Together with two other hotels, the Renthof Kassel is the most sustainable accommodation and restaurant address in Kassel and northern Hesse. Michael Kugel from FairWine spoke to director Jasmin Ohlendorf about sustainability.

M. Kugel: Ms. Ohlendorf, you are Deputy Chairwoman of the DEHOGA Federal Committee for Energy, Environment and Sustainability. How do you get a job like this?

J. Ohlendorf: I was asked about this through my membership of DEHOGA. We have been involved in sustainability at the Renthof for a long time and are also very active. As a result, we and our concept attracted the attention of DEHOGA.

M. Kugel: It’s not just the DEHOGA that’s talking about it in Kassel.

J. Ohlendorf: We are very pleased about that too. We want to set an example and encourage the entire industry to become more sustainable. I am convinced that we can no longer avoid serious, sustainable management. DEHOGA will also see it that way, so I am pleased that my experience is in demand and that I can contribute with “best practice examples”.

M. Kugel: What does “sustainability” mean in the hotel business and what does it include?

J. Ohlendorf: It all started with the idea of using mainly regional products in our restaurant kitchen. During the corona pandemic, our house was closed for over 5 months. This gave us time to draw up a concept and work out what sustainability means for us. We took a closer look at our hotel from the basement to the top floor, from the restaurant to the kitchen to our hotel. We have defined sustainability as follows:

• We want to reduce our ecological footprint and contribute to saving emissions, energy, waste and water per guest as well as strengthening biodiversity and animal welfare.
• We want to support our region by sourcing goods and services locally whenever possible. We are interested in long-term partnerships – with partners who share the same values as we do.
• We want to be a social and fair employer that is there for its employees just as much as it is for its guests. Our house should be open to everyone – we are only united against exclusion.

The more you get to grips with the topic, the quicker it becomes clear that there is still so much that can and must be worked on in the future. Sustainability is not a project, but a way of life and a task. You also reach your limits and have to make compromises, especially if you are hosting an international, discerning clientele. Especially at the beginning, you ask yourself the question: how can I manage this?

M. Kugel: What happened with this idea?

J. Ohlendorf: We have developed a strategy with all of the company’s employees and drawn up a sustainability concept.
Sustainability connects and creates a process that we must continue to work on together. We not only want to present a concept for our hotel, we also want to take all our guests with us. This starts with not cleaning the room every day and doesn’t end with a tip about saving water when showering.

M. Kugel: That sounds like work.

J. Ohlendorf: That’s also true – a huge mountain of work that can be tackled well with sufficient motivation and energy. We have made the decision to take a sustainable path for our company and there is no turning back for us. We looked for support at one point or another and came across GreenSign, for example. For us, this is a credible certification – with an integrated environmental management system that suits us and our company. Together with Armin Wolff – a Sustainability Auditor from GreenSign – we were able to successfully complete the certification process.

M. Kugel: Let’s talk briefly about this mountain, what does it take to get to the top?

J. Ohlendorf: In addition to purchasing, regionality and mobility, we are also concerned with social and economic responsibility. Of course, we also have the classic environmental issues such as waste avoidance, energy and water consumption. We are responsible for the management, organization and implementation of the goals that have been set.

All employees must be involved and sensitized to the key issues. This can only be achieved with a good communication strategy and continuous training.
The issue of quality is also under constant scrutiny. Work processes and products are scrutinized and always evaluated before procurement.

Our internal and external communication also had to change. A mission statement was drawn up. In the end, it concerns over 100 criteria divided into 8 areas. These include ISO 14001 (EMAS/environmental management), ISO 26000 (corporate social responsibility) and the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria. However, the United Nations goals that are currently on everyone’s lips – the so-called SDGs – also had to be recognized, explained and implemented for our company. More at https://www.greensign.de/zertifizierung/greensign-hotel/

M. Kugel: Your building has GreenSign Level 4, what comes next?

J. Ohlendorf: We are already good, but not yet where we want to be. The certification is also only valid for 3 years. Another year is almost over. We are already working on the topics that need to be achieved for Level 5. We want to be demonstrably better every year. That is quite a challenge. Our industry is not having such an easy time at the moment. Shortage of skilled workers, higher prices for food and energy. But that’s the only way. We do not pay lip service to sustainability. We want to show that it is possible and that we can do it.

We are currently focusing heavily on the topic of energy efficiency. We carried out an energy audit last week and are now waiting for the evaluation so that we can take further action here too.
An important point here will be to find a solution to the issue of solar energy together with the Protestant church office (the Brüderkirche is directly adjacent to the Renthof) in harmony with the protection of historical monuments. This is also an exciting topic.

M. Kugel: I know that you take it first. In my capacity as a wine expert, I took a closer look at your wine list. This one is good and I like it. It contains wonderful wines, great wineries and almost consistently everything from Germany.

