Bio-Company opens twentieth organic supermarket

A success story par excellence! In the decade that Georg Kaiser and Hubert Bopp have been guiding the fortunes of Bio-Company, this regional chain has gone from strength to strength, and you don’t find anything like it elsewhere. On 16 February 2011they opened their twentieth store (500 m²) in Berlin’s Reichsstraße, and more new openings are on the agenda of the two owners and managing directors. Despite having nearly 50 organic supermarkets already, greater Berlin, with about 3.5 million people, still has potential, said Kaiser in an interview with Organic-Market.Info. The main suppliers of Bio Company are the regional wholesalers Terra and Midgard. (Picture: Enticing fruit and vegetable department in Spandau)As Georg Kaiser explains: “If you want to expand from two or three to five stores, that’s incomparably more difficult than from 15 to 19.” For example, when a new store is opened, one or two well trained staff can be taken from all the other stores.

In 2010, four new stores were opened across Berlin: in Glienecke (March), Wilmersdorf (April), Köpenick (June) and Prenzlauer Berg (December). The store that was opened in 2005 in Spandau was closed for five and a half weeks for complete renovation. “We’ve got a full programme for 2011 as well,” the 44-year-old Kaiser told us. On 10 March they will be opening their second store this year (380 m²), and two or three will follow in the autumn. In the meantime, they have planned to extend and renovate their most successful organic supermarket, namely their “best location” store in the Zehlendorf neighbourhood. It will be expanded from 700 m² to 1000 m². Its big advantage is that it has its own car park for 60 cars with direct access to the store. Georg Kaiser is relieved that the company has pulled through the five lean years after the Spandau store was opened. Now the
600 m ² store – well positioned on the main road – is a big hit with customers. (Picture: Shelf signs for especially good buys)

After several different approaches over the last decade, the store concept has now been standardized. Horizontal, white glazed pine from FSC-certified timber are the main feature that you see in all the new stores. Other features are white, rounded balustrades and sepia-grey floor tiles. “But we’re also insistent on being environmentally friendly and energy-saving in our design detail,” explains Georg Kaiser. For example, a bump strip running round the checkouts is made from natural rubber instead of from PVC, the chilled counters have energy-saving LED lighting and the HQI ceiling lamps have very efficient reflectors. Before moving in, they had the walls redecorated with natural paints.

Another special feature of Bio Company stores is the bakery department (picture on right) that is located near the entrance. This department opens at 7.30 while for the rest of the store the opening time is 8.00. Most stores have a bistro too (picture below on left) where you can have hot food at lunch time and coffee and cakes in the afternoon. On average, they serve 40 – 50 lunches per day. “The bistros don’t bring in much money, but they are a part of our service package and they keep our customers coming through the doors,” says Kaiser. There are just two stores where they have not been able to provide this extra bonus for customers because of lack of space.

Bio Company employs 525 people in its 20 stores, of whom 75 are trainees. With the company growing so dynamically, they have a really good chance of permanent jobs. Various groups come together regularly – for example all the store managers – to sort out important issues. “I consider this kind of participation in decision making very important for motivating our staff and retaining their commitment,” is how Kaiser explains his approach. Four cosmeticians alternate between the stores – so on average there is one in every cosmetics department once a week. Since 2008 Bio Company has invested in a member of staff who has specific responsibility for expansion, checks out potential store locations, oversees new openings and is in charge of the company’s physical assets. However, the actual planning of the interior of the stores is done by Bio Company’s energetic managing director himself.

Only two projects turned out to be a flop – a shop located in the basement of a shopping centre in Braunschweig that closed after a year and a store on the outskirts of Hamburg. “In contrast, our store in downtown Hamburg near the train station is doing very well”, Kaiser is pleased to report. If they go for further expansion outside Berlin, Hamburg would be his first choice. However, he sees their future principally in the Berlin area, where they have built up a good network of regional suppliers. With the support of the federal state Brandenburg, in 2010 they produced a 38-page image brochure, with a
print-run of 30,000, in which the 40 odd organic companies that regularly supply Bio Company were presented in detail.

Bio Company is proud of the support it gives to a regional seed project in Greiffenberg. If they buy a biodegradable maize starch bag, customers automatically donate 2 cents to VERN (a plant-conservation organization). This puts around 15,000 euros a year in the coffers of the seed project, that uses it, for example, to conserve old vegetable varieties.

“It was love that brought me to Berlin in 1999,” reminisces Georg Kaiser (picture below), who grew up as the son of an Edeka retailer in the mountains of Bavaria – the Fichtelgebirge. It was his girlfriend who drew his attention to Bio Company, that had recently been launched, and a short time later in January 2000 he joined the company with a minority stake. Before leaving the business, the founder, Undine Paul, wanted to bring in commercial expertise, and to this day Robert Erler is still in charge of publicity as an external partner. The rest of the shares were sold by Paul in 2002 to Georg Kaiser and in 2003 to his friend Hubert Bopp. “I grew up, as it were, under the counter,” says Georg Kaiser with a smile. “When I was eight I delivered advertising leaflets – at ten I was operating the till. In 1994, he obtained a qualification in commercial management, and in 2000 he qualified as a specialist advisor for wholefoods. To raise the capital he needed to buy his way into Bio Company in those early days when he was 33, he sold his old Mercedes.

Apart from being a managing director of Bio Company and the father of four children, Georg Kaiser is involved in the organic retail trade organisation BNN Einzelhandel where, in 2010, he was elected to the board. In this capacity, one of his top priorities is to promote closer cooperation between organic associations. He thinks it would make sense to create three pillars within one strong overarching organization (BÖLW – the association of the organic food industry) representing manufacturing, trade and agriculture (see our earlier report). In the meantime, some success has been achieved, with the two BNN organizations (one representing retailers, the other manufacturers, processors and wholesalers) working together much better. Also a joint product range check of member businesses is now carried out, and training guidelines have been established. At trade fairs like Bio-Süd and Bio-Nord, they presented themselves for the first time for many years on a joint stand. Kaiser says the low level of organization of the retail trade is regrettable: “We desperately need new members”, he says in the hope of support. (Picture: Signs indicating regional products)