Head of Logistics Thomas Zehnder retires after 40 years at Kräuter Mix
Thomas Zehnder has certainly come a long way since his first day at Kräuter Mix GmbH on November 11, 1985! From his early days in production to head of logistics, the long-standing employee is a team player who has consistently pursued his goals. Over a period of almost four decades, he has experienced Kräuter Mix’s upward growth but is now retiring at the end of March.
While Zehnder, a passionate footballer, originally trained as a chef, he made a career U-turn some 40 years ago in the hopes of embracing more regular working hours and weekends off. He started in the then drying department at the German experts for air-dried plant-based raw materials under former Plant Manager Wolfgang Mix. “These days, however, it’s a long time since drying has taken place in the company; it has long since fallen to our suppliers,” recalls Thomas Zehnder. “Quite simply, it was just uneconomical to transport products with a 90 percent water content over hundreds of kilometers.”
A steep learning curve in the family business
Zehnder was soon well acquainted with all the other production facilities and having built up experience in the warehouse, he was promoted to warehouse shift supervisor after just one year in production planning.
Christoph Mix, managing partner of the family business, recognized early on that there was a great deal more potential both in the area of logistics and in Thomas personally. “We spent a few Saturday afternoons in Christoph’s office where he gave me the perfect introduction to what lay ahead, not least international trade clauses, scheduling and my fair share of logistics processes,” says Zehnder, looking back on his journey with gratitude.
From warehouses to Kräuter Mix’s own logistics centers
1994 saw logistics established as a separate department at Kräuter Mix. It also saw Zehnder, who would go on to head logistics, embark on a two-year part-time advanced official training course in logistics management from the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce to ensure he was ideally equipped for the challenges ahead. The company’s Abtswind logistics and production center was built in 1996, followed by the purchase of the logistics center in Wiesentheid in 2005, which has been expanded ever since. In 2017, paperless data processing was introduced, with a driverless transport system at the Wiesentheid logistics center rounding out the picture some three years later. “The 12th warehouse there was ‘gifted’ to me,” adds Thomas Zehnder with a chuckle. He was even presented with his very own ‘gift card’ in a symbolic nod to his work during the celebrations to commemorate exceeding the magic 100 million mark in sales.
Thomas Zehnder is undoubtedly proud of ‘his’ Hall 12 and the 85,000 storage spaces across the Abtswind and Wiesentheid logistics centers. He is also visibly appreciative of the trust his colleagues and the Kräuter Mix management team have repeatedly placed in him, mostly recently as head of logistics responsible for a 100-strong team in the department, or since 2007 as an official company representative and signatory. As head of logistics, he was also responsible for shipping and incoming goods, warehouse management, stock preservation and customs. All of this now falls to Manuel Senft, “who has risen to the challenge at hand and taken over the management of logistics over the past two years without any fuss,” states Thomas Zehnder, pleased to know logistics is in safe hands.
A new phase of life
A colleague recently asked if there was some kind of countdown where you could tear off the days for his remaining time in the job, as Zehnder related with surprise. “But not for you, for everyone else!” his colleague continued with a laugh. Jokes aside, Thomas Zehnder does feel “a little strange” about entering this completely new phase of life after so many years at Kräuter Mix.
So what does Thomas have planned from March 28, 2025, his last day at Kräuter Mix? First things first, a lengthy boat trip from the Dominican Republic to the German port city of Bremerhaven. Then there’s the lush garden and five grandchildren who are desperate for more ‘grandpa time’. And on Sundays he will be sure to keep cooking for the whole family – with lots of herbs, of course! After all, “pork without thyme or goose without mugwort is like soup without salt”.
