Lidl was founded by Josef Schwarz, a German businessman who focused on opening grocery stores in his home country, and the chain didn't expand into more of Europe until 1977. Aldi, on the other hand, was founded by German brothers Theo and Karl Albrecht, who quickly expanded their grocery chain across the globe.
The brothers split the company in 1960, reportedly over a dispute about whether they should sell cigarettes. Karl believed they would attract shoplifters, while his brother, Theo, did not. This led to Theo running Aldi Nord and Karl running Aldi Süd. At the time, they jointly owned 300 shops.
It's a common misconception that the same company owns both Aldi and Lidl — while they are both German discount grocery stores, it's Aldi and Trader Joe's that share the same owner.
Who owns Aldi? Aldi was founded in 1948 by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht, Aldi UK is owned by a German company called Albrecht Discounts. In its most recently published results for the year ending December 2022, the supermarket made pre-tax profit of £153m, while annual sales increased by almost £2bn to £15.5bn.
The Weird, But True Story Behind The Brothers Who Started Aldi
Who actually owns Aldi?
Owned by a German company called Albrecht Discounts, ALDI is a discount grocery chain that started in Germany in 1948. Decidedly no frills, the company stocks virtually all house-brand products, all offered at very low prices thanks to exclusive deals with their suppliers, many of which are big-name producers.
Lidl (German pronunciation: [ˈliːdl̩]LEE-dəl) is a trademark, used by two German international discount retailer chains that operates over 12,650 stores. The LD Stiftung operates the stores in Germany and the Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG in 30 other countries.
Despite persistent rumors, Aldi and Lidl are not related in any way, though it is a very common misconception. When you first compare the two, it's easy to see why people believe that the companies are related.
The parent company of Lidl, Schwarz Group, has remained the biggest European grocery retailer by a significant margin with 2022 revenues topping 154 billion euros. Aldi (Nord and Sud) figures are yet to be released, but it remains unlikely that the company will reach its main competitor.
Few supermarket chains are as ubiquitous or as popular as Aldi with 2,031 stores in the United States and over 11,000 stores worldwide. The store's founders, the brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht were estimated to be worth a total of 38.8 billion dollars in 2014.
In 1961, the Albrecht Family founded the world's first discount grocery store in Germany. 16 years later in 1976, we opened our first ALDI store in Iowa. Today, with our ALDI headquarters in Batavia, Illinois, we have grown to more than 2,400 stores across 38 states with more than 45,000 employees.
The abduction of Theo Albrecht, who co-founded the discount supermarket chain ALDI with his brother Karl. The brothers shunned publicity and there were few photos of them. So, when two armed men confronted Theo outside his company headquarters in late 1971, they demanded to see ID.
Aldi has been the cheapest supermarket every month since November 2023 and it was also the overall cheapest supermarket last year. However, Lidl is invariably close behind and is the second-cheapest supermarket every month, charging £1.99 more than Aldi, on average, across 2024.
The richest person in Germany is Klaus-Michael Kuehne, with a net worth of 36.27 billion. What is the primary industry of the majority of billionaires in the top 10 list of billionaires in Germany? The majority of billionaires in the top list of Germany are from the Fashion & Retail industry.
Adolf "Adi" Dassler (3 November 1900 – 6 September 1978) was a German cobbler, inventor, member of the Nazi Party, and businessman who founded sportswear giant Adidas. He was also the younger brother of Rudolf Dassler, founder of Puma.
Waitrose continued to be the most expensive supermarket, with an average price of £242.91 for the 100-item basket – £57.08, or 31%, more expensive than Aldi.
Over the 52 weeks to 13 July 2025, Lidl's market share of food and drink climbed to 7.7%, overtaking Morrisons which recorded a 7.6% share. Lidl achieved this despite being behind Morrisons in broader market share figures.
Aldi has been named the cheapest supermarket in June, with an average household basket full of groceries and other essentials coming in at £131.52, a study by consumer group Which? found.
By 1962 they had over 300 stores - and the first Aldi store in Britain opened in Birmingham in 1990. However, 30 years later, many Brits are just realising what the name stands for. Aldi is derived from Albrect-Diskont, which in English means Albrecht's Discount.
Aldi has never declared that it will donate store revenue to Israel during the conflict and any such claims are completely untrue. One of Aldi’s core principles is to remain independent of any political views and situations.
The first permanent self-service grocery store in the United Kingdom was opened 12 January 1948 in Manor Park, London by the Co-op, with Tesco opening their first self-service grocery store and Marks & Spencer starting a trial of self-service in the same year.
In 1977, Josef's son Dieter Schwarz focused the company on discount supermarkets. He didn't want to use his own last name since Schwarz-Markt in German literally means “black market.” So they went with his father's business partner's last name, Lidl.
