Bio Company: double-digit growth and further expansion

In 2014, the German Bio Company continued to consolidate its position as the major organic supermarket operator and market leader in the Berlin‐Brandenburg region. Across the whole of Germany this Berlin chain is now among the top three in terms of the number of stores. In 2014 the company experienced double-digit growth in turnover for the second year in succession (€114m – a rise of 14 percent compared with the year before. Its subsidiary Biomanufaktur Havelland is a success story too. The turnover of the meat and sausage processor, taken over in 2014, amounted to €5.5m. For 2015, Bio Company is planning to extend its network to as many as 50 stores.

Picture: Two years after the takeover, the Bio Company subsidiary Biomanufaktur Havelland is in the black and supplies the 42 Bio Company stores with meat and sausage products.

The regional concept of Bio Company has paid off

From the outset, this Berliner enterprise has been very keen on regional partners – that is now paying off. Many customers value regional quality and the credible philosophy of the chain. In this way, Bio Company has created a brand and it’s an image that it promotes in its marketing too. Posters with the portraits of regional manufacturers hang in the stores, regional goods are identified on the labels, and reference is always being made to regional partnerships in, for example, the customer magazine. The company’s prominent presence at this year’s International Green Week in Berlin (see our report) has no doubt given further impetus to the regional image and raised customers’ awareness level of BioCompany. And lastly, the company makes a significant contribution to the region in terms of employment: in February 2015, Bio Company employed 1,236 people, of whom 115 are trainees.

Picture: Georg Kaiser with the store manager in their most recent store in Berlin-Hasenheide.

Supporting small-scale farming

The regional partner network is extensive and offers a wide choice of products from Berlin, Brandenburg and the adjacent federal states. Thus up to 40 % of fruit and vegetables, for example, are sourced from the region at peak times in the season. In the case of bread, bakery goods, meat and sausage the figure is 75 % all year round, and practically 100 % of eggs and milk are local. Above all, the company wants to support small farmers. "Even in the organic sector in the EU there are now a number of farms that together supply up to 100,000 eggs or more a day. We’re definitely against this kind of industrial production,” maintains CEO Georg Kaiser. “We’ve had partner farms for years with a maximum of seven flocks. We think this is important, especially to uphold the quality of the eggs and in particular for animal welfare.” And he emphasizes the point: “We’re just as keen to ensure that small and medium production units in the region have a future.”

Picture: A lot of products come from the region. Bio Company’s partner companies supply from Berlin, Brandenburg and the adjacent federal states.

Rapidly extending the store network

The Berlin market leader intends to keep on extending the store network. In January, they opened the 42nd store, and by the end of 2015 the target is 50 outlets. The locations planned for this year are in Hamburg-Altona, Berlin-Wilmersdorf, Berlin-Zehlendorf, Berlin-Schöneberg,  Prenzlauer Berg, two in Kreuzberg and one in Dresden.

Picture: Part of the Bio Company network since the middle of January: a store in a busy street in the south-east of Berlin

Biomanufaktur Havelland with turnover of 5.5 million euros
 
In 2013, Bio Company took over the insolvent meat and sausage products company Biomanufaktur Havelland that had annual turnover of €2.4m. The subsidiary is the biggest organic meat processor in the Berlin/Brandenburg region. Biomanufaktur is on a growth curve and in the second year after being taken over it is already in the black. Turnover in 2014 came to a good €5.5m after managing director Thomas Schubert implemented a number of new approaches and optimized the product range. Biomanufaktur Havelland is known above all for its Havelländer Bio‐Apfelschwein (local pork), Müritzlamm (lamb) and Uckermärcker Rind (beef). They also offer various sausage specialities and, in 2014, pre-packed sausage products were added for the self-service counters. At their location in Velten, they are intent on investing in the future. Thus they will increase the number of smoke chambers, and a new refrigeration plant plus a photovoltaic array combined with a power and heat cogeneration plant are at the planning stage. The number of employees is also progressing well: in 2013, the company kept on 15 employees from the insolvent Biomanufaktur, and now it employs 23 people.

Picture: Biomanufaktur Havelland is known above all for its local pork, lamb and beef. They also offer various sausage specialities.

Investing heavily in training

They are taking a comprehensive approach to training: in January 2015, six trainees took part in an EU exchange programme and they completed a four weeks of practical training in organic shops in London, including a language course. “Berlin is an international city with the corresponding public. So customers are really pleased when they find someone in a Bio Company store who speaks to them in English. We’re delighted to support a qualification of this kind,” says the head of training Karen Koch. The company is also pleased to report that it continues to employ many of the trainees when they have completed their apprenticeship: in 2014/2015 85 % were retained.

Picture: Georg Kaiser is delighted that many young people choose to do their training at Bio Company – with a wide variety of activities and modern, it has a lot to offer.

Bio Company in brief


Last year Bio Company celebrated its 25th anniversary. It is a keen supporter of organic agriculture and is a founding member of the Fördergemeinschaft Ökologischer Landbau Berlin‐Brandenburg (FÖL) (an organization promoting organic agriculture) and has been a member since the beginning of 2013 of the Märkische Wirtschaftsverbund (a regional business association) and it encourages its “fair & regional” initiative. CEO Georg Kaiser is also an active member of the board of BNN (Bundesverband Naturkost und Naturwaren e.V. – the national association representing processors, wholesalers and retailers of organic food). In its national survey - Rank a Brand - regarding ecological sustainability of supermarkets, Bio Company came first in 2014, as it had done 2013.


You can also read our article about the development of the metropolitan region Berlin-Brandenburg here.

All photos by Karin Heinze