As a long-established, family-run fruit and vegetable wholesaler, Früchte Frick has been cultivating close, personal partnerships with restaurants and hotels in the Allgäu region for three generations. According to Tim Trautmann, who has been at the helm of the company since 2011, the company is characterized by a healthy mix of continuity and dynamism. "Our focus is on people and the environment. We firmly believe that sustainable business practices are important at all levels. Accordingly, we have continuously modernized our company toward climate neutrality. The cornerstone of this strategy is our highly efficient, digitalized cooling and energy management system, which includes our own electricity production via photovoltaics and a correspondingly large battery storage system. Thanks to this investment, we have been able to achieve a self-sufficiency rate of around 80 percent."
The founding couple: Hugo and Theresia Frick
Exactly 75 years ago this year, Hugo Frick laid the foundation for the company's future success. Under the leadership of his son, Wolfgang, several acquisitions and new construction projects were realized in the 1980s and 1990s. However, there have also been critical phases, as Tim Trautmann points out, referring to the difficult pandemic years. "During the pandemic, there was little or no demand in the hotel and restaurant sectors. However, demand for healthy food rose sharply in the private sector. This prompted us to set up an online shop, through which we even sold to private households throughout Germany. Fresh boxes for private individuals and company boxes for businesses and their employees in the region can still be ordered online. Registered bulk customers can also shop online."
The current managing director, Tim Trautmann. The company's modern fleet currently comprises ten delivery vehicles operating within a 40 km radius of Sonthofen. The company employs a total of 76 people.
A shift in awareness towards regionality and quality
According to Trautmann, every generation has to contend with certain challenges. Company founder Hugo Frick built up the business during the difficult post-war years. Today, factors such as climate change, resource scarcity, and changing consumer behavior are shaping the business, says the fruit wholesaler. "After a phase of fast-paced living and reckless consumption, there has been a shift in awareness toward regionality and quality for some time now. We can serve both of these needs perfectly here in the southern Oberallgäu region."
Delivery in the 1950s
Personal relationships & digitalization
Früchte Frick wants to continue to be a reliable, regional partner for first-class fruit and vegetables in the future. "It is important to maintain good relationships with our customers, overcome challenges together, and develop solutions that benefit everyone involved. Nevertheless, digitalization and AI already play an important role in our everyday work. This ranges from administration, archiving, human resources, invoicing, and auditing, to the automatic transfer of service and error readings to vehicle manufacturers in the logistics area, to the automatic import of customer orders and their transfer to upstream suppliers at the sales level. Even though we strongly believe in digital and AI-based processes, they will never be able to replace personal relationships and direct exchange," the company concludes.
For more information:
Tim Trautmann
Früchte Frick
Wholesale, Import
Mittagstraße 14 a
87527 Sonthofen
Tel: +49 (0) 8321 6700 0
Fax: +49 (0) 8321 6700 20
[email protected]
www.fruechte-frick.de