AOT: innovative with oils, fats and raw materials

It’s a family firm that has been through the pioneer phase, restructured and is now making a name for itself by using interesting raw materials and introducing genuine innovations: AOT - All Organic Trading - in Kempten in the Allgäu region, wants not only to do justice to the good reputation created by the founder and pioneer Hans-Martin Breisinger but to enhance it even further. The intention is to make the firm into the number one address for supplying the ingredients for wholefoods, food supplements and natural cosmetics. Key factors in all the activities of Fabian Breisinger, the young boss of the company, are quality, service and above all people.

“We are at the point of transition from being pioneers to the phase of identity creation,” says Fabian Breisinger. The son of the founder, and at 30 the young managing director of the company, had to give up studying economics at the anthroposophic-oriented Alanus-Hochschule so that he could take over the reins of the family business after the sudden death of his father. For him it was a matter of course. “I grew up in a wholefood environment and took part at a distance in developing the firm.” His sister Franziska Breisinger, who joined the company team a year ago, adds: “Our father kept the business in the family.”

Another member of the younger generation working in the firm is Maria Holzner who, together with Franziska Breisinger, is responsible for product management and marketing. So they have a good mix of old hands and new blood. Their mother, Maria-Magdalena Burger-Breisinger, is the registered owner of the firm that now has 11 employees and in 2011 generated turnover of more than 6 million euros.

“We have invested in staff, structures and marketing in order to optimize our service,” is how Fabian Breisinger describes the measures he has taken to equip the firm for the future. Their efforts are already being rewarded: 150 new customers in one year and a very successful appearance at BioFach 2012. And a part of all this is the launch of a genuine innovation. “A product that many people have been waiting for,” says Breisinger.

“For a long while, organic manufacturers have been looking for something to replace the emulsifier soya lecithin. Because of the problematic issue of genetic engineering, for many people soya lecithin is like a red rag to a bull.” Up to now, it has not been possible to extract lecithin from organic sunflower oil, first because the organic mills are a small-scale activity in Europe and you need large quantities of oil to produce lecithin, and secondly the EU organic regulations permit the use of conventional soya lecithin. Last year, AOT took the initiative and, together with a new partner, set about producing organic sunflower lecithin. At this year’s BioFach the first certified organic sunflower lecithin was presented, and it proved to be extremely popular.

Source and details: http://www.organic-market.info