Germany’s Schwarz family controls Schwarz Group, the parent company of Lidl and Kaufland.
Josef Schwarz founded the company in 1930 as a fruit and vegetable wholesaler in Heilbronn, Germany. His son, Dieter Schwarz, expanded the business and developed its modern retail structure. The group later became one of Europe’s largest food retailers.
Lidl operates discount supermarkets in numerous countries, while Kaufland runs larger hypermarket-style stores. Although both brands belong to Schwarz Group, they have different formats and branding. A common mix-up is to associate Lidl with the Albrecht family, but the Albrechts own Aldi, a separate German discount retailer.
The family’s investment arm, Schwarz Unternehmenskommunikation, oversees the group’s corporate interests. Schwarz Group is privately held, making it a major example of a family-controlled retail business rather than a publicly traded supermarket corporation.