Siegfried Meister

Siegfried Meister was born on October 17, 1938 in Landsberg am Lech, Germany, Germany. Siegfried Meister, an electrical engineer who didn't like how food was prepared at the restaurant chain for which he worked, founded Rational AG in 1973. He owns 63% of the publicly traded company and chairs the supervisory board. Based in the Bavarian town of Landsberg, Rational has a 54% share of the global market for thermal food preparation appliances -- ovens, steamers and grills -- used in large-scale and commercial kitchens around the world, including the White House and Buckingham Palace. The $589 million (2015 sales) company, which went public in 2000, has grown consistently in the past 20 years, without acquisitions, and prides itself on innovative and energy-efficient technology. Its SelfCookingCenter 5 Senses line debuted in 2014 -- offering, among other features, controls and sensors for adjusting and monitoring cabinet cooking conditions and implementing customized chef specifications such as browning. Its heart, the control software, is fine-tuned for every country. There's ample room for future growth: According to Rational, of the potential three million customers, 90 percent don't currently own one of its products. Meister and his wife still come into the company, which employs around 1,530 people, every day to eat with the managers.
Siegfried Meister is a member of Manufacturing