(Interview from 2020)

Dagmar Möbius

Ivo Reuter started a degree in microelectronics in 1990, the year after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Following advice from one of his professors, he switched to TU Dresden and a business management course – on which he developed an emotional affinity for foodstuffs. That fascination has lasted for more than 25 years. Today, the 50-year-old manager from Dresden is responsible for digitalization and customer service at the Rotkäppchen-Mumm group.

"At the end of the year in particular, everything has to be just right – everyone wants wine, sparkling wine, and spirits on their table for the holidays," explains Ivo Reuter with an apologetic laugh. Arranging to interview him in the run-up to Christmas was not easy. For the past year, the business management specialist has been senior consumer service manager in the direct-to-consumer division of Rotkäppchen-Mumm Sektkellereien GmbH in Eltville. In that role, he is designing and developing a standard marketplace for employee purchases, creating new sales concepts, and supporting partnerships with external partners. One major focus is "Digitalization 2.0." He has just planned both a physical and a digital wine store in Eltville am Rhein in Hesse.

His original career plans were rather different. "I was studying microelectronics/the technology of microelectronic components at TU Chemnitz, which was then still called TU Karl-Marx-Stadt," he says. "A lot changed in 1990. One day, a professor provided me with some food for thought when he said that the professional future of the industry was in Asia. He told me to think about whether that was right for me." Ivo Reuter is firmly rooted in his home region and could not imagine such a move. He had always been interested in business and economics. "I would never have studied socialist economics before 1989, but the choice that was now opening up and the huge flexibility of the subject brought me back to my hometown and TU Dresden to study business management." Before starting his studies, he tried out various jobs for a year: as a lab assistant for media control, and as an intern on hotel ships.

Ivo Reuter still has happy memories of his years as a student from 1992 to 1998. "The university had just launched a partnership with Bamberg. Many professors came to TU Dresden and brought their modern teaching methods. That was a great time." He specialized in marketing, market-oriented management, and transport & logistics. He has particularly fond memories of the lecturers Prof. Müller, Prof. Töpfer, and Prof. Kummer. "They taught us about a lot of things that I'm sure weren't in the curriculum: presentations, practical considerations, and networking. And there were two trips to France." When Ivo Reuter defended his dissertation on activity-based costing as a tool for establishing efficiency potential in efficient consumer response, his supervisor Professor Sebastian Kummer made the trip to where Reuter was working in Munich – Reuter was a trainee at Tengelmann GmbH, and held positions as a purchaser and executive assistant between 1998 and 2001.

Ivo Reuter purposefully chose the food industry. "Out of enthusiasm," he says. "I could also sell car parts, but I wouldn't have any emotional connection to my job." Which he definitely does to fruit juice, ice cream, and pizza, and now wine and sparkling wine. He has already proven his credentials in roles with Eckes granini Germany, Nestlé Germany, and various management posts at Rotkäppchen-Mumm since 2015. It's fascinating to listen to the manager talk about brands (or "love brands"). "They are the most valuable thing we have." A current example is Rotkäppchen mulled wine, which was launched in 2020. The company's key product is, of course, sparkling wine, and sparkling wines under the various Rotkäppchen-Mumm Sektkellereien brands account for around 60 percent of the German sparkling wine market. The idea for mulled wine is not a new one, but "a new product only goes on sale when the concept is genuinely ready. This was evidently the case with Rotkäppchen mulled wine. In many places, it was sold out by the end of November. Another production run was launched. For all those who did not get a taste of Rotkäppchen mulled wine in 2020, there is still the new Fruchtsecco (fruity prosecco) winter range to try – and there's always next year.

Networking is a constant topic for the sales professional, and not just professionally. Ivo Reuter had already volunteered as a student. From 1992 to 1996, he was a member of AIESEC, a global student association – in 1995, he even served as president of the local committee in Dresden. In 1993, he and seven other students founded the Deutscher Nothilfe-Dienst charity following a partnership with Sachsen hilft Kroatien, and Reuter was on the board until 1999. The association organized many relief operations and aid shipments for the region affected by the war in Yugoslavia. "Those experiences grounded me," he says. "The things we get worked up about in Germany are soon put into perspective when you think about how quickly life can change, and the impact of separation and trauma." In recent years, the association has not been active – for professional reasons. Ivo Reuter is still in contact with many people from university, from his volunteer work, and from his professional career. One of his current colleagues, Uwe Birke, also studied at TUD and is now Chief Information Officer at Rotkäppchen-Mumm – TUD is a strong connection.

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