The brand was originally founded in 2012 by Cem Yilmaz with two stores in Berlin. The stores were sold in 2014 and in 2019 the Glüxfühl brand was revived in new splendor. In the meantime, the company has made a remarkable development.
The list of customers includes industry giants such as Amazon, Zalando, SAP, H&M and Spotify. The two told us about the visions behind the feeling of happiness and the challenges they have mastered so far.
Could you briefly introduce happiness?
We are a young dynamic team with an average age of 28 and our dishes are inspired by European-Levantine fusion cuisine. Our team consists of chefs, logisticians and many other professionals. They work hand in hand to understand and implement the needs of our customers. The team draws on a successful mix of experience in gastronomy, marketing, finance and event organization.
We focus on that B2B sector for corporate events in the areas of business, fashion and lifestyle. We decided to start a business because we have all the qualities and skills that are essential for a business to be successful in our industry.
What is the vision behind happiness?
We do not have a fixed vision as the hospitality market is constantly changing. Circumstances can change at any time, as we have experienced during the pandemic. We have never delved into business or liquidity plans in detail. We do our work with passion and know that we will be successful with it. Our vision is to run a cool and flexible restaurant business where everyone can live and have fun at work. We want to develop and expand the Glüxfühl brand with new concepts and products in the food sector.
What have been the biggest challenges for Glüxfühl so far?
Our biggest challenge was to put together a motivated team for a strong company in the middle of the corona pandemic and without outside capital. Immediately after the foundation, the pandemic came and we had to give up our production facility. From then on we produced in Messy’s apartment and sent out our first home office boxes for virtual events. Without a professional kitchen, logistics and everything that goes with it.
Those: gxg-berlin.de
Since then we have financed ourselves from our own resources, expanded our new production facility with our own fleet of vehicles and our new office in Kreuzberg. Many decisions were made quickly and instinctively during this phase.
Who is the target group of Glüxfühl?
Our target group are medium-sized and larger companies from the fields of business, fashion and lifestyle that regularly organize events. Our customers trust us with their feedback and give us direction.
How does bliss work? What are the advantages?
Bliss works lean. After making contact, we discuss your individual wishes and needs together. The advantage is definitely in our versatility and customer service. From the very first contact, we try to understand the needs of our customers and to implement them without a lot of frills. Our team consists of professionals from our industry and each individual contributes to the success of an event with their know-how.
How do you manage to combine your philosophy with the company DNA?
The values we inherited from home are important to us: reliability, trust, respect and loyalty when dealing with the team and business partners. Since the company was founded, we have focused on connecting our philosophy with the company DNA. We reject people or companies that do not fit our values. This is easier for us today than it was a few years ago.
Where do you see happiness in five years?
We want to further establish and expand the Glüxfühl brand with creative concepts in the food sector. Our own brands such as the Glüxfühl wines and the creative concepts for virtual events during the pandemic have helped us to strengthen the brand. We are currently in a further growth phase and it is all the more important to strengthen our team with talented people and to retain them in the long term. So in the summer we moved to our new, much larger production facility in Berlin-Steglitz and opened another office for our office team at Schlesisches Tor.
Do you have any tips for prospective founders?
Keep the processes lean, choose your business partners/co-founders/team very carefully, get to know them well, this will save you headaches later. Spend 80-90% of your working time on revenue-generating activities. The market is constantly changing, stay flexible, adapt to the circumstances and keep learning.
We would like to thank Cem Yilmaz and Mesut Yigit for the interview and wish them continued success.