Joachim Escher

Joachim Escher’s knowledge of the health food business is second to none. His parents opened the first health food shop in 1975 and he joined the business himself in 1988 after studying pharmacy. A lot has happened since. His wife Marion joined him in the business, their children were born and his branch network grew to 31 stores. That, of course, is not all. The customers frequenting health food stores today have long since ceased to t the cliché of sandal-shod muesli freaks. Instead, they are modern quality-conscious people who are just as likely to scan QR codes with their smartphones in stores which are every bit as modern as they themselves. It is an engaging picture of how a niche sector with a somewhat dusty image has entered the digital age. In an interview Joachim Escher explains why this needn‘t be a contradiction in terms and describes the situation in health food stores today.

“Only people open to the future
have one.”

Joachim Escher,
Managing Director Vita Nova Escher,
Baden-Württemberg


Mr Escher, you have worked to bring high quality health products to your customers for decades. How have health food shops and customers changed over this period?

Well, to put it quite simply, both have become modern. Our target audience used to be a very clearly de ned closed group of people, today it is wide open. Customers are no longer confined to health- and quality-conscious women aged 40 up- wards, but are also young people who want to eat vegan or vegetarian food and appreciate our products. And of course, our shops have changed also. The atmosphere is more stylish, contemporary with more of a boutique feel. And don’t forget that “healthy” and “tasty” used to be more or less mutually exclusive. That’s over now. Especially in the food sector, we can offer products today that are healthy, organic and so delicious that our customers would buy them anyway even they weren’t vegan or vegetarian. Meanwhile, health food shops are associated with ideas like well-being, indulgence and enjoyment. What has also changed is the product selection: in the early days, when we were building up the business, we could stock around 5,000 different products, today that figure has risen to around 12,000.

“We offer customers added value.”

Would you say that the boom in organic food and vegan and vegetarian trends have bene ted the health food business?

Yes and no. On the one hand, supermarkets now also stock a lot of organic, vegan and vegetarian food. So although demand for these products is far higher now, the competition has also increased abreast of this interest. Especially smaller health food shops are feeling the pinch, and it certainly won’t be any easier for them in the future. As a health food store we owe it to our customers to offer them real added value. Basically, all we need to do is focus on our roots – and place our emphasis on natural cosmetics, medicine and special products. And thus on products which customers would like in-depth advice and which often yield solutions. This, combined with a high quality food selection, means we are best placed and, more importantly, well- equipped for the future.

“Our customers tell us their stories and expect us to tell them the stories behind our products.”

Does being ready for the future include the digital world – is its processes reflected in the new face of the health food business?

And how! We know we have to be open to the future, if we want to have one. Although it must be said that we already went over to EDP back in the 1990s and introduced closed-loop merchandise management. And we have consistently pursued this course since. Our merchandise ow and range are controlled via a main office. Since 2016, digitisation has made decisive advances and now, for instance, all our bills and delivery papers are transferred electronically. We aim to change over to electronic accounting completely by the end of 2017. However, that will entail some structural changes and in turn, a huge amount of effort. But we are determined to go ahead with it, because only by optimising processes we can reduce paper consumption to zero. The subject of sustainability is after all part of a rounded whole in the health food business – health food is a philosophy, an attitude to life, and it doesn’t just stop suddenly somewhere.

“Health food is a philosophy of life.”

You are a member of Vita Nova Group and part of Vita Nova Internet GmbH, which has run an online shop called reformhausshop24.de for five years. Is the online shop not a direct rival to the stationary retail business?

No. We sell different products in the Internet to what is stocked in the shops. Orders are often for larger quantities, frequently placed at the weekend, and orders mainly come from large urban centres. The people who come to our shops appreciate personal advice and relationships, and they have developed an emotional bond with their health food shop. Our customers tell us their stories and expect us to tell them the stories behind our products. Nevertheless, the online shop is still important, and we take demand seriously. It is after all a modern way of shopping. We also plan to better network our online and offline activities. Our customers already get their information in the online shop, read reviews and then come to the shop to buy the products. Or they visit us on Facebook where our promotions spark their interest, prompting them to come into the shop. In the future we aim to better network customers, giving them the option for instance of ordering over the internet and collecting goods in the shop, or vice-versa. There are lots of ways of linking the digital and real worlds.

Your shops are regular prize winners, and you currently hold the title of health food shop of the year and Germany’s favourite health food shop – so it sounds as if you’ve got virtually everything right …

We have a passion and commitment to the business, but we are also competent and qualified. We are proud of our roots, but we know that they aren’t enough, and it takes more than that to grow. Growing also means a willingness to take on board changes. That’s maybe what makes us special.

Sanne Stenger conducted the interview