{"id":927,"date":"2019-10-31T14:38:30","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T13:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/luniversum.com\/?p=927"},"modified":"2019-10-31T14:38:33","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T13:38:33","slug":"elisabethberlin-daughterfamilycompany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/luniversum.com\/en\/elisabethberlin-daughterfamilycompany\/","title":{"rendered":"Daughters in a family company: the uncompromising businesswoman with a heart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Elisabeth<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Elisabeth Berlin
\nPhotographer: Roman Knie<\/p>\n<\/div>

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A hotel with 125 beds, 100 employees, three restaurants (including a Michelin-starred one) and an enormous wellness area requires a lot of work. Hard work. Something Elisabeth Berlin knows all too well. Just 33 years old, she manages the Hotel Berlins KroneLamm in Zavelstein in the Black Forest<\/a>. She and her three brothers continue the business their parents once started together in a leased hostel for hikers. The family company\u2019s concept is well-received \u2013 it features close ties to their home, food from the region and a great big serving of the pure Black Forest world<\/a>. However, there is a meticulously well-planned company behind this concept.<\/h3>\n<\/div>
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Elisabeth, tell us: How did you develop a company as big and successful as yours? How did it all start?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our parents didn’t grow up in entrepreneur families. My father is the son of a refugee family from Pomerania and only ended up in Zavelstein by coincidence. My mother\u2019s parents were also refugees; they came from East Germany. My parents both did a catering traineeship, which is where they met. Together they leased the hikers\u2019 hostel up in Zavelstein. Their idea for it was very simple: I was the youngest at the time, three years old, while my eldest brother was six. My father was to cook and my mother to serve during the day. At night, she wanted to come home to us kids and Dad would work at the cabin alone.<\/p>\n

Of course, that plan didn’t work at all! But the concept was received much better than expected \u2013 even back then, the food wasn\u2019t your standard run-of-the-mill fare, since my father had come up with a carefully planned, high-quality menu. This helped the hostel quickly become well-known throughout the region.<\/p>\n

What do you still remember of that starting period in the hostel, of your childhood?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think it was definitely more difficult for me. Before, my mother had always been at home and there for the kids. When the hostel started, that suddenly became impossible. Our grandparents always took care of things on weekends and during school holidays. We simply grew up in the food industry. We ate and did our homework in the hostel and played games outside on the playground or on the edge of the forest. Looking back, I have to say we had a lot of freedom. There was no curfew, for example, and cleaning my room was never an issue since we were only in the hostel. Yes, I would say it was a good childhood.<\/p>\n

The hostel kept your parents busy. Did that lead to you getting along with your brothers better?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, not at all. I thought they were dumb! My brothers liked to play together but I couldn\u2019t stand them. We are different personalities and I\u2019m more of the calm type who likes to sit in peace and read a book. I just wasn\u2019t interested in running through the forest. To this day, I enjoy reading a book for hours and I don\u2019t need any action.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, we all grew up close. My brothers looked after me and we put ourselves to bed from an early age. That worked nicely and strengthened and characterized our family\u2019s cohesion significantly.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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\"Wanderheim<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"Berlins<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Years ago: the tranquil hostel for hikers. Today: a comfortable wellness hotel.
\nPhotographer: Roman Knie<\/p>\n<\/div>

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What is it like when you work together today?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We try to split up everything so each one of us has their own area in which they can freely do things their way. It\u2019s not easy for siblings when they constantly have to make decisions and coordinate together. Siblings know each other extremely well. For example, I would recognize if my brother was fibbing or trying to fool me about something. Maybe people aren\u2019t as neutral and friendly with a sibling as they are with other employees. You have to take care that there isn\u2019t too much friction in everyday working life. So, it\u2019s best for everyone when they have their own clearly distinguished responsibilities.\u00a0However, for core decisions concerning all departments, we always speak intensively with each other.<\/p>\n

