Dallmayr Kaffee: Wolfgang Wille takes his retirement
Wolfgang Wille is retiring from the operational business after more than 60 years. The personally liable partner of Alois Dallmayr KG and Managing Director of Alois Dallmayr Kaffee oHG can look back on an impressive career in which he developed Dallmayr from a regional Munich family business into one of the top coffee brands in Europe. Under his leadership, the company's coffee division has grown to around 75,000 tons of roasted coffee with a recent turnover of around 1.2 billion euros. The vending business he founded is now one of the three leading vending service providers in Europe, with over 120,000 vending machines installed worldwide. Together with Florian Randlkofer, he was responsible for the entire Dallmayr company. His successor is his son-in-law Dr. Johannes Dengler. Wolfgang Wille will remain associated with the company in an advisory capacity as a shareholder.
MILESTONES
- 1933 - Konrad Werner Wille joins the company at the age of 19 to develop the coffee business for Dallmayr
- 1940 - Year of birth of Wolfgang Wille
- 1964 - Dallmayr prodomo is created
- 1965 - As a student, Wolfgang Wille wins BMW as his first major customer in the vending machine business
- 1966 - Foundation of the Dallmayr vending machine service
- 1977 - Wolfgang Wille takes over the management of the entire company together with Georg Randlkofer
- 1985 - Spin-off of the coffee division and foundation of Alois Dallmayr Kaffee OHG with Wolfgang Wille as Managing Director
- TODAY - Dallmayr roasts over 75,000 tons of roasted coffee annually (2023) and operates over 120,000 vending machines worldwide
FROM FRESH PRODUCT TO INTERNATIONAL BRAND ARTICLE Born in Munich, Wolfgang Wille grew up with coffee - his father Konrad Werner Wille laid the foundations for today's coffee empire in the 1930s by opening a specialty coffee department. Wolfgang Wille succeeded his father as managing partner after his death in 1977. Back then, the company was still much smaller, as coffee was a luxury product. There were no large supermarket chains and sales were handled by a fresh coffee service: "At the beginning of my career, we roasted around 4,700 tons. A VW fleet with 200 vehicles delivered nine different coffee specialties to every single store throughout Bavaria," recalls Wolfgang Wille.
In order to expand the coffee business throughout Germany, Wille and his partner Georg Randlkofer spun off the coffee division from the delicatessen business in 1985 and founded Alois Dallmayr Kaffee oHG. Thanks to Nestlé's involvement, Dallmayr Kaffee quickly grew beyond the borders of Bavaria. "For our expansion, we were looking for a strong partner for sales and marketing. At the same time, however, the full operational management remained with me throughout," says Wille. "Since 2015, Dallmayr has been completely in the hands of the shareholder families again - I am particularly proud of that."
AUTOMAT SERVICES - NEW IDEAS FOR SUCCESSWolfgang Wille is one of the pioneers of the German coffee vending machine business. The success story began when the Munich car manufacturer BMW introduced hot beverage vending machines from the USA to supply its employees in the 1960s - a real sensation at the time. Conventional products were unsuitable for this type of coffee supply. As a young student, Wolfgang Wille developed the first vending machine-compatible filling products. "The vending machine business is a matter close to my heart. I won BMW as my first major customer back then and the company is still our longest and largest customer today." He took his first steps abroad in 1992 and expanded into Austria. Today, the vending machine service has over 3,000 employees and more than 120,000 vending machines in 18 countries in Europe and the Middle East.
PASSION FOR GASTRONOMYThanks to its quality awareness, Dallmayr is not only successful in the end consumer market, but is also a sought-after partner for all matters relating to enjoyment and ambience. "With the acquisition of the Heimbs and Azul brands, we have created a leading role in sales to the food service industry," explains Wille. The two coffee companies have been part of the Dallmayr Group for more than 25 years with their exclusive focus on the food service industry.
MILLIONS OF BUILDING SETTLES FOR ETHIOPIAAn affair of the heart: Ethiopia. The East African country is considered the original home of the coffee plant. The single-origin highland Arabicas have shaped the taste of Dallmayr coffee for over 60 years. "Dallmayr is the world's largest roaster of washed Ethiopian Arabica coffees. We have been a reliable partner for the African country for decades. Since 2008, we have also been involved and, together with our local partner, have planted more than 54 million tree seedlings, built a school for over 1,000 children and set up a coffee cooperative in the Dano project region," explains the trained tea importer, who has always enjoyed drinking tea as much as coffee.
BUSINESS PARTNER ACKNOWLEDGES LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT "As a business partner and also on behalf of our family, I would like to thank Wolfgang Wille for his tireless commitment to our company. He made Dallmayr Kaffee a leading brand in Germany and not only founded the coffee vending machine business, but also developed it into an international company with more than 3,000 employees over 60 years," says business partner Florian Randlkofer, paying tribute to Wolfgang Wille's achievements. Looking to the future, he adds: "I am looking forward to continuing the good cooperation with Johannes Dengler, who will now be managing our family business together with me in the role of Managing Partner. Together we will certainly achieve a lot."
FAMILY - CLOSED WITH A LOOK TO THE FUTUREIn addition to his business success, Wolfgang Wille is particularly proud to have shaped Dallmayr as a true Munich family business. His three daughters Ellen Ruthrof (Head of Advertising Communications), Julia Dengler (Member of the Management Board) and Simone Werle (Head of PR and Communications) have been at his side in the coffee business for many years.
"Despite all the growth, he has managed to preserve Dallmayr as a family-run company. Today, as then, Dallmayr is highly valued as a reliable business partner and attractive employer. He was and still is visible and approachable for employees at all times and always leaves them enough room for innovation and new ideas," say Ellen Ruthrof, Julia Dengler and Simone Werle.
Son-in-law Johannes Dengler, who has held management positions in the company for over 20 years, now succeeds him as a personally liable partner in the group of companies. "I have great respect for my father-in-law's life's work," says Johannes Dengler. "The coffee division is now 15 times bigger than when he joined Dallmayr. He built up the vending machine business from zero to number three in Europe. Not a day goes by without him thinking about how we can improve the company even further."
When asked what the future holds for him, Wolfgang Wille replies: "Not much will change for me. I will continue to advise the management through Johannes Dengler and Florian Randlkofer. I'm looking forward to that."
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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