Tricky order

Several weeks with tropical temperatures, mostly over 30 degrees, had the people of Germany and Austria sighing and groaning. Rauch's employees were running all systems at full speed around the clock. Heat is the sales turbo for fruit juice, iced tea and the like. "That year we finally succeeded in being listed with a major German retail chain - with iced tea in the new 2 litre carton pack," recalls Peter Lins, head of marketing at the time.

Then it happened: the new German partner placed a huge order. But, at almost the same time, a similarly large order from a long-standing customer in Austria fluttered in. No chance of delivering both on time. What to do? "It was very difficult. Then we decided: existing customers before new ones." But that decision had its price. As a result, the doors of this German retail chain were tightly closed to Rauch for almost 20 years. An Austrian competitor seized the opportunity and so laid the foundation stone for its strong market position in Germany to this day.