Sept. 23, 2022 – No matter how one slices it or dices it, Friedr. Dick (F. DICK), a German company founded in 1778 to manufacture steel files and rasps, and then knives beginning in 1889, has a sharp edge with professional chefs and butchers and more recently, culinary aficionados at home.
Johann Friedrich Dick, the company’s 18th century founder from Esslingen, Germany, set high quality standards that remain to this day as the company’s seventh generation of the Dick family leads the business in the 21st century. Johann’s manufacturing processes laid the foundation for the company’s steady growth and long term viability. “The industrial transition from making files and rasps was brought over to manufacture cutlery products,” Steve Kurek, General Manager, Friedr. Dick US, said to Chaîne during an Aug. 25 telephone interview.
Holding a knife made by Friedr. Dick craftsmen is in essence, holding almost 250 years of product design and history. Steve explained that the foremost factor in knife design has been and will always be the balance between the blade and the handle. “One of our primary goals in the development and manufacturing of our cutlery is that the end user is comfortable with the knife,” he said. For comfort, the blade cannot be too heavy and repetitive motion, sometimes up to eight hours at a time, cannot strain the arm or hand. In addition to its ergonomic design, the knife must fulfill the task at hand. “It has to be 100 percent functional and get the job done the way the chef or the cook is looking to have the product perform,” he added.
Next spring when Provincial winners of Chaîne’s Jeunes Chefs Rôtisseurs Competition meet at Madison Area Technical College in Madison, Wisconsin to determine the national winner who will represent the United States at the International Competition, they will be using F. DICK knives. As a sponsor of the competition, Friedr. Dick has been committed to the culinary industry at all levels for many years.
In addition to their support for Chaîne’s Jeunes Chefs, they are a sponsor of the American Culinary Federation (ACF) Culinary World Cup Teams and ACF Culinary Olympic Teams.
Steve and company representatives recently returned from the 2022 World Butchers’ Challenge in Sacramento where Friedr. Dick was a primary sponsor. The global competition in Sacramento marked the first time the elite competition was held in the United States and the world was able to watch via live stream.
“All competitions are important to Friedr. Dick because we want to put the finest manufactured and sharpest products into the hands of the competitors to give them the tools to be successful. It’s important for us to invest in the future of our industry,” Steve said.
Company History
In 1875, Paul Friedrich Dick took over the company as the family-owned business approached its Centennial. With European factories humming at the advent of the Industrial Revolution, Germany was no exception. The company constructed its first file-making machine. Deftly balancing new technology with sales efforts, Paul kept a keen focus on his customers, guiding the company to supply many area butcher shops with sharpening steels. He created a firm foundation for the path the company charted at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century.
The company expanded into North America after exhibiting at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis where they earned an international gold medal. Soon the company had professional chefs on all seven continents using their knives. With that worldwide handprint, the company continued to grow and today is a multi-million Euro company in annual revenue.
Honoring long held traditions for excellence in manufacturing does not preclude innovation and adoption of new techniques. As robotic manufacturing entered factories, in 2010 Friedr. Dick merged programmable mechanical devices into their manufacturing facilities to ensure precision and reliability. “Robotics allows us to produce knives at the highest efficiency rate so that when the knives are ultimately inspected by our quality assurance and quality control departments, the knives being shipped out to the end user customer leave the factory at the highest quality that they possibly can within all specification ranges and requirements,” Steve said.
Friedr. Dick innovation even involved building a customized “mousetrap” for their customers. The company noticed a trend years ago that required a solution. “The art of grinding a knife to keep it sharp has been lost. And not many people are maintaining, practicing and passing along the knowledge to teach it properly,” Steve explained. The answer came in the form of building a new mousetrap, the Rapid Steel Action Set.
To solve the dearth of grinding experts, a problem that was not going away, about 15 years ago the company designed the Rapid Steel Action Set, a “mousetrap” to sharpen knives. The knife is sharpened by dragging the blade through metal rods.
“It allows the professional chef or the home cook to be able to put a nice edge back on their knives to hone the knife, to keep the blade straight. When you’re working with a knife that maintains its original sharpness to the edge of the knife, it makes the task you’re performing a lot easier,” Steve said. Ease of use equates to safety in this case. “It’s well known and documented that more injuries with cutlery or knives occur because of a dull knife, not a sharp knife. When the blade is dull, people use the knife incorrectly.” Incorrect usage is commonly in the form of the user putting extra pressure on the knife, which is a recipe for disaster.
Brand expansion into home kitchens
Sharply focused on sharp knives for professional chefs and the food processing industry for decades, the F. DICK brand is now gaining traction in home kitchens, especially in the last two years during the pandemic. Home cooks took the opportunity to learn new culinary skills, experiment with new recipes and host virtual parties for friends and family. Important to improving skills was improving the quality and durability of their knives. “Our knives are statement makers,” Steve said.
Steve said the company never closed either their corporate headquarters in Deizisau, Germany or their U.S. office in Farmingdale, New York one day due to the pandemic. Demand for their products remained high and they remained open for business.
Now that culinary trade shows are returning to in-person events, Friedr. Dick representatives are returning to the skies, crisscrossing the country to support their customers. Their calendar is planned as far out as 2024 when the World Culinary Olympics will be held in Stuttgart, Germany. Friedr. Dick will be sponsoring the American team that includes equipping each chef with F. DICK knives, vital tools in their culinary toolbox.
From young culinarians to seasoned professionals, Friedr. Dick designs products to meet every skill level and every task. For Steve, it’s essential to stay connected to their products’ end users.
“The opportunities I have to work with chefs of all calibers, elite award winning chefs, world renowned food manufacturing companies and butchers across the United States allows us to stay at the forefront of the industry. It’s not only the quality of Friedr. Dick products, but also the ingenuity, the design and the workmanship that are exceptional. We’re very proud of the products we market and sell.”
EXCLUSIVE OFFER
Chaîne members can take advantage of an exclusive offer from Friedr. Dick to purchase a set of knives in F. DICK Red Spirit series with the Chaîne logo on the blades. Available only to Chaîne members, the unique offering is a perfect holiday gift idea. Let the slicing and dicing begin! For more information, call Chaîne US at 973-360-9200.
Featured Image: F. DICK Red Spirit AJAX knife (Photo: Courtesy of Friedr. Dick)
LINKS
Friedr. Dick
Chaîne Jeunes Chefs Rôtisseurs Competition
World Culinary Olympics
World Butchers’ Challenge