After Flaschenpost takeover: Hundreds of employees apparently threatened with redundancy

Flaschenpost has been part of the Oetker Group since the end of 2020. It is now merging the beverage delivery service with its own Durstexpress service. The Group apparently wants to close logistics centers and lay off hundreds of employees.

Dr. Oetker's purchase of Flaschenpost was one of the biggest start-up deals of the past year. On Wednesday, the Group announced that its self-developed beverage service Durstexpress and Flaschenpost will "in future operate uniformly under the flaschenpost brand".

The company describes what this means for Durstexpress as follows: "In addition, the overall logistics will also be based on the business and operations processes of flaschenpost in future." Individual logistics centers are therefore likely to be merged. However, Rheinische Post has now learned from the Food, Beverages and Catering Union (NGG) that hundreds of employees will be made redundant.

However, those made redundant can reapply for jobs at Flaschenpost; the company is talking about "employment offers in a neighboring warehouse", which will be made to the affected employees if possible. This means that there will only be a small reduction in staff. Flaschenpost recently had more than 6,000 employees, Durstexpress 3,500. In future, Flaschenpost will be represented by 29 warehouses in 25 cities.

Flaschenpost was founded by Dieter Büchl in 2014, but demand quickly became so high that the start-up had to cease operations for the time being. Büchl took a year off, revised the processes and relaunched in 2016. The company grew rapidly, and in 2020 Oetker took over the beverage supplier for up to one billion euros, according to various estimates. With its own beverage delivery service Durstexpress, the Group had never really managed to catch up with Flaschenpost.