J. Ohlendorf: Thank you for liking the map. I like it too, but here I can perhaps briefly mention the compromises I mentioned earlier. Wine does not grow in northern Hesse and even if one day wine were to be grown on our doorstep, it would not be enough just to serve our guests this wine. Nevertheless, we wanted to take the “shortest route” and have therefore consistently opted for wines from Germany. You will also only find spirits from Germany on our spirits menu. This is also a further step for us in terms of sustainability.

M. Kugel: “FAST”!

J. Ohlendorf: Yes, almost. This (almost) has to do with the fact that we still have stocks from the time before we made this decision. The wines from Spain, France and Italy are great, and we are now selling them, which also has to do with sustainability, namely handling the goods responsibly. But soon these wines will be finished and we will have room for more wines from German regions.

M. Kugel: How nice, because we have already talked elsewhere about the Fair Wine Award, a new wine competition that is also very much concerned with the sustainable issues of the wine industry. Wineries can currently register their sustainably produced wines for the award. More at fair-wine.com. The winners will be announced at EUROVINO on March 6, 2023. More at www.eurovino.info.

J. Ohlendorf: I know, I’m also prepared to include the winning wine in our wine list. Then we not only have the argument of “short distances”, but also of sustainable production.

M. Kugel: Great, then I’ll get the tickets for Karlsruhe, that’s the venue for the competition, and we’ll go there together.

J. Ohlendorf: That sounds like a good plan and I’m looking forward to Karlsruhe.

M. Kugel: Thank you very much for the interview and all the best for the future in terms of sustainability

J. Ohlendorf: I would also like to thank you for your interest in our company and look forward to many more joint sustainability topics.

M. Kugel: Mr. Zierles, we opened the new wine department in November 2020. I say “we” because I was able to play a key role in this project at the time. What has changed since then?

M. Zierles: The wine department is very well received. The ambience is a magnet. Word has got around that our range is second to none in the region. The radius from which our customers come to us has increased. We’ve also received encouragement from cities that are a little further away from us, such as Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen and even Düsseldorf. Then, at the end of 2021, the trade journal “Weinwirtschaft” (Meininger Verlag) named us the food retail wine department of the year 2022. An award we are proud of.

M. Kugel: The range has grown. Around 480 additional items in the same store space. What do you think is sustainable about this growth?

M. Zierles: The shopfitter Knoeppel has developed and produced a furniture concept that allows more items to be presented in the same space. In addition, the clarity has improved considerably. We were able to keep the floor and Knoeppel integrated over 50% of the old furniture into the new concept. That alone has already saved a considerable amount of CO2.
The wood for the new furniture is certified and comes from Egger Holzwerkstoffe in the Sauerland region. No new trees were felled for this, but the chipboard panels were made from residual wood that would otherwise have rotted or been burned. Basically waste wood from the region (max. radius of 300km). This means we are in the PLUS, so to speak, in terms of CO2!

M. Kugel: Is that all?

M. Zierles: No, we have also largely dispensed with plastics and paints. The new shelves are coated with melamine resin and the interchangeable signs are made of metal. The wine information/expertise is attached with magnets, for example. The fronts of the overlay above, i.e. the decorative surfaces on more than 30 running meters, are not painted or covered with foil, but an artist has created magnificent eye-catchers with simple chalk. The old furniture has been upgraded with drawers and pull-out shelves in which the bottles are presented in a better and more professional way. These are just the most important examples.

M. Kugel: What else?

M. Zierles: The efficient use of space is a great benefit. According to the new planning with Knoeppel, we didn’t need to expand or take anything away from other departments. We have created space for sustainable product ranges, which was not possible before. We have been able to list more wines from organic and biodynamic cultivation and provide shelf space to small winegrowers who are committed to sustainability. Non-alcoholic wines and sparkling wines are also a major theme, as are manufactured products that go wonderfully with wine. We didn’t have room for that before.

M. Kugel: Sounds expensive.

M. Zierles: Of course the conversion has cost money, but we have stayed within our budget and we have gained immense customer benefits! It is pleasing to note that sales, including all product groups, have risen by around 30% since November 2020.

M. Kugel: What about the energy costs?

M. Zierles: The department has been converted to LED. The area, like the entire building, is heated with cold recovery. We no longer have a conventional heating system. At the end of 2022, we will switch to electronic labels, which will save paper and ink. Ultimately, this also gives employees more time for customers.

M. Kugel: During my last visit, I saw that the wine dispenser will soon be in use.

M. Zierles: Yes, we currently still have a loan device. Our own is already eagerly awaited. Then customers can also take a sample sip themselves with their “Genuss-Card”. Samples can thus be better portioned, the wines are sealed with the inert gas argon and keep for many days once opened. This means we can also use up fine wines efficiently. In the end, we have less used glass.

