As far as the Munich brewing industry is concerned, this news is the bottom of the barrel, so to speak: Andreas Steinfatt is leaving the Paulaner brewery group at the end of February after 28 years. The 55-year-old was a member of the management there for 20 years and was the face of the two breweries Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr. He represented them at all official events from Oktoberfest to the Nockherberg Salvatorprobe, but also as chairman of the influential Munich Breweries Association. In the management itself, he was responsible for the national catering sales, marketing and public relations as well as catering services departments.
This is ending now. “After intensive discussions characterized by mutual appreciation,” says the brewery’s press release, Steinfatt decided to leave Paulaner. The brewery announced this with the same statement in which it announced the reorganization of the organizational structure and the bundling of sales under a new managing director as of February 1st. The new strong man is called Thomas Drossé, who was previously sales manager at the international spirits group Pernod Ricard and previously sales manager at Gerolsteiner Brunnen, which belongs to Bitburger. He also takes over all of Steinfatt’s tasks.
This of course suggests that Andreas Steinfatt is not quitting entirely of his own free will. Two and a half years ago there were rumors that he wanted to leave Paulaner and move to the Kitzbühel Alps with his wife Elisabeth. The Austrian-born woman owns a four-star luxury hotel in the superior category in Kirchberg/Tyrol. It has 182 rooms, a restaurant with 270 seats and a large wellness area. According to the credit agency Creditreform, she owns 94 percent of the hotel company and her husband owns the remaining six percent. At the time, Steinfatt said ironically: “As far as I know, the brewery is sticking with me,” and he had no plans to become a hotelier.
That sounds a little different today. Steinfatt says to the SZ on the phone: “To be honest: I don’t have a new job on March 1st!” He currently has no new plans: “I have decided to take a new path.” When asked whether this has anything to do with the commitment of a new managing director for sales, he answers somewhat evasively: “We part on good terms, there are no bad words.”
The brewing business has become increasingly difficult in recent years. Almost exactly seven years ago, the ownership structure changed. Paulaner previously belonged to Brau Holding International (BHI), in which the Dutch Heineken Group held 24.99 percent and the Munich Schörghuber Group 75.01 percent. In February 2017, BHI was merged with the Paulaner Brewery to form the Paulaner Brewery Group; Since then, Heineken has held 30 percent and is therefore out of the blocking minority. Insiders say that the international brewing company has since then had an increasingly significant influence on Paulaner’s business.
In any case, Steinfatt’s last public official act will be the strong beer tapping at the Nockherberg, which will take place on February 28th this year. In any case, the brewery thanks him in flowery words for his willingness, among other things, to “continue to assume responsibility for the 2024 Salvator rehearsal and its moderation.” Thanks to the leap year, he even has another day to tidy up his desk.