The Ochsenfurt plant was founded in 1951 and was the first new factory built after 1945. But the origins of the factory date back to 1919. That was when Zuckerfabrik Frankenthal AG purchased lands in Ochsenfurt to build a raw sugar mill. However, no plant was constructed. In 1938, Süddeutsche Zucker AG finally built a drying facility for beet pellets on today's site. A few of the buildings remain and parts of some systems are still in operation. These properties and suboperations represented forty-nine percent of Süddeutsche Zucker AG's share capital in Zuckerfabrik Franken GmbH, of which a fifty-one percent majority was owned by Süddeutsche Zuckerrübenverwertungs Genossenschaft (SZVG).

At the end of the 1953 campaign, the new factory was already able to process 2,400 tonnes of beets per day. By optimizing the existing systems and making a number of small investments, the factory was able to increase its processing capacity to 7,000 tonnes of beets per day by the early 70s. During the mid-70s, the plant capacity was expanded to over 10,000 tonnes per day and through a further series of major investments, had reached in excess of 15,000 tonnes per day by the end of the 90s.

Ochsenfurt is thereby one of Südzucker's leading factories. The plant operates twenty-four hours per day during the beet campaign between mid-September and end of December. Depending on their sugar content, about 240,000 tonnes of sugar can be made from around 1.5 million tonnes of beets. About 300 tonnes of liquid sugar and approximately 2,200 tonnes of crystallized sugar are manufactured daily. In other words, the annual requirements of one German citizen are met every 0.8 seconds. The factory can thus produce enough sugar to satisfy the needs of 6.9 million consumers.

The majority of the sugar produced during the campaign is sold over the course of the year as bulk crystals for conversion by the food industry. A wide range of special products are also manufactured. This includes sugar cubes, liquid sugar for soft drinks, fudge for fillings or icing, chocolate, candies and cakes, as well as invert products used for bee food. In addition to sugar, around 100,000 tonnes of pellets and about 68,000 tonnes of Carbokalk are produced during the campaign and are shipped to farmers for use as animal feed or fertilizer. A further 20,000 tonnes of molasses are used as nutrients by the yeast and alcohol industries.

The factory employs about 200 workers, specialists who are qualified to handle the sugar extraction equipment, as well as repair and maintain the sophisticated technical systems. In addition, about fifty engineers and commercial staff work at the company's headquarters, which is also located at the site. About thirty temporary employees supplement the workforce during the campaign.

About 4,400 farmers plant sugar beets on an area of 25,200 hectares for the factory. The area covered spans from the Rhön River in the north to greater Nuremberg in the south and from the natural park Steigerwald in the east to Spessart in the west. The delivered sugar beets are inspected for quality and sugar content. Südzucker and the farmers have worked as a team to successfully improve the economics and environmental soundness of beet cultivation, and their efforts are widely recognized. The farmers cultivate and are paid for the supplied beets under contract to Südzucker. The agreements are largely defined by the EU sugar market regulations.