Sonnentor’s first franchise store in Germany

On 26 May 2011, Sonnentor’s first store in Germany was opened in the shopping arcade (Stachus Passagen) under the Karlsplatz in Munich. The company is planning another one to three specialist stores in cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants. In total, the wholefood manufacturer currently has nine retail stores, of which three are operated by the company itself. From the autumn/winter of 2011 another Sonnentor store is scheduled for the town centre in Zwettl in Austria.  The first franchise store was opened in 2008 in the Austrian city of Krems. Last year, Sonnentor was awarded a franchise prize for the best newcomer in 2010. (Picture: New specialist store in Munich)

“We got the help of six people from Sonnentor to set up the shop in a very short space of time and to place the goods on the shelves according to company instructions,” says Doris Bauer-Zitz, who is the franchisee in Munich. This lady from Styria and her husband have been living for some time in the Bavarian capital, and she wanted to set up a business with a company from back home. She organized the finance herself. She has personally to finance local marketing activities, although Sonnentor offers help in the form of its marketing specialists formulating and creating advertising. There was also expert advice available on fitting out the shop, lighting, wall design and decorating. There are two different shelving systems – the cabinets in rustic style (picture on left) are made for Sonnentor in the Czech Republic, and the wall shelving with its modern look (picture on right) is produced in Linz from Styrian oak.

For ages, work was being carried out on the shopping arcade below the Karlsplatz in the centre of Munich. Now people are having to get used to the north entrance again - it was closed for months – that takes them past the Sonnentor store on the way to the city railway. To locate the store here in Munich, a daily footfall of over 6,000 people passing the store was esssential. Prior to renting the shop, Mrs Bauer-Zitz went and counted the passersby herself, and she discovered that the number was in excess of what Sonnentor required. To spread the word about her shop (approximately 80 m²), she can make use of Sonnentor’s flyer that advertises campaign items among her 600 article product range, that consists predominantly of Sonnentor goods. Just a few other manufacturers are represented, for example Zotter chocolate. (Picture: Sonnentor chocolate at 6.98 euros for 100 g).
 

All the food products are 100 % organic: teas and juices, chocolates and biscuits, vinegars and oils, honey and jam, and much more besides. In the body care section (picture), Sonnentor offers eleven shower gels, sampoos, soaps, etc., of which two are specially for men. In Germany, Sonnentor’s website lists 2,474 addresses that stock the company’s organic products. In Austria there are about 1,600 outlets, and 1,139 in Switzerland. However, most of these shops stock only a part of the product range, which is why Sonnentor runs its own specialist shops (70 – 120 m²) as well, with the intention of the full product range presenting consumers and specialist retailers with best-practice examples.
 

In the financial year 2010/2011 Sonnentor increased its turnover by around 13 % to 23 million euros. The company was founded in 1988 by Johannes Gutmann, who today still controls the destiny of the firm. The lion’s share of production – as much as 75 % - is exported to 48 countries. In the Czech Republic, where many herbs are produced for Sonnentor, there was growth of 22 %, leading to turnover of 5.5 million euros. During the last financial year, the company started developing and heavily promoting exports to Lithuania, Russia and India. 150 organic farmers supply Sonnentor with the highest quality raw materials, that for the mostpart are processed on the farms themselves - 900 tons last year. 60 % of the herbs and spices grown in central Europe come from Austria. The company’s own cropping projects concentrate on the Czech Republic, Rumania and Albania. Recently, a number of German farmers have joined the Sonnentor family.
 

The European market has developed with particular vigour: Germany is the main export market, with a share just under 50 % of total turnover. In 2010, in the Czech Republic, the first specialist departments have been created in Prague, Hradec Králové, Brno, Budweis, and in Trnava in Slovakia. They stock between 130 and 380 products from the Sonnentor range. This raised the turnover of the Sonnentor brand by 22 % in the Czech Republic. Turnover in Italy was just over 1 million euros – an increase of 23 %. Especially strong market development is being seen in the Scandinavian countries Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, where turnover rose to over half a million euros, representing a rise of 23 %. But in other countries too, like Korea, Taiwan, The United Arab Emirates and the USA, demand continues to rise. Sonnentor now employs 145 people. (Picture on left: operator of the Munich Sonnentor store, Doris Bauer-Zitz)
 

The company in Lower Austria states that between 2010 and 2012 it is investing 6 million euros in extending its premises, research projects and IT infrastructure at its headquarters in Sprögnitz near Zwettl (60 km north-west of Vienna). In 2010/11, 3.2 million euros were invested, and a further 2.8 million will follow in the coming financial year.

1 May this year saw the opening of a new building (“Geist- und Genussreich”), constructed using passive house technology and housing the administration and visitor facilities. Since the start of an innovative research project in 2010, work has been going on to refine the processing system for teas and spices, and old know-how and machines have been resurrected and put to use again. Rainwater is collected in a cistern to flush the toilets.
 

The outcome of some of this investment was innovative electricity generation. Although the company had already been using eco electricity, in future 10 % will come from the power of the sun via 400 PV panels on the roof of the company headquarters (photo montage on left. Pictures made available by Sonnentor). Through an innovative participation scheme, by the end of June of this year about 200 private investors acquired one of these panels for €300. In return, they receive over four years a €100 voucher annually from Sonnentor. The company is looking for 200 investors for a second PV installation on their new warehouse (called “Kreuz & Quer”).
 

On Sunday, 13 August 2011, a big party will be held from 11.30 on the Sonnentor site in Sprögnitz. As well as a tour of the company, there will be a trip by bus to organic farmers in the region and to the Sonnentor organic bakery Naschwerk, where biscuits are made and honey jars are filled. (Picture on right: sampling teas and biscuits in the shop)
 

Tip: http://www.sonnentor.com