New Nor:disk team in Germany

Meet Yana, Markus and Oleg heading our German division

Since June of this year our German division is operated by a brand new team - not counting our CCO Mattias Johansson, and our longtime skilled and trusted Technical Support Manager, Per Capert, both based in the Malmö headquarters.

The new team members - Yana Vykhoreva, Markus Brandl, and Oleg Korobko – attended the K&P Fachsymposium, hosted by K&P Consultants and GV Praxis, last week. This is one of the most anticipated events of the year in the German commercial kitchen industry scene, and second consecutive year Nor:disk is attending.

We took the opportunity to sit down with Yana and Markus for a little chat about the future of Nor:disk in Germany.

So, who are they and what do they bring to the table?

Starting at the home base, we have our Commercial Support Manager, Ms Yana Vykhoreva, who manages our office and showroom in Oberschleissheim outside Munich. We previously introduced Yana when she had been with Nor:disk only 2 weeks – read more about that here.

Markus Brandl, Sales Representative

Markus Brandl, new Sales Representative, spent more than 20 years of his life as a chef, working in kitchens all over the world.

Even so, his take-away from that is that every kitchen is the same. A carrot boils the same way in Germany as it does in the USA.

- It doesn’t matter the country; the work is the same. Only the people and the food change.

When Markus got the opportunity to leave the regular chef’s shift and try the life as a corporate chef for a big player in the combi-steamer market, he didn’t hesitate for a second.

- I was happy to leave nights and weekend hours behind for a more manageable Monday to Friday setup, he says. Also, I find that the defining moments in my career is always when I say yes to change.

That was back in 2004, and this decision led to even more change. He spent 7 years in Greece where he started a family, but also had interesting experiences as a chef. When asked what he feels is the top selling point for Nor:disk ware washers – aside from sustainability – Markus is quick to drop Hygiene.

- I learned that hygiene could be an actual selling point when I worked in Crete island and the first Cretan hotel to claim a HACCP certificate. It was a large hotel, 800 plus beds, and we had one person responsible for only HACCP documentation. It was a huge effort, but we could now use that to market ourselves as a safe and secure place to take your holiday, says Markus. Since then, it has increased and everyone does it – but we were first!

- Selling cooking equipment and combi-steamers is in some ways easier, since it’s a lot of showmanship in the demos. It’s simply more interesting. But one doesn’t work without the other – where there is cooking, there must be cleaning - and hygiene is crucial. I feel hygiene breaks that barrier. That’s what catches people’s attention when it comes to ware washing, explains Markus.

- Nor:disk solutions are great, because it means as a chef you can wash 200, 300 GN pans perfectly clean in an hour. That’s a big relief for the chefs – “at least this little part of my kitchen is perfectly clean”.

- Doing live cooking shows with ware washing as part of it is a great way to explain the bond between the two – and why good ware washing is essential, he continues.

Markus has always been on the cooking side of things, up until now.

- It was only last year, I started getting closer to Nor:disk. As I did, I felt ”Yes! This is the thing!” And then I started running haha! he recalls.

On Nor:disk going forward

Nor:disk is on a journey – “saving the planet, one drop at a time” – and to do so, the portfolio is growing. We want to offer more water-saving ware washing solutions to more kitchens. To do that, we need to fit more customer groups, and more areas of ware washing.

The growing portfolio is key to expanding on the German market according to Yana and Markus:

- Our customers want to streamline operations and have a one-person contact for each area in the kitchen, says Markus. One person, one number. It’s simply convenient and saves time.

- The brand is well-known in the German market - perhaps still more as Granuldisk (our company’s former name up until June 2023), but known for sure! And very trusted as a Swedish brand. We love the Swedes, Markus smiles.

Getting to know and grow the installed machine base

The focus from now on will be to get to know and grow the installed machine base. Markus and Oleg have been busy visiting a lot of the existing customers, making contact and introducing all of the new things.

- Oleg is always out and about, he’s hard to catch standing still, says Markus, pointing out the fact that Oleg didn’t even manage to make this interview due to some last minute things that came in.

- But he’s our quotes guy, and never lets you down. He knows the products and every detail inside and out and can give you a quote in minutes. He’s the specialist in the team.

A team effort

All in all, Yana and Markus agree that’s it all very much a team effort and none of them can do it alone. Despite their physical distance, they are working very closely and are constantly on the phone to each other.

Having started only before the summer, the fall will be the time when things really kick off for them. And they have a lot of exciting plans to manage outreach.

- We want to host more events and invite people to come and see what we can do, says Markus. Joint cook and wash events, so you get the good food and nice time, but also for our customers to get to see the machines in action in their right element.

- I want to keep learning and get to know the needs of our customers so I can help them in the right way, says Yana. It’s not just about how the machine works or what kitchen they run: it’s what they prefer, how their business operates etc. How we can assist in the best way, she explains.