M. Kugel: Is the bar in the department accepted by customers?

M. Zierles: Due to the COVID pandemic, we haven’t had many opportunities to hold events and use the bar. But that is set to change. We had the product gondolas in the bar area specially built so that we could simply pull them to the side with the pallet truck when fully stocked. In just a few minutes we have a free activity area for up to 50 people. By the way, another sustainable feature: the glasswasher works with built-in reverse osmosis and integrated circulating air heat recovery. It saves a considerable amount of electricity and chemicals. The glasses are hygienically clean and visually flawless. Without polishing.

M. Kugel: Thank you very much for the interview.

Lesson 1 shows that times of crisis also affect raw materials and ultimately packaging. The production of glass requires a lot of energy and the high weight also affects logistics costs, both in terms of a truck’s fuel consumption and the capacity on the loading area. Glass will therefore become expensive and its weight will have to be reduced further.

Cardboard and waste paper are a valuable raw material that is traded in dollars on the world’s stock exchanges. It requires a lot of energy and water to produce. The cheapest version of a wine carton is a natural, i.e. brown carton.

Unprinted, it is also the easiest to recycle in the recycling chain because printing ink (often made from mineral oils, polymers and additives) is not used in the first place and therefore does not pollute the groundwater.

It is interesting to note that cheap, industrially produced mass-produced goods are often transported and presented in elaborate cardboard boxes.

Colorfully printed, lacquered, with gold and glitter, the corners sexily beveled and with a built-in flap to which a plastic thread is attached for precise tearing.

“Attention at all costs”

In the market, we are exposed to many stimuli that influence our purchasing decisions. The winners are often the products that pile up in a particularly colorful way in the best running position.

The old merchant’s rule: where there is a lot of merchandise, there is also a lot of turnover. Hardly any customer likes to reach into empty shelves.

Here, too, we can think for a moment. Have you ever seen a top winemaker go to so much trouble?

Alternatives are being tested

There’s no question about it: carton packaging has to be attractive, especially if new concepts are to prevail behind it. It remains to be seen how customers will decide in the future.

Paper bottles or the bag-in-box packaging that has been around for decades are among the most environmentally friendly and sustainable packaging for liquids. Various scientific studies prove this, taking into account the entire life cycle of packaging. 78% less CO2 emissions, 66% less consumption of primary energy, 73% less water consumption.

BUT: do we really want to imagine that wines that are specially produced for very long storage are wrapped in composite materials made of plastic film and paper?

High-quality wines that need time to mature in order to present their full range of aromas will certainly continue to be bottled in glass. Measured in terms of the time until these wines are consumed, the high energy costs are more proportionate than for consumer goods that are supposed to be drunk after a year. Traditions and, above all, things that have stood the test of time do not change overnight.

If we want sustainability, we have to be open to new things. We could start with the simplest wines and question whether the characteristics of these mass-produced wines with their rather simple qualities justify such a high consumption of resources.

Wines that are produced for quick consumption should start here. However, we should not hope for change from the producers. The power lies with the consumer.

Foil-covered or lacquered bottles offer ideal conditions for presenting the contents attractively. The surface area on which product information can be applied is nevertheless larger than the dimensions of a classic paper label. But is there really any added value in terms of information to be found here?

This is mostly about design. The real reason is to stand out from the crowd. An eye-catcher that vies for our attention. This will undoubtedly make the price of this packaging more expensive. However, the contents remain as they were. It’s especially crass when the bottle costs three times the price due to “glitter & bling-bling” compared to the same content in a normal bottle.

If you take a closer look, you will see that it is only the surrounding area that is becoming more expensive. However, this does not improve the quality of the content. In the end, it only benefits the manufacturers who produce these films or refine the bottles. Separation in waste glass is difficult, if not impossible. But that is not the intention either.

(Precious) metals and fine jewelry

Humans began to attach special importance to metallic materials thousands of years ago. Metals have had a decisive influence on human history and our civilization was built on them. Metals are indispensable for our modern world.

Is this the reason why wine products and spirits are repeatedly put into metal cans for special occasions in the annual calendar? What happens to the precious wrappers if they are not reused in the kitchen as a pre-frying container?

Wine bottles are also provided with metallic labels. Even if the content is also noble and of high quality, we should better use these materials where they are useful to society and reduce energy consumption in the process. In the end, no one has anything left in the bottle bank.

Find out more in lesson 3.

A picture says more than 1,000 words. As a result, we usually unconsciously judge the content from the “packaging”. “Clothes make the man”, who hasn’t heard this saying?

In fact, classic cuts and high-quality materials allow conclusions to be drawn about its wearer. If you want to present yourself competently and professionally, you need to pay attention to this.

Short-lived fashion from the fast-fashion segment may be fun, but it only gives the illusion of value. The short-term fashion business has never been interested in people being well-dressed for a long time, the idea is rather to make money.