How much are your parents still involved in the company?<\/strong><\/p>\n

These days they actually only work in the background, although my mother still putters around and helps us out where she can. My father has taken a back-seat position and lets us kids have the say. At the moment, we\u2019re trying to get our mother to visit her grandchildren more often so she can pull back some and get out of the business more frequently.<\/p>\n

Are you already thinking of your own family plans?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, it\u2019s only next year that I\u2019m getting married, and we\u2019re building a house at the same time. We did, however, design the house to have two children\u2019s rooms… (laughs) I never really wanted children before, I never found it that appealing. But, of course, having children is also a part of life.<\/p>\n

Your brothers both have children already. Do you see your own childhood in your nieces and nephews?<\/strong><\/p>\n

They\u2019re still small, between two and four years old, and live a ways away. But they come here a few times per week and visit their parents. The oldest is bold and sees the hotel as a giant playground, with many corners for exploring and hiding. In a building with nine floors and two elevators, you\u2019ve basically lost before you\u2019ve even started (laughs). The children do experience the hotel and the guests, though not as intensively as we did when we were young. I would say they are growing up more sheltered, but are still learning about hotel life and everything that comes with it. The parents don\u2019t have free time that often, and there\u2019s no weekends in the classic sense.<\/p>\n

What is it like to work as a family on such a big project as a shared company?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It requires parents who teach their children a great deal of respect for others. That\u2019s the foundation of any cooperative relationship, most of all for us in business. That you always respect others as people and as colleagues. Everything would fall apart if that were missing. Or if you don\u2019t respect that people are different. Here\u2019s an example: My brother Roland, one of the restaurant managers, is an absolute workaholic. He starts every morning at 7 and then works at the bar until 2 o\u2019clock in the morning. I couldn\u2019t do that. I would drop dead. Or my other brother, Franz, in the kitchen \u2013 he\u2019s a bit more creative and needs his freedom. He needs his two days off, time with his daughter, and he sleeps in a little longer in the morning. If the respect wasn\u2019t there and these differences weren’t accepted, it would all become much more difficult.<\/p>\n

Is there a competitive mentality among your siblings?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I would say no, but we do have to settle everything well. We all work for the same company, so we\u2019re also evenly involved in its success. But if one of us were to start thinking along the lines of, \u201cI contribute so much more to the company\u2019s success. What I do is worth much more. I should get a bigger stake in the end result,\u201d this sort of thinking would be the beginning of the end. It’s important to remember that we can only achieve our goal together. I know, for instance, that I can\u2019t cook and wouldn\u2019t be good at customer service over the long term. That\u2019s why I need both my brothers. We all know that the hotel only works with us together as a team.<\/p>\n

Does that also mean you speak openly about, say, when someone feels like they\u2019ve been treated unfairly?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, but not constantly. Those sorts of things are of course not so pleasant to talk about. Yet we struck a new partnership agreement just two years ago, and I think it\u2019s also important that we take our time with that. Including to clarify fundamental issues: What happens when one of us wants to quit? Or has to quit? What do we do then? How do we settle something like that legally?<\/p>\n

The legal side is just one side. How do you settle that within the family?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Exactly, there\u2019s the company on the one hand, but there\u2019s also us, the family. We\u2019ve always tried to put ourselves \u2013 the family \u2013 at the very top. That\u2019s hard because the company means so much to all of us. Nevertheless, we always try to protect the family first and then put the company second. And, if in doubt, let a member of the family go if it means protecting the family. So, if one of us can\u2019t keep going or wants to stop, they\u2019ll always stay part of the family, even if it means the company is set up differently.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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\"Berlins<\/span><\/div>

The three generations of the Berlin family
\nPhotographer: Roman Knie<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Was there ever a moment where you wanted to do everything completely differently?<\/strong><\/p>\n

If there was, it\u2019d have been something completely outside the hotel business.\u00a0I never wanted to go into this industry when I was younger. Back then, I couldn’t have imagined having so many people around me constantly, and I preferred time to myself.\u00a0I took a look at other industries and, for example, did a long internship with a tax advisor. That work was also great, it just simply wasn\u2019t what satisfied me.<\/p>\n

