The Badischer Winzerkeller (BWK) in Breisach is restructuring due to the ongoing crisis in the German wine industry. As the company announced, a comprehensive restructuring program is intended to strengthen competitiveness, ensure economic stability, and make the cooperative future-proof.

The plan is to focus on profitable core business areas. In addition, the BWK intends to examine outsourcing processes and business areas to external partners or subsidiaries. Already in February, the company transferred on-site wine sales and event organization to a tenant. At the same time, the goal is to significantly reduce costs, eliminate duplicate structures, and focus resources more on marketing, distribution, and the revenue-generating core assortments. In the short term, discussions with the works council are also to begin. However, the BWK will only announce concrete decisions after the consultations are completed.

The CEO André Weltz justified the move with the difficult framework conditions of the industry. Declining wine consumption, high price and competitive pressure, as well as increased costs for energy, packaging, logistics, and personnel burden the entire value chain. The aim is to realign the cooperative to be economically viable and in the interest of the member companies.

The economic development of the BWK shows the problems of recent years: After a revenue of 46.6 million euros in 2020, revenues fell to 41.1 million euros in 2021 and to 38.1 million euros in 2022. Since then, a recovery has begun: in 2023, revenue rose to 40.66 million euros, and in 2024 to 41.1 million euros. However, revenue remains nearly twelve percent below the level of 2020. For 2025, the BWK has only published a forecast of slight revenue and sales growth, as well as a small annual surplus; confirmed business figures are not yet available.

(cs – Image: Wikimedia / S Haering)

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