THE HISTORY OF TÚRÓ RUDI

The history of Pöttyös Túró Rudi goes back to 1954, when three dairy industry professionals from Hungary - industrial manager Imre Takó, Dr. Ferenc Ketting, a food industry engineer at the Hungarian Dairy Research Institute (MTKI), and factory supervisor Zsolt Borka - took a two-week study trip to the Soviet Union in order to observe socialist-style dairy production. It was there that they first saw a product which could be considered a predecessor of today’s Túró Rudi. Having no information about the name of this soft, round confection made from a mixture of cottage-cheese, butter and fat (and then sugared and coated in chocolate) they simply called it a túró (cottage-cheese) mignon. This was probably where they got the idea to develop a similar product especially suited to Hungarian tastes. The túró mignon was also mentioned in their report on the study trip, published in the pages of Tejipari Értesítő (Dairy Industry Newsletter).

Since MTKI had no central manufacturing plant during the 1960s, its different operations functioned at the Erzsébetváros Dairy Factory on 31 Rottenbiller Street in Budapest, and it was also here that practical development of the new product first took place under the direction of production manager Rudolf Mandeville and his small team at the factory.

Many people mistakenly attribute the name ’Rudi’ to Mandeville, but the name actually came from Sándor Klein, a young psychologist enlisted to create the packaging design, and who was responsible for the initial advertising campaign as well. The original Túró Rudi wrapper, decorated with the image of a red, pig-tailed little girl, was developed by two of Klein’s students at the College of Applied Arts and displayed the characteristic dotted pattern right from the start. Although the brand name seemed innocent enough, it did not meet with complete approval among industry “professionals” – the head of the advertising division at News Publishing Company at the time regarded it as downright obscene and refused to allow the newspapers published by the company to print it. This also meant that there was no promotion to support the introduction of the product.

Mass production was launched at the Erzsébetváros Dairy Factory in 1968, but the operation was soon transferred to Szabolcs County due to poor manufacturing conditions e.g. lack of space and insufficient environment. The original wooden production equipment in Budapest was first disassembled and then transported to Nyíregyháza, where it was then reassembled prior to a trial run that lasted for several weeks. It was around this time that the Nyíregyháza factory began to manufacture a series of other products as well, such as butter-cream, which again resulted in crowded conditions. Hence the machine was moved once more following the trial run, this time to the cottage-cheese factory located next to the old railway station in Mátészalka. This factory consisted of two spaces; the Túró Rudi machine was located on the top floor, where the cottage-cheese was prepared in a 10,000-litre container. When production was launched, the rudi-maker was equipped with six feeding cones that dispensed long cottage-cheese “snakes” which were then sliced into 3-dk bars by 25-30 workers operating in three shifts – they judged the size of the bars with the only technology available at the time: by eye.
Production continued here until the 20th of August 1970, when a new factory was established in Mátészalka, but since the new facility contained no separate section for Túró Rudi manufacturing, rudis were still produced in the cottage-cheese division. A separate department for Túró Rudi production was first set up during the 1980s.

In the beginning, Túró Rudis had a very brief shelf-life of only 3 days, 1 of which was spent in the logistics division. Despite initial refrigeration conditions and the short expiration time, sales were not a problem. Customers in shops grabbed up the new product almost immediately, creating a constant demand for Túró Rudi.

At first, the product was sold in the vicinity of Mátészalka and also in Budapest, then further distributed to western regions as production capacity increased. Túró Rudi production in Nagybánhegyes was launched in 1981, which meant genuine competition for the Mátészalka factory up to the 90s, when both plants continued operating under the aegis of the Nutricia Group (the Nagybánhegyes plant was shut down in 1999). The machine necessary for production in Nagybánhegyes was purchased from the Szerencs Chocolate Factory and functioned with 12 feeding cones and the help of 1 female worker who cut the bars in three rows with a hand-operated slicer. The dunking machine was obtained from East Germany, and as in the case of Mátészalka, compressors were used to provide refrigeration. It was not until the early ’90s that the original wooden machine was replaced by new equipment developed by the factory itself. In Nagybánhegyes, rudis were mainly produced in 2 shifts by approximately 10-11 workers on each shift. During the early ’80s, as in Mátészalka, the products still had a brief shelf-life of only 3-4 days, but this increased to 14 days in the course of further development, which also led to the introduction of several new flavours in addition to the basic non-flavoured rudis produced in the beginning.

Túró Rudis with authentic flavours (walnut, peanut) and their chocolate-coated versions were first manufactured in Nagybánhegyes, but as product development continued during the ‘70s numerous different products were introduced, mainly throughout the 80s and 90s. These included mineral-enriched Kalci and Cinki-Rudis, but consumer demand soon led to the development of dentally-friendly Xilite rudis, Thermo rudis with a long shelf-life, the Mézes Misi family of products as well as Tini és Fradi rudis. The factory in Mátészalka worked on developing more traditional flavours, resulting in strawberry, peach, raspberry, cranberry and coconut rudis as well as the more health-concsious Túró Robi and Túró Rudi Aktivit. After the millennium, raisin, peanut-butter, milk-coated versions were also developed in Mátészalka in addition to the different multi-packs (double, 5-pack, and the latest 8-pack). In all cases of development, the fundamental approach is to preserve the original taste while continuously updating production technology.

Ongoing development has been evident not only in terms of the product itself, but also in packaging, technical improvement, and advertising. In the beginning, products in Mátészalka were packaged by hand, much like the way in which traditional Hungarian Christmas sweets were enclosed by twisting both ends of the foil wrapper. Later, this method was replaced by more up-to-date machinery and packaging materials, including the tinfoil wrapping utilised during the 80s and the consumer-friendly opening strip introduced after 2000. Pöttyös products have been regularly displayed at various trade fairs and food product exhibitions over the last few decades, winning nearly twenty different awards recognising their quality, uniqueness and innovation.

Promotion and marketing have also improved greatly over time, beginning with leaflets and calendars, later followed by newspaper and TV ads. In the late 80s and early 90s, the factories were already organising various prize competitions as well as sponsoring promotional events. The growing popularity of the Pöttyös brand was made clear in an extremely successful hit song about Túró Rudi, written by 100 Folk Celsius, a well-known Hungarian folk band of the 80s and 90s. Since 2000, the brand has undergone continuous rejuvenation, in the course of which not only its packaging, but also its message have taken on a fresh and youthful image.

Along with its domestic success, Pöttyös has also conquered markets outside of Hungary. Túró Rudi was introduced to Romania and Slovakia in 2004 under the name Dots and as of 2006, the brand also became available to shoppers in Italian Auchan stores, after which it gained tremendous popularity in Spain as well. In 2007 two new innovations took place with the introduction of the brands Pöttyös Túró Bonbon and Pöttyös Ice-cream, both of which are only available on a seasonal basis.

Continued fondness expressed by shoppers as well as recognition among business and food industry professionals provides strong testimony to decades of work behind the production and development of the Pöttyös brand. As its manufacturers, we take great pride in the knowledge that Pöttyös Túró Rudi is a true Hungarian delicacy that continues to evolve and create joy for consumers.