Doemens cancels relocation plans
Before they had to pack their bags, it was announced that the Doemens Academy was not to move to Krones’ headquarters near Regensburg.
In case you had heard about Doemens’ imminent departure from Munich and wondered why this bit of information never made it onto this site, well, your correspondent here has to plead guilty. Or biased. Or too familiar with the changing fortunes of this prestigious Munich brewing school to believe for one second that the decision to relocate the school to Neutraubling, where Krones is headquartered, could ever be final.
Your correspondent was to be proven right. In September it was announced that Doemens was not to pack it all in but that a solution had been reached with the council of Gräfelfing which will allow Doemens to stay put.
Yet, there is no denying that Doemens has suffered from a decline in economic fortunes. The last piece of gold, literally, that was in its coffers was the piece of land the school sat on. In an effort to save Doemens from financial ruin the board came up with the ingenious plan to sell the land for development and relocate the school to another site where a benevolent sponsor would see to it that Doemens was not to go down.
Unbeknownst to many of you, the search for a new site cum benefactor has been going on for years. However, last year Doemens’ board, chaired by Munich’s brewer to real-estate tycoon Stefan Schörghuber, announced that they had clinched a deal with Krones, the world’s major manufacturer of beverage plant and machinery. I shall spare you the details but Doemens was to move to Neutraubling and sell its Munich site.
This plan was met with an outcry. Many of Doemens’ alumni, who were not allowed to vote on the deal, feared that this so-called ‘win-win’ agreement was not to Doemens’ benefit at all. After all, they rightly worried that a perennially struggling Doemens could find itself submerged in Krones’ own academy.
For the past year or so a lot of aggro has been building up in Germany’s brewing community between those who supported the decision by Doemens’ board and those who were against it.
In the end all the infighting and backstabbing must have been too much for Krones. As could be expected, Krones eventually decided to withdraw its offer. Following this announcement Doemens’ board said that it will resign.
To secure Doemens’ future in Munich, the local council has offered a sell and lease back deal to Doemens. That should provide Doemens with the funds to cover all the necessary investments in Munich. Hopefully Doemens’ management, having been tied down by fruitless discussions for years, will find the energy to start afresh.
We wish them the best of luck.
