock products offered consumers a practical way to add savory flavor to home cooking, while soup mixes and instant preparations reduced preparation time. Over time, the portfolio expanded beyond basic soup products into seasoning blends, gravies, sauces, noodles, rice and pasta accompaniments, ready-to-cook meals, and products for professional kitchens. In several markets, Knorr is a household name for flavor bases used in soups, stews, sauces, meat dishes, and vegetable recipes. The brand’s ownership changed as the packaged-food industry consolidated. Knorr became part of CPC International and subsequently Bestfoods. Unilever acquired Bestfoods in 2000, bringing Knorr into Unilever’s international foods portfolio alongside brands such as Hellmann’s. Knorr has since operated as a masterbrand within Unilever rather than as an independently listed company. The brand’s manufacturing, marketing, and product organization are distributed across Unilever’s country and regional businesses. Knorr’s commercial strategy combines mass-market pantry staples with localized taste profiles. Products are adapted to local cuisines, including regionally specific spice combinations, soup varieties, bouillons, sauces, and ready meals. Its marketing has traditionally emphasized family cooking, convenience, taste, and the ability of food to bring people together. More recent campaigns have sought to make the heritage brand relevant to younger consumers through digital storytelling, creator partnerships, gaming, dating-related cultural conversations, and sustainability messaging. Sustainability and vegetable-forward cooking have also become recurring themes in the brand’s communications. Knorr has promoted the idea that everyday food choices can support healthier and more environmentally responsible diets, often encouraging greater use of vegetables, pulses, and plant-based ingredients. Campaigns such as #ModtheVeg used gaming culture to challenge the comparatively low status sometimes assigned to vegetables in video games, while other initiatives have used social platforms and influencers to discuss the environmental effects of food production. Knorr remains active internationally as a broad food and meal-solutions brand. Its precise product lineup and ownership of individual local trademarks differ by country, but its common role is to provide convenient ingredients and prepared foods that help consumers cook, season, or assemble meals.
History
Knorr’s history began in 1838 in Heilbronn, Germany, when Carl Heinrich Theodor Knorr established a food-processing business. The early enterprise worked with plant-based raw materials and preservation techniques, including the processing of vegetables and chicory. Its development reflected the broader nineteenth-century shift from household food preparation toward industrial methods capable of producing consistent, shelf-stable ingredients. The company later became associated with concentrated soups and stock products. Dehydration and concentration allowed soup and bouillon to be packaged in compact forms, transported over long distances, and prepared with comparatively little effort. These products helped create a durable consumer proposition: a small quantity of a packaged ingredient could provide a recognizable base of flavor for a larger household meal. Bouillon cubes and stock powders became especially important to Knorr’s international identity. During the twentieth century, Knorr expanded its range and geographic presence. Its portfolio moved beyond soup to include seasoning blends, sauces, gravies, noodles, side dishes, and other cooking aids. Local subsidiaries and licensees adapted products to regional cuisines, producing different combinations of herbs, spices, vegetables, and stock flavors. As a result, Knorr became a multinational masterbrand with a common visual and commercial identity but market-specific product catalogs. Ownership of the business changed during the consolidation of the global packaged-food sector. Knorr became part of CPC International and later Bestfoods. In 2000, Unilever acquired Bestfoods. The transaction placed Knorr within Unilever’s food portfolio and gave the brand access to the parent company’s global distribution, marketing, research, and supply-chain capabilities. Knorr has remained a Unilever brand since that acquisition. In mature markets, the brand has increasingly presented itself as a meal-solutions provider rather than simply a soup manufacturer. Its products help consumers create meals through stock, sauces, seasonings, side dishes, instant preparations, and ready-to-cook formats. In emerging and regional markets, Knorr has also used locally familiar flavors, chef partnerships, television advertising, retail promotions, and recipe content to establish relevance in everyday cooking. Knorr’s recent brand development has emphasized cultural participation and purpose-led communication. Love At First Taste used personalized flavor profiles and matchmaking to associate taste with relationships. The Stories We Keep Inside returned to cooking as an expression of family care. The brand’s Eat for Good-related work promoted the environmental importance of food choices, particularly diets with more vegetables and plant-based ingredients. #ModtheVeg entered gaming culture to challenge the low status of vegetables in game mechanics and to reach younger audiences. Deliver Better used fast-food delivery frustration to advocate home preparation, while #ServingSingles connected cooking with social and dating recommendations. Today, Knorr is an active global food brand with a portfolio that differs by market. Its enduring identity rests on practical flavor and cooking convenience, while its newer communications seek to connect that utility with social relationships, gaming, sustainability, and healthier meal choices.
