OeTTINGER brewery: Growth and high investment at the Braunschweig site
Things continue to move forward at Lower Saxony’s largest brewery since the site was acquired by OeTTINGER Brauerei GmbH in 2009. This can also be seen by the recently refurbished dining room. That was the venue last week of the annual Works Assembly, to which the members of the shareholder family, Management and a total of 85 members of staff were welcomed.
At the beginning of the event, Chair of the Works Council Marko Urban reviewed the past year before ending by looking optimistically towards the future: “We can and want to become even better!”
“Colleagues we have a legacy to fulfil! It is and remains our common task to continue the successful growth Günther and Dirk Kollmar once set the course for,” stated Managing Director Michael Mayer. He praised the workforce for their work, announced major investment in the Braunschweig site and closed his review with a trail-blazing quotation: “Dirk Kollmar once said: ‘We do not wish to drive our employees in front of us – rather we would like them to follow us with confidence.’ I unequivocally support that!”
Managing Director Jörg Dierig continued seamlessly on. He stressed that the OeTTINGER Brewery was well positioned to overcome the challenges it faced – Braunschweig was a very good example of this: “Congratulations to you all. You have ultimately achieved growth in Braunschweig, despite all the trials and tribulations on the German beer market. That persuades us in our conviction that we are very well set up with our sites spread across Germany and our five divisions. Nevertheless we have major potential that we have to exploit better!”
Brand and communication:
Reporting and informing people about the company, its successes and brand content – that continues to be at the very heart of the company’s communication concept implemented since 2013. “We wish to be more visible, are undertaking major efforts and are on the right track,” explained Jörg Dierig, and referred, among other things, to the redesigned website. “Social media interaction is massive, we have received plenty of encouragement and a lot of positive feedback. This is also demonstrated in the form of orders in the online fan shop: sales have almost doubled in the last year!”
The latest video clips for the company’s online image were also presented in this context, the consistent core message of which is: “OeTTINGER – a straightforward and friendly German beer brand!” The clips, which had already met with positive feedback at the Works Assemblies in Oettingen and Gotha, also produced hilarity amongst the employees present in Braunschweig.
The new products for 2016 were also presented: the naturally cloudy wheat beer OeTTINGER Weissbier 12 naturtrüb and the OeTTINGER malt drink, a new trend-setting drink in a handy 6 x 0.33-litre pack. Both new products will reach stores this month.
An integral part of this year’s Works Assembly was once again the speech given by the Food, Beverage and Catering Union (NGG). Manfred Tessmann referred to yet another anniversary: On April 23, the German Purity Law celebrates its 500th anniversary. “The Purity Law is a seal of quality – it is not without good reason that German beer enjoys such an excellent reputation abroad. I hope that this anniversary also acts as stimulus to continue upholding the tradition of the Purity Law and breathe new life into it!”
