About Tiefkühlkost

Tiefkühlkost

Tiefkühlkost, published as the TK-Report, is the only frozen-food trade magazine in the German language, the Fachzeitschrift that the industry's professionals read. It serves the professionals of the frozen-food industry in all its sectors as a modern, high-quality communications platform: detailed analyses and reports on companies, products, brands, markets, makers, and trends, available in this breadth and depth only in this trade journal, the einzige Tiefkühl-Fachmagazin in deutscher Sprache. Published nine times a year plus a free-from special edition by the SN-Verlag Michael Steinert of Hamburg, it reaches the German-speaking frozen-food industry with a base circulation of 6,500 copies, the Basis-Auflage the publisher's about page states. The title has reflected the market's events for more than 45 years, the Marktgeschehen that the magazine has mirrored since the 1973 founding.

Overview

TK-Report is the frozen-food industry's specialist medium. Its readers are the professionals who manufacture, buy, and sell frozen food, or who help the frozen-food economy with technology and logistics to produce it and to store and transport it with an unbroken cold chain, the Tiefkühlkette that the magazine's technology coverage follows. The magazine appears nine times a year, plus a free-from special edition, and is distributed in the German-speaking area with a base circulation of 6,500 copies, with additional print runs for special issues.

The editorial program offers an excellent overview and the best utilization possibilities: the product forum puts individual product groups in focus on a rotating monthly basis, and the out-of-home market and brand/private-label forums reach the buyers in a target-group-oriented way, the zielgruppenorientierte Einkäufer-Ansprache the media data promise. The annual issue in February and the trend issues in autumn serve as long-term buying guides, the langfristige Einkaufsführer for the industry's buyers. The detailed annual topic plan is published in the media data, the Themenplan that guides the advertisers' and readers' year.

Online, tk-report.de carries the latest news and products, and the newsletters regularly supply the readers with frozen-fresh news, the tiefkühlfrischen Nachrichten the site promises. The magazine thus combines the print trade journal with a digital news operation that keeps the industry informed between issues, the moderne, hochwertige Kommunikations-Plattform the about page describes.

History

The magazine's history is the story of Dr. Albert Vollmer, its founder, long-time editor-in-chief, and publisher. In November 1965, the freshly appointed editor-in-chief of Tiefkühl-Praxis at the Deutscher Fachverlag wrote his first "Heißes Thema" (hot topic) on the state of the frozen-food economy, which had just crossed the threshold of one billion Deutschmarks in turnover, the Lage der Tiefkühlwirtschaft that became his life's subject. Month after month, year after year, countless publications followed: commenting, praising, criticizing, scolding, always open and from the gut.

Until the early 1970s, the business economist Dr. rer. pol. Albert Vollmer remained editor-in-chief of Tiefkühl-Praxis, until his employer decided to take the magazine in a different direction, the anderen Weg that prompted his own founding. Vollmer was determined to continue accompanying the frozen-food economy journalistically and founded his own trade magazine: the tiefkühl-report, kurzerhand gegründet as the obituary recounts. The first issue appeared in April 1973 in his own publishing house in Obernburg. It was a difficult, laborious build-up, but it succeeded, and the tiefkühl-report became the industry's trade journal.

For a good 50 years, Vollmer accompanied the frozen-food economy with his "Heißen Themen," helping to shape the image of frozen food, the einmalige Sache of Tiefkühlkost he was proud to have accompanied. He died on May 14, 2016, in Walldürn at the age of 87, after a long, serious illness, as his former publishing managing director Noela Hassloch reported, closing the 50-year publizistische Begleitung of the frozen-food economy. The magazine continues under the SN-Verlag Michael Steinert of Hamburg, at An der Alster 21 in the 20099 district, with the editorial office at the same address and the reader service alongside it.

Coverage and Content

TK-Report's coverage spans the frozen-food industry's full value chain. Company reports and product news cover the manufacturers, from the frozen-food producers to the ice-cream makers, the Firmen, Produkte, Marken, Märkte, Macher und Trends the about page lists. Market analyses track the category's performance, as in the YouGov Consumer Index reports that the magazine publishes: the frozen-food category including ice cream grew 2.5 percent in turnover in 2025, with December 2025 up 4.6 percent year on year, and September 2025 up 3.5 percent.

The magazine covers the brands and private labels, the out-of-home market, and the makers and trends of the industry, from the Forum Außerhausmarkt to the Forum Marke/Handelsmarke. Its news operation reports the industry's personnel changes, such as Peter Ganghof's return to Aryzta Food Solutions Germany in November 2025, the trade fairs like Fish International in Bremen, and the energy management of the cold chain, as in the VDKL energy forum on electricity prices and grid fees. The country reports cover the European fish economy, from the AIPCE-CEP's renaming to Seafood Europe to the ASC's global consumer study of nearly 15,000 people in 14 countries.

Organization and Ownership

TK-Report is published by the SN-Verlag Michael Steinert of Hamburg, at An der Alster 21, 20099 Hamburg, the publisher that continues Dr. Vollmer's trade journal. The reader service is managed by Katharina Neubauer, the special issues by Luisa Wachsmuth, and the editorial office is reachable at tk-report@snfachpresse.de. The founder Dr. Albert Vollmer, who died in 2016, was succeeded by the Steinert publishing house, which now manages the reader service, the special issues, and the editorial office.

Current editor-in-chief details are not publicly confirmed in the sources reviewed; the magazine's editorial office operates from the Hamburg address. The publisher's media data carry the detailed annual topic plan, the circulation figures, and the advertising rates for the print and digital offerings, the Mediadaten the about page points to.

Industry Context

The magazine reports on one of Germany's largest food categories. According to the annual sales statistics of the Deutsches Tiefkühlinstitut (dti), the industry association, total sales of frozen products in Germany grew 2.5 percent in 2025 to 4.238 million tonnes, with turnover up 4.5 percent to 23.6 billion euros. Per-capita consumption reached a record 51.6 kilograms, and 96 percent of households bought frozen products in 2024, per the YouGov Shopper Panel. The category's rise spans seven decades: frozen products were first presented to the German grocery trade at the Anuga in Cologne in 1955, and per-capita consumption has grown from 800 grams in 1960 to today's levels. The Anuga Frozen Food fair remains the industry's global meeting point, and the magazine's YouGov Consumer Index reporting places TK-Report at the center of the category's data flow, between the manufacturers, the retailers, and the out-of-home market.

Digital Presence

Tk-report.de is the magazine's digital home, with the latest news and products updated continuously, from the Aryzta personnel news to the Kaufland ice-cream discounts and the Edeka Nord central warehouse. The site's news archive documents the industry's recent history, from the February 2026 Fish International in Bremen to the March 2026 takeover of Kamps by Argos and the July 2026 heat wave's boost to the frozen-food turnover, a running record of the market the print magazine has reflected for more than 45 years.

The newsletters regularly supply the readers with frozen-fresh news, extending the print magazine's reach between the nine annual issues and the free-from special edition, the digital rhythm of the frozen-food trade journal. Dedicated apps or podcasts for the TK-Report brand are not detailed in the sources reviewed; the brand's digital presence rests on its website, its newsletters, and the print magazine's special editions that serve as long-term buying guides for the frozen-food industry's professionals, the Jahresheft and Trendhefte the media data describe.