If I remember correctly, it was brothers that started Aldi's. After a fued, they split and one had north Germany stores and the other south stores. One brother has Aldi's and the other had stores by another name I can't remember, but also owns Trader Joe's now. There's more to it, that's just what I can remember reading lol I live in the U.S. and I like shopping at Aldi's. I went in to Trader Joe's once and the first thing I saw was a bag with big letters on the front, "made in Racine, Wisconsin." Put a bad taste in my mouth and I haven't been back.