New managing director at Rügenwalder Mühle
The company completes the development of a new, market-oriented management structure. Rügenwalder Mühle is thus intensifying its path from sausage to food manufacturer. The food manufacturer from Lower Saxony is strengthening its management team with Michael Hähnel, who is experienced in the food industry. The former DACH boss von Bahlsen is to further expand the great success of the company over the past few years. The reasons for this step are in particular the growth-related tasks in the company and the opportunities that arise in the market. Hähnel is already connected to the Rügenwalder Mühle through its membership in the company's supervisory board.
In the future, Hähnel will lead a management team as chairman of the board of management. This includes Lothar Bentlage (sales, export) and Godo Röben (marketing, R&D), who have already been managing directors, as well as members of the management team Michael Sanft (commercial director) and Thomas Wittkowski (production, technology). Michael Hähnel is responsible for the overarching areas of corporate strategy, corporate communication, human resources and corporate governance.
Michael Hähnel: “I'm really looking forward to the upcoming task. The Rügenwalder Mühle and its management team have created something unique in the past. We have succeeded in expanding a fundamental competence - making delicious sausage - into a new social context - vegetarian nutrition. That's why many other brands envy us. Now it is a matter of resolutely tackling the future as a food manufacturer, increasingly internationalizing it and at the same time cultivating the uniqueness of the family business with face. "
“We are very happy to have won Michael Hähnel, an extremely competent manager who already knows our company very well. Together with the already very successful management and the supervisory board, he will take care of the further strategic direction of the Rügenwalder Mühle ”, say the shareholders Dr. Gunnar and Christian Rauffus. At the same time, Gunnar Rauffus takes over the chairmanship of the supervisory board from his father Christian.
Michael Hähnel was a member of the board of the Bahlsen Group in Hanover until a year ago and was responsible for the regions DACH, Middle East, Asia-Pacific and China. Hähnel was with Beiersdorf and Johnson & Johnson before Bahlsen and is considered a nationally and internationally experienced manager.
About the Rügenwalder mill
The range of the brand manufacturer Rügenwalder Mühle includes around 30 classic meat and sausage products since the end of 2014 and now over 30 vegetarian and vegan alternatives. The Rügenwalder Mühle Carl Müller GmbH & Co. KG. was founded in 1834 by master butcher Carl Müller in Rügenwalde, Pomerania, and is now one of the most famous food manufacturers in Germany. Rügenwalder Mühle has been a pioneer in vegetarian / vegan meat and sausage alternatives since 2014 and is now the market leader in this segment in Germany. The red mill, the trademark of the Rügenwalder, always vouches for traditional craftsmanship and the best ingredients. With around 570 employees, the company, which has been based in Bad Zwischenahn, Lower Saxony, had an annual turnover of 1956 million euros in 2018. The seventh generation of the family business is in the hands of Dr. Gunnar Rauffus as chairman of the supervisory board. Michael Hähnel is the chairman of the management board. The management team also includes the managing directors Lothar Bentlage (sales, export) and Godo Röben (marketing, R&D) as well as the members of the management team Michael Sanft (commercial director) and Thomas Wittkowski (production, technology).
Michael Hähnel, Source / Copyright: Rügenwalder
