Oettinger Brauerei is a brewery group in Germany which roots can be traced back to the 14th century.

Since 2004, when superseding Krombacher

Krombacher

Krombacher Brauerei is one of the largest privately owned breweries in Germany and ranks number 2 among Germany's best selling breweries.- History :...

, Oettinger is Germany's best selling beer brand with an annual output of 6.61 million hectoliters sold in 2008.

The home brewery and headquarter is in Oettingen in Bayern

Oettingen in Bayern

Oettingen in Bayern is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated northwest of Donauwörth, and northeast of Nördlingen.-Geography:...

, but there are also Oettinger breweries in Gotha

Gotha (town)

Gotha is a town in Thuringia, within the central core of Germany. It is the capital of the district of Gotha.- History :The town has existed at least since the 8th century, when it was mentioned in a document signed by Charlemagne as Villa Gotaha . Its importance derives from having been chosen in...

, Schwerin

Schwerin

Schwerin is the capital and second-largest city of the northern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The population, as of end of 2009, was 95,041.-History:...

, Mönchengladbach

Mönchengladbach

Mönchengladbach , formerly known as Münchengladbach, is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine half way between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border....

 and Braunschweig

Braunschweig

Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....

 which were bought from other brewing companies to achieve short haul transport to Oettinger's customers all over Germany.

Philosophy: Affordable beer

There are about 1300 breweries in Germany, therefore Germany's beer market is highly competitive.
Most of them however do their best to brew good beer - although there is little room to vary brewing recipes according to the German Reinheitsgebot

Reinheitsgebot

The Reinheitsgebot , sometimes called the "German Beer Purity Law" or the "Bavarian Purity Law" in English, was a regulation concerning the production of beer in Germany. In the original text, the only ingredients that could be used in the production of beer were water, barley and hops...

 which only allows 3 ingredients.

Oettinger capitalized upon a gap in the market: selling large amounts of affordable beer for the lowest possible price. To avoid competition, Oettinger bought the beer brand "5,0 Original" and the corresponding brewery in Braunschweig

Braunschweig

Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....

, a competitor acting in the same market segment. Oettinger can hardly be found on tap at pubs and bars - most of it is sold bottled in super markets and cash-and-carry markets for beverages.

Reduce costs

Oettinger uses several ways to keep beer prices low:

• Oettinger does not advertise whatsoever.
• Oettinger does not involve any intermediaries; brewery-owned trucks deliver directly to stores.
• The brewing process is highly automated and uses few employees to brew vast amounts of beer.

The low price has made this beer brand the most successful one in Germany with an output of 6.61 million hectoliters 2008.

Lack of commercial advertising

Günther Kollmar himself elaborates on Oettinger's sales strategy (an interview translated from German):

"The term "cheap beer" is actually almost a disqualification. But it's only an attempt. Everything that is marketed well and market adjusted in Germany, is suddenly (called) cheap. Aldi

ALDI

ALDI Einkauf GmbH & Co. oHG, doing business as ', short for "Albrecht Discount", is a discount supermarket chain based in Germany...

 is cheap, IKEA

IKEA

IKEA is a privately held, international home products company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture such as beds and desks, appliances and home accessories. The company is the world's largest furniture retailer...

 is cheap, the Bild Newspaper is cheap, Oettinger Beer is cheap. Nobody wants it - 'It's dishwater!' But everybody drinks it. (Our) success proves us right."

and he adds with an allusion to advertisements from his competitors Beck's

Beck's

Brauerei Beck & Co is a German brewery in the north German city of Bremen. Owned by local families until February 2002, it was then sold to Interbrew for 1.8 billion euros. The brewery was formed under the name Kaiserbrauerei Beck & May o.H.G. in 1873 by Lüder Rutenberg, Heinrich Beck and Thomas...

 and Licher:

"Everytime when your TV program has become interesting to a degree, you see the ship or the commercial or some kingfisher. We have a low opinion of that."

History

Oettinger's history is documented since 1333. However, 1731 is on the bottle labels.

The "Fürstliche Brauhaus zu Oettingen" (Prince's brewhouse at Oettingen) was bought in 1956 by the Kollmar family (Ingrid Kollmar 64.5 %, Günther Kollmar 11.1 % and Dirk Kollmar 24.4 %) and the company "Oettinger Brauerei GmbH" was founded.
This happened under the direction of Günther Kollmar (born in 1937) who is still managing the company.

From then on, the brewery delivered beer directly to grocery stores without involving intermediaries and specialised in low-cost beers.