Markus Sander, the managing director of sales for the luxury German kitchens brand Häcker Kitchens, has “mutually agreed to part ways” with the company.
The news of Markus Sander departing Häcker Kitchens comes out of the blue as the German kitchen brand has gone from strength to strength in the last decade, moving from the 3rd largest german kitchen brand (by sales) in 2013 to the 2nd largest in 2023, second to Nobilia*.
*Read: German Kitchen Brands 2013 to 2023
Häcker cited “different views on the company’s future sales orientation” as the reason behind his departure.
According to Häcker, Markus Sander will depart the business at the end of November and it is understood that director of marketing Marcus Roth and Managing Director of HK-Appliances (part of Häcker GmbH) Olaf Thuleweit will both temporarily step in to Markus Sander's role and assume joint responsibility for sales until a long-term successor is appointed.
In announcing the news of Markus Sander departure, Häcker Kitchens’ interim management team has assured its customers that the firm's high levels of customer co-operation and satisfaction will continue and that the ordering process will continue to run smoothly despite the shake-up.
Although it was said that Sander will be leaving the company “as a result of different views on the company’s future sales orientation in a persistently challenging economic environment”, no further details were given, likely due to a non-disclosure agreement which is commonplace upon a senior executive leaving office.
Although the nature of what "differing views" there were between Häcker Kitchens and Mr Sander that contributed to the decision for Mr Sander to leave, earlier this year, Häcker Kitchens reported seeing a significant drop in its year-on-year turnover figures, despite its export share remaining relatively stable.
It would be logical to conclude that such news in respect of the lower year-on-year turnover figures was met with differing views on how to proceed.
Jochen Finkemeier, Häcker Kitchens’ owner and managing director, publicly thanked Marukus Sander for his work over the last decade, on behalf of the senior management team.
Finkemeier said: “The entire company has developed impressively during this time and Markus Sander has made an important contribution to this with his expertise and commitment. We wish Mr Sander all the best for the future and much success in his new challenges.”
The Häcker Kitchens’ management team expects Mr Sander's vacant managing director of sales role to be filled by the end of 2025.
Commenting on the Häcker Kitchens boss leaving over ‘different views’ on the company future, London based Hacker kitchens specialist Michael from GKL had the following observation to make.
"Whatever the reasons behind Markus Sander leaving, personally I doubt it was in response to the year on year drop in sales as Häcker has been a very well company and the drop in sales, in my view, is in line with the rest of the kitchen industry given and the current economic conditions."
Michael added; "All the industry reports are saying that consumers are delaying big ticket home improvement projects until the interest rates come down and the future looks less bleak and even in the bubble that is London, activate has dropped but lucky for us, we have been just as busy as last year due to the volume of customer recommends we get."
