Düsterberg-Eissing Family Office

Düsterberg-Eissing Family Office

DEFO was established in 2016 in Neuss, Germany, to unify and deploy the wealth created by Karl Düsterberg’s 1958 founding of apetito, the Rhine-based frozen-meals and catering group that now operates across Germany, the UK, and continental Europe. The third generation — including Jan-Phillip Eissing, Robert Düsterberg, and Christoph Düsterberg — holds active roles in both the family office and the operating company, creating a direct line between the cash-generating enterprise and the investment portfolio. The firm allocates across private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, real estate, and infrastructure, targeting long-term value rather than short-term liquidity events. Its posture is build-and-hold: demonstrated by the Schloss Reuschenberg commercial property in Neuss and a dedicated Pheroh real estate portfolio across Germany. Confirmed investments lean toward the energy transition, and the team sources directly, requiring introductions through its network rather than cold deal submissions. The geographic footprint spans Europe, with the family office maintaining presence in Neuss and Hamburg alongside the apetito operational bases in Rheine and Trowbridge, UK. DEFO operates with a lean, family-led structure. Jan-Phillip Eissing is also an active member of The Entrepreneurs Club, hosting events at apetito that connect the office to a broader European family-business network. The same generation that directs the family office also fills the deputy chair roles at apetito AG, making the boundary between operational cash flow and invested assets unusually porous. A recent observable signal is the maintenance of the Karl Düsterberg Stiftung, chaired by Katharina Düsterberg with Beate Düsterberg-Eissing as honorary chair, which sits alongside the wealth-management activities. What distinguishes DEFO is its embedded architecture. The office does not sit above the operating business as a separate allocator — it is woven into apetito's governance, with the third generation running both the company and the capital it generates. No external managers are listed, and the firm explicitly resists unsolicited approaches, guarding its deal flow as closely as a private holding company would.