The first tobacco trade businesses belonged to Ottoman, Armenian,
Jewish and Greek tobacco merchants, members of the diverse
national communities that coexisted in the Ottoman Empire.
The composition of the tobacco workforce itself was also
multicultural. The non-discrimination between the workers of the
diverse nationalities is clearly stated in the charter of the
Tobacco Workers International Union that was based in Kavala
(1908).
The first big company that settled in Kavala in the middle of the
19th century was the House of Allatini, the well known Italian
family of Thessaloniki. Later, the House was renamed into
"Commercial Company of Salonica Ltd", and relocated its
headquarters in London.
The Abbott Brothers moved from Thessaloniki to Kavala in 1858 and
in 1884 followed the French Monopoly of REGIE (In the building
that nowadays hosts the Mall).
The Austro-Hungarian "The Oriental Tobacco Trading Company Ltd"
(M.L. Herzog et Cie) based in Budapest settled in Kavala in 1890.
At the same period, another company, of English interests this
time and with its headquarters based in London the "N. Mayer et
Cie Ltd" also opened a branch in the city.
In 1901, the "American Tobacco Company"(ATC) moved in Kavala
together with "Alston", "Gary", "M. Melachrino", as well as the
Jewish "Schinasi Bros" which had its headquarters in New York.
More or less at the same period, the Cairo tobacco industries of
A. Chelmis, K. Doulgaridis, N. Tsinaklis, M. Melachroinos,
Demetrios and the Armenian O. Matossian founded some great tobacco
Trade Houses in Kavala. Actually, in 1910, the great companies
(Commercial, Herzog and ATC) were employing 6,000 workers in their
various Warehouses.
