Claus-Pural: Health Food and Wholefood under One Roof

It will soon be 50 years since Heinz Claus started his career in the health food business. In 1957, he took a job with an agency selling health foods in the Ruhr region. With a few years of professional experience behind him, he felt drawn back to his home town of Baden-Baden. “This is the chance of a lifetime,” he thought to himself and he began with his wife to create a wholesale business. With a turnover of 60,000 DM in 1964, no one could have foreseen that a good 40 years later the company would be exceeding 50 million Euros a year.

Picture: Heinz Claus

The company Claus-Pural is remarkable in several ways: ten years ago, the successful health food wholesaler was already expanding with a wholefood store that his daughter built up. Ulrike Claus, who is now 42 years old, started developing the wholefood wholesale business in 1996 under the name Pural. Branching out into the wholefood business was for a long time viewed with scepticism by the health food industry but recently a structural change has been taking place at Neuform and Claus-Pural, by incorporating wholefoods, is now in the forefront of a new development in the health food industry.
(Picture: Sonja, Heinz and Ulrike Claus)

The Baden-Baden wholesaler is in the lead in another respect as well. Long before it became fashionable for wholefood companies to create an export market, Claus-Pural was supplying France, Switzerland and Austria. And they did it more and more successfully. Today the French market accounts for a whole 25 % of turnover! Next comes Austria with over four million Euros, followed by Switzerland with three million Euros. An impressive 50 % of the company’s revenue comes from export turnover. Also, with its proximity to Alsace, it is no surprise that a third of the company’s employees are French. The sales manager for France is Evelyn Knobloch from Alsace. She coordinates supplies to 1200 French stores, of which 400 place orders every week. Pural’s stock list for France comprises 5000 articles, including many wholefood products that are not available from any other source. “We have become an important wholesaler for specialist stores,” Pural’s managing director proudly claims (starting in 1992, approximately 700 000 Euros; in 2006, approximately twelve million Euros). An important part has been played in this development by the 500 own brand articles that are sold under the name Pural and Eubiona (100 products in natural cosmetics).

Pural collaborates with about 200 highly skilled manufacturing companies and always has many product innovations to offer. “We are in a position to take on board suggestions from consumers and stores and to put them into practice at short notice. So we can find the best possible solutions to keep everybody happy,” explains Ulrike Claus who studied nutrition science. In this way, ingredients and productions methods can be constantly improved. Dynamic sales mean rapid delivery and therefore only short storage times. As a consequence, a large number of regional manufacturers, for example in the bakery products sector, have been able to expand their production significantly.

Ulrike Claus and her father were very pleased with the turnover of 48 million Euros last year and they are anticipating exceeding the 50 million Euros threshold in 2006. At the present time, preparations for this further growth are being made: a neighbouring site has been purchased and the storage capacity is to be doubled to 8000 m². When this is in place, they are going to add mainly fresh green produce which has so far played only a minor role. The demand for yoghurt and other white products has been very positive for Claus-Pural, but they will be risking the transition to full-range wholesaler. “I have great respect for wholefood colleagues who have specialised in fresh goods,” - this is how Ulrike Claus sees the challenges that have to be met with regard to supplies, maintaining quality and the handling of fruit and vegetables. The new building will be started in September and should be ready for occupation in January 2007.

In the current year, the company has a 40 % share of the classical health food sector which is likely to be a turnover of 21 million Euros. As in the case of other health food wholesalers, the market is currently restricted by Neuform’s contractual goods. Thus, the company Claus is limited to its 350 customers inn Baden-Württemberg because agreement in the health food wholesale business regarding territory do not allow other regional states to be supplied. This does not apply to the subsidiary Pural that sells wholefoods. This company operates nationwide and regularly supplies 1700 customers by haulage firms or courier.
(picture on right: warehouse storage)

For decades, the company had to be split into various subsidiaries because of the difficult conditions imposed by restriction to certain sales channels for health foods, and also by its export activities. For this reason, five firms work closely together with each other in the two buildings in the Sandweier district of Baden-Baden.  Business with France is handled by Pur Aliment S.a.r.l, with Switzerland by PHAG S.a.r.l and with Austria by Bio Vollwert ges.m.b.H. “We work enthusiastically in the front line and we offer good advice and real service,” is how Ulrike Claus explains the recipe for success that is attracting more and more customers in Germany, France, Switzerland and Austria.

(picture on left: a small order being assembled)

For a year, Pural has been increasing its effort to pass on information about manufacturers to store owners. “We want to tell the story of the manufacturers,” Frau Claus explains. The company regularly sends detailed background information about the supply lists to the point of sale. Representatives in the field (seven responsible for France and two each for Switzerland and Austria) ensure close contact with the retail trade. In France, among starter products and best-sellers was, and still is, creamy stirred yoghurt (photo on right). Ulrike and Heinz Claus reminisce: “We gave away around 5000 pots at the Dietexpo Trade Fair in Paris in 2000, and that brought us success overnight.”

The turnover of these wholefood and health food companies in Baden-Baden has been going in one direction only: upwards (picture). However, there was one exception to this rule. In 2002 - 2003, four million Euros of turnover was lost, the reason being the termination of business with one of the major suppliers in the health food industry, namely Neuform International. But the damage was short-term only. By the following year turnover was increasing once again.

Today, the Claus family is fully justified in being so proud of the company’s development. In the past, and well in advance of all others, it set the direction for the family business and ultimately for the industry as a whole. Even at 66, Heinz Claus does not like questions about retirement, and anybody who talks to him for ten minutes realises why. He has all the facts and figures at his fingertips and he is still in charge. And that is how this sprightly citizen of Baden-Baden wants it to stay.