When I began working in hotels as a part-time assistant, I noticed the job had many aspects. They mainly included working together with the team, which I\u2019d never experienced that way before in any other industry. Sometimes there are challenging workdays with extreme stress, and in the evening everyone sits down together, drinks a beer, and the tension falls away. You then go home in a good mood despite everything, even if you can\u2019t walk anymore after running around all day. It just left me with a good feeling. And the special moments with the guests, too.<\/p>\n

Have some specific encounters stuck with you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course. Like when guests hug me after becoming regulars and start crying because they\u2019ve just come back after not seeing the place for a long time. Or when you notice we\u2019ve created a place for people where they can be happy. I always find that completely fascinating because we have people with unimaginable stories. Just recently, we had a couple whose children had been in an accident just prior. They simply needed some time for themselves as a couple, but told us about that beforehand. For me, it was nice to see how much they enjoyed that time out, and how it revitalized their spirits. It makes the work exceptional to know that you and your company can achieve something like that.<\/p>\n

What would your employees say about you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh…I think they like me (laughs). Mm, honestly, I should ask them about that sometime. My father once said that I\u2019m an uncompromising businesswoman with a big heart. I think that sums me up well. I was completely absorbed by my business administration studies and love numbers. At the same time, however, numbers also end at a certain point. The wellbeing of our employees is a high priority for me. And I think that you should always appear before employees as a person whom they can respect and also be happy to work with in the same space.<\/p>\n

You live and work where others are taking a holiday. How do you spend your free time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I always wanted to get far away when I was younger. In those days, there needed to be an ocean between me and the hotel. These days, things are different; we usually spend our holidays on Usedom island in the Baltic Sea with my partner\u2019s family.\u00a0One of our favorite places is here in the region, on Sommerberg mountain in Bad Wildbad.<\/p>\n

What does the Black Forest mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have to say I grew up here and am a Northern Black Forest girl at heart. In the last few years, I\u2019ve come to love the Black Forest<\/a> even more \u2013 I often talk with guests and many explain that they have strong problems with the dryness and heat waves, with the temperature going up to almost 90 \u00b0F at night. Then I think, \u201cWe have it good here.\u201d We live in a gorgeous region, and even during this dry summer we had green meadows and woods. You could walk into the forest and it\u2019s crisp and moist, and everything there was blossoming and growing. I think we always had these periods of heat, but back then it was just very hot during the day for a few days \u2013 though still at a level where you could enjoy it.<\/p>\n

The region we live in, too, is exceptionally beautiful. Particularly the corner here close to Stuttgart, Pforzheim, Karlsruhe \u2013 we\u2019re not completely isolated here. If we want, we can drive over to Stuttgart for a couple of cocktails in the evening.<\/p>\n

What do the guests think about that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The guests think about that differently. Some say we live in a totally deserted place, that you can\u2019t shop here and there\u2019s nothing happening. I don\u2019t understand that at all. I have everything I need here. There are doctors, schools, kindergartens, and, most importantly, clubs that hold everyone together. The social cohesion here is lovely. And that\u2019s what most guests say. Here, there\u2019s still a speck of an untouched world. Zavelstein is also a picturesque little place with its half-timbered houses. At the same time, we have great industrial companies in the region. Our community is growing and developing. That means we don\u2019t need to worry about being hung out to dry when we retire. Young people see a future here as well.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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More details about Hotel Berlins KroneLamm: www.berlins-hotel.de<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>

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The Hotel Berlins KroneLamm is just a few minutes\u2019 drive away from the Lunor company headquarters. Yet more unites the two companies than just their idyllic location in the German Black Forest: Elisabeth Berlin went to school with Sophie Fux. Both women are daughters in a family-run company. And despite the different industries, the challenges and experiences are surprisingly similar.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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