- 2026
#ServingSingles campaign
[4]Knorr used TikTok and the #DateMyFriend trend to connect cooking skills with social and dating recommendations.
- 2025
Deliver Better campaign published in the United States
[6]Knorr promoted home preparation of takeaway-style dishes through outdoor, social, and influencer advertising.
- 2022
#ModtheVeg enters gaming culture
[2]Knorr worked with gaming creators to make vegetables more appealing and prominent in game-related content.
- 2017
Love At First Taste campaign
[3]Knorr used online flavor profiling and matchmaking to reach younger consumers with a social interpretation of taste.
- 2000
Bestfoods acquired by Unilever
[10]Unilever acquired Bestfoods, bringing Knorr into its international food-brand portfolio.
- 1990
Acquisition by CPC International
[8]Knorr became part of CPC International, which operated the brand before its later transfer to Bestfoods.
- 1838
Knorr food business established in Heilbronn
[1]Carl Heinrich Theodor Knorr established the enterprise that became associated with the Knorr food brand in Heilbronn, Germany.
Products and positioning
A mass-market, globally distributed food and meal-solutions brand positioned around accessible flavor, cooking convenience, localized culinary inspiration, and increasingly vegetable-forward eating. Everyday cooking convenience, flavor and accessible meal preparation, with product positioning adapted to local food habits and regulatory requirements.
Cooking bases
Knorr Bouillon and Stock
Bouillon cubes, stock powders, liquid stocks, and related concentrated flavor bases are among Knorr’s most recognizable products. They are used to build soups, sauces, gravies, stews, rice dishes, and other recipes. Formulations and flavors vary by market and may include meat, poultry, seafood, vegetable, and plant-based profiles. Bouillon cubes, powders and related stock products are among Knorr's best-known categories. They are designed to add savory flavor to soups, sauces, rice, vegetables and other dishes, with formats and recipes varying by country.
Soups
Knorr Soups
Knorr sells dehydrated, instant, powdered, and other packaged soup products in selected markets. These products are designed to shorten preparation time and provide consistent flavor, ranging from familiar vegetable and chicken styles to regionally adapted recipes and meal-oriented soup mixes. Knorr sells soups in formats such as dehydrated mixes, instant preparations and other convenience formats. The range is adapted to local preferences and may include both classic flavors and products positioned around vegetables or meal occasions.
Seasonings
Knorr Seasonings
The seasoning range includes dry mixes, flavor sachets, herb and spice combinations, and locally tailored cooking products. Consumers use them to season meat, vegetables, rice, pasta, noodles, soups, and sauces. Knorr's seasoning proposition combines convenience with flavors adapted to regional cooking habits.
Sauces
Knorr Sauces and Gravies
Knorr's sauces, gravies, and cooking bases are intended to help consumers finish meals or create a flavored component with limited preparation. Depending on the market, the portfolio includes powdered gravy mixes, pasta sauces, cooking sauces, and recipe bases for meat, vegetable, and plant-forward dishes.
Convenience foods
Knorr Side Dishes and Convenience Meals
In various countries, Knorr offers noodles, rice, pasta accompaniments, ready-to-cook dishes, and other convenient meal formats. These products extend the brand from an ingredient supplier into a broader meal-solutions role, helping consumers assemble a complete dish with fewer preparation steps.
