Tegut takes over Basic – Economy

Shortly before Christmas, the employees of the organic supermarket chain Basic received the bad news: the company is insolvent and is to be restructured under self-administration. Now there is a good turn, which Basic board member Christoph Eich announced to the employees on Wednesday in Munich. There is a buyer for the company, the grocer Tegut. Its managing director Thomas Gutberlet introduced himself directly to the Basic employees and brought even more good news with him.

According to Tegut, he wants to stick to most of the Basic branches. Only the one in Rosenheim, Bavaria, will be closed, it said when asked. The other 19 locations in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and in the Rhine-Main area were to be taken over, as were all around 500 employees, including those at the headquarters in Munich.

This gives the organic pioneers a new perspective. Basic was founded in 1997 as one of the first organic markets by Georg Schweisfurth, Hermann Oswald, Johann Priemeier and Richard J. Müller with the aim of “changing the world”. However, after the organic boom last year, severe cuts followed for Basic and many other retailers in the organic segment.

Because of the inflation, many people had to save, they went less to the organic supermarkets and more often to the discounter. Since the organic range is now large there too, many customers did not return to the purely organic suppliers. Several organic chains had to close, but Basic was the biggest and most prominent victim of the organic crisis.

The takeover plan now presented provides for Basic and Tegut to gradually grow together. The takeover is still subject to an antitrust review. The two companies have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. How things will continue with the two Austrian market locations in Vienna and Salzburg initially remained open. The trading company Tegut from Fulda operates more than 300 food markets throughout Germany with a traditionally high proportion of organic products and has been part of the Swiss Migros cooperative since 2013.

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