This system can be applied to countless products.

“Packaging makes wines”

Does fancy packaging turn a simple wine into a good one? Of course, the more attractive the cover, the more successful the sale.

Attention “deceptive packaging”

Please remember that fraudsters and scammers are always made to look pretty so that we trust them more quickly 😉. From a psychological point of view, our first impression is that we actually trust content more in a few milliseconds if the packaging appeals to us.

Trust is abused

Sustainability has many “faces”. In the confusing jungle of a supermarket wine shelf, many “beautiful faces” beam at us. Here, too, there are “dazzlers” that are nicely finished and look good, but don’t always perform well in terms of sustainability.

Admittedly, it is difficult to always go shopping with a critical eye on sustainability. Nevertheless, if you think about it for a moment, you may quickly come to this plausible conclusion yourself.

Times of crisis also affect packaging

Glass has proven its worth as packaging for wine. But it takes a lot of energy to produce this. Temperatures of around 1,200°C are required for melting. Glass also has a high weight and this affects transportation costs.

As long as we can’t find any real alternatives on the shelves on a large scale, we could at least make sure that, in addition to the high energy consumption for the glass itself, no other, mostly unnecessary resources are wasted around the bottle.

Thick-walled heavyweights

An empty 0.75 liter bottle of wine can weigh around 440 to over 900 grams. On average, most glass bottles for wine of this size weigh around 600 grams. It is not uncommon for simple wines to be filled into particularly heavy glasses in order to suggest a higher value to consumers.

With these heavyweights, it is better to study the label again and make sure that it really is a high-quality wine. Winegrowers whose name stands for excellent quality generally do not resort to extremely heavy bottles. They prefer to invest these costs in their vineyards.

Glass design

Elegant, beautiful design appeals. Standing out from the crowd brings clear advantages. However, consumers end up paying for these additional costs.

Designer bottles are unique and limited, so they are not usually produced in large quantities. The smaller the print run, the higher the production costs. This surcharge is added to the product.

However, this does not improve the content for the buyer.

Find out more in lesson 2.

The Fair Wine Academy is not just about wine. Sustainability has many pillars and so we also see ourselves very well positioned in areas that at first glance have nothing to do with wine, but are needed in order to sell wine successfully. Our special skills therefore always have very special added value for our seminar clientele. That’s what makes the difference, because we know our way around.

The application phases for apprenticeships ended a few weeks ago. A good friend told me that his offspring had applied for an apprenticeship at two large, major retail companies operating throughout Germany. He showed me both letters in which these companies introduced themselves and invited me to an interview and aptitude test.

While one company literally wooed applicants, trying to get them excited about the company with every sentence, making itself “sexy”, i.e. presenting itself as particularly desirable, the other presented itself in a rather reserved, almost off-putting manner, strict in tone and with many traditional standard formulations.

So it was quickly decided which of the two would get an appointment from the offspring.

The applicant market is upside down

It used to be the case that HR managers thanked applicants for the interview and said goodbye to them with the words “We’ll be in touch”. Today the applicant says: “Thank you for your time, I’ll put you on the shortlist, be patient, I’ll get back to you”.

In sectors where there is already a shortage of skilled workers, you should be prepared for potential employees to be mercilessly weeded out when a large number of vacancies arise.

Here are 10 tips on how to successfully keep young applicants away from your company with 100% certainty. (to be read with a wink)

1. Formulate your invitation in stilted officialese, brief and to the point. The less information there is in the cover letter, the less the applicant has to think about beforehand.
2. Don’t use a friendly tone, young people today have their own language anyway, which also leaves a lot to be desired. You can also gain the respect of the rebellious youth with an intimidating maneuver in the form of strict announcements.
3. Don’t put so much emphasis on the correct spelling of the name, young people today are much more relaxed and look past it.
4. Directions are unnecessary. Have the applicants ask the gatekeeper for all the necessary information. Don’t forget to mention that the applicants have enough time for the gatekeeper. You can imagine that trucks and other visitors are still being processed in front of them.
5. Applicants should know that your customer is “king”. That’s why they don’t park in its parking lot. Make this unmistakably clear to them. You can take an elegant turn on the subject of cars and announce that travel costs will not be reimbursed.
6. Also make it clear that applicants must arrange their own accommodation. You should also refrain from recommending hotels, because if you don’t like the room, it will fall back on you.
7. Don’t forget to mention what applicants can bring to the interview. Young people today know that much better.
8. If you invite applicants to take the aptitude test, don’t go into details about the content and what they can do beforehand. It is best if the applicants come to you unprepared and therefore unbiased, as this is the best way to get to know them.
9. Indicate that the test may take some time. Do not agree to a time limit and point out that snacks and drinks must be brought along.
10. Your corporate philosophy is only the mission statement for your customers. It cannot be assumed that applicants are interested in your values.