Meal preparation
Knorr sauces, gravies and seasoning mixes
These products help consumers prepare sauces, gravies, marinades and seasoned dishes. They are sold as powders, concentrates, ready-to-use products or other formats depending on the market.
Marketing campaigns
- 2026#ServingSingles
International
Knorr connected cooking skills with the #DateMyFriend social trend, asking users to nominate single friends who cook well. The activation included TikTok user-generated content, media partnerships, and in-person events.
Outcome. The campaign continued Knorr’s dating-culture strategy and presented cooking as a positive social and relationship attribute.
- 2025Deliver Better
United States
The campaign used the shortcomings of fast-food delivery as a creative prompt for preparing takeaway-style meals at home with Knorr ingredients.
Outcome. The campaign positioned home cooking as faster, more controllable, and more satisfying than an unreliable delivery order.
- 2022#ModtheVeg
International
Knorr partnered with gaming creators to modify the perceived value of vegetables in video-game culture, giving vegetables stronger powers and more appealing roles in gaming content.
Outcome. Unilever reported an increase of more than 20 percent in brand association among gamers.
- 2020The Stories We Keep Inside
International
The film portrayed cooking as a way to express love and reinforce family bonds during stressful circumstances. It extended Knorr's emotional positioning beyond product utility.
Outcome. The campaign supported Knorr’s family- and care-oriented brand narrative.
- 2017Love At First Taste
United Kingdom
Consumers created personal flavor profiles and were paired according to taste preferences. The campaign reframed flavor as a source of emotional connection and used relationship storytelling to make an established food brand more relevant to millennials.
Outcome. The campaign generated attention by linking cooking and taste with dating and personal compatibility.
- Dare to Try
International
For World Eat for Good Day, Knorr used a truth-or-dare format with international content creators to discuss the environmental impact of food production and invite more sustainable eating choices.
Outcome. The initiative encouraged audiences to experiment with vegetable- and plant-centered recipes while drawing attention to food-system impacts.
Recent events
- Unconfirmed
Knorr launches “Keep Them Coming Back for Knorr” campaign in Ireland[11]
Reported:
Knorr launched a new integrated campaign in Ireland, developed by Edelman, running across out-of-home, digital and retail channels. The campaign includes a four-part social content series featuring broadcaster and content creator Doireann Garrihy and her mother Clare.
- Unconfirmed
Knorr launches vegan soup stock pots in the UK[12]
Reported:
Knorr launched a line of vegan soup stock pots in the United Kingdom in three flavors: Kaffir Lime & Ginger, Smoked Chili & Tomato, and Paprika & Sundried Tomato.
Clean Bean wins vegan/vegetarian roast dinner award[13]
Reported:
Clean Bean won the Vegan/Vegetarian category of Knorr’s Great British Roast Dinner Competition for its nut roast Sunday dinner.
Weekdays and relative dates follow the original report; their exact calendar dates have not been verified.
Sources13 sources
- 1Knorr official websiteknorr.com
- 2Unilever: How Knorr boosted brand power with its #ModtheVeg gaming campaignunilever.com
- 3Marketing Dive: Knorr uses flavor profiles in a millennial-focused campaignmarketingdive.com
- 4Marketing Dive: Knorr launches dating-focused #ServingSingles campaignmarketingdive.com
- 5Campaign Asia: Knorr promotes sustainable eating with Dare to Trycampaignasia.com
- 6Ads of the World: Deliver Betteradsoftheworld.com
- 7Ads of the World: The Stories We Keep Insideadsoftheworld.com
- 8Knorren.wikipedia.org
- 9Unilever: Knorrunilever.com
- 10Bestfoods acquired by Unileverunilever.com
- 11Knorr在爱尔兰推出“Keep Them Coming Back for Knorr”营销活动adworld.ie
- 12Knorr在英国推出纯素汤底块vegnews.com
- 13Clean Bean 获得素食烤肉晚餐奖项sunderlandecho.com
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