INNOTASTE - Key Persons
Andrea Franzen was born in 1991 in Aachen. Following her vocational diploma, she started her training to become an industrial clerk in a Krefeld-based, family-run paper and plastics processing company. During the course of these three years, she worked in a very wide range of departments, such as purchasing, sales, shipping and accounting as well as on the telephone switchboard. Once she had successfully completed her training, she switched to working in the sales department. Her main tasks included order processing as well as providing both german and international customers and trade representatives with support.
Andrea Franzen has been employed as a sales assistant at innotaste GmbH since September 2015.
Britta Brucker was born in 1977 in Tübingen.
She is married and has one child. After graduating from high school, she completed training to become a chemistry laboratory assistant at the University of Tübingen in the Inorganic Biochemistry department. After completing her education, Britta worked for 18 years at CHT Germany GmbH in the Screen Printing department. There, among other things, she was responsible for the application testing of printing pastes and for carrying out print tests. In addition, as the person in charge of vocational training and safety representative for the company, she coordinated the management of trainees and apprentices with regard to both technical and safety-related aspects.
Britta has been employed as a Sampling Manager at innotaste GmbH since November 2020.
Davide Bencini was born in Florence in 1977. After getting a university degree in literature and languages and while working as Export Manager at Carapelli Firenze SpA (Deoleo S.A. Group), he discovered his great passion for selling food and food ingredients.
After 5 years in export for the German, Austrian, Swiss, Central European and Scandinavian markets, Davide moved to Berlin in 2010. He worked there for another 3 years for Deoleo S.A., before finally moving to the Berlin marzipan factory Georg Lemke GmbH & Co. KG as Key Account Manager Export in the bakery and confectionery segment. As Area Sales Manager, Davide was responsible for customer and business development in some countries of Western Europe as well as Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Since September 2016 Davide has been working with innotaste GmbH as Account Manager.
Dirk Förstner was born in 1978 in Manila/Philippines. He started his professional career in the field of gastronomy where he completed two apprenticeships with a final exam as restaurant expert as well as a qualified chef. During this period he gained experience in international enterprises such as the Sheraton Hotel at Frankfurt Airport.
After that Dirk studied Nutritional Science at the University Niederrhein in Mönchengladbach. During his studies he worked part-time as chef and also completed a traineeship in the internal catering section of Henkel K.G.a.A., where he developed a new logistics concept. He gained further experience in the Food Industry by doing traineeships at apetito AG in Rheine followed by his diploma.
After completion of his studies in 2008 he worked as Product Developer and Application Technologist for Loryma GmbH in Zwingenberg. His activities covered the development of functional raw material mixtures for different areas of the food industry. His expertise was focused on the development of coating systems, fine food, meat and vegetarian products.
Since October 2012 Dirk Förstner has been working as an Account Manager for innotaste GmbH.
Ewa was born in 1971 in Lodz, Poland. After graduating in Economics at the University of Lodz she started her professional career at the Polish company, Extracta, a company which sells flavours and emulsions for the beverages industry. After 4 years of logistic and customer services management she began working with international distributors of chemical raw materials and specialist additives for industries. In 1997 she started working as a Sales Representative at Holland Chemicals International (HCI) Poland dealing with the food, feed, pharmaceutical and cosmetic fields. In 2002 HCI Poland was incorporated by Brenntag where she also dealt with food additives. In October 2002 she started working at Donauchem Polska where she worked for over 14 years. Initially, she was a Sales Representative for the food and pharmaceutical business before she was appointed to be Deputy Regional Director. In 2013 she took up the position of Business Development Manager, Food Industry and she coordinated the Sales Representatives while servicing business relationships with key accounts.
Since May 2018 Ewa has been working with the C.H.Erbslöh Group as Key Account Manager for the group's food ingredient brand, innotaste, in Poland.
Handan Restelica was born in Krefeld in 1985. After finishing school Handan started a traineeship as a health care nurse, before she came to the company C.H. Erbslöh in 2008 to do work experience. After successfully finishing a company internal project she completed her traineeship at the company as a wholesale and foreign trade clerk. During her almost 4 year working time at C.H. Erbslöh, Handan gained experience in many different departments, such as information systems, accounts, material planning, quality management, and especially in the sales area of purchasing and sales.
In her last job as purchasing and sales assistant, she was mainly responsible for the processing of orders as well as the customer care at home and abroad.
In summer 2012 Handan changed her working place to innotaste GmbH, where she will work as a sales assistant.
Isabella Merkel was born in Malapane (Upper Silesian) in 1980. After doing her Alevels she did a traineeship as an export sales assistant at the company C.H. Erbslöh KG in Krefeld, where she worked after finishing her traineeship successfully in 2003. She worked there in the quality management department until December 2004.
Isabella has worked for Innotaste as a sales assistant since January 2005. Since 2011 she manages the purchasing side.
Jan Philipp Olschewski was born in Ratingen in 1998. After graduating from high school, he completed internships in various fields. In 2018, he began a part-time degree in Business Administration.
During this time, he worked as Junior Consultant at Seven Principles Solution & Consulting GmbH. His areas of responsibility there involved managing the Project Management Office for a major customer, active consulting in the aviation industry on a Europe-wide basis and supporting sales activities in the acquisition of new customers.
After successfully completing his Bachelor's degree in September 2021, he started a part-time Master's programme in Sales Management.
Jan Philipp Olschewski has been employed as Account Manager at innotaste GmbH since January 2022.
Klaus Olschewski was born in Sensburg in 1960. He is married and has two children. He began his career with his commercial traineeship in 1979 at the company Henkel in Düsseldorf. After working for three years at the company Weinstock and Siebert where he was responsible for the sales of special chemicals, he returned to Henkel KGAA. He worked there from 1985 to 1990 where he was responsible for the sales and marketing of chemical base substances in Germany as well as building up a national distribution network.
A further stage was his 2 years at the company Kao corporation where he was responsible for the sales of aroma chemicals in Europe. In 1992 he changed to Firmenich Germany in Kerpen where he worked as Key Account Manager.
In November 2004 he founded innotaste together with further partners.
Marie Hausmann was born in 1983 in Duisburg. After doing her A Levels she studied Home Economics and Nutritional Science at the University of Applied Science in Mönchengladbach. She gained her first practical experiences by working in several part-time jobs and internships at well-known companies like Thyssen Krupp Delicate GmbH and Bayer Gastronomie GmbH. In her diploma thesis she developed a concept to optimize the quality criteria in the gastronomy at the Cologne Trade Fair.
After finishing her studies in 2008 she gained her first work experience as an advisor in the purchase and development department at Dinea Gastronomie GmbH in Cologne. During this job she began her master studies in Food and Nutrition Science with the focus on management of food processing systems. Her master thesis was an analysis of the information flow in the dairy industry from the producer until the final end users.
After her final degree in 2011 a stay abroad in the US for several months followed.
Since February 2012 Marie Hausmann has been working as an Account Manager at innotaste GmbH.
Job Titles:
- HSH - Chemie Hungary As a Sales Representative
- Sales
Mihaly Gaspar was born in Szombathely, Hungary, in 1977. He studied Food Sciences at the University of Horticulture and Food Industry in Budapest. After his graduation with a master's degree in Food Industry Engineering in 2002, he started working as a salesman at the distribution company Fermenta Hungaria, focussing on flavours and beverage compounds of the Austrian producer AKRAS. As a part of the customer relationship management, he started creating ready-to-drink and ready-to-eat samples in 2003 in the company's own application lab to meet the clients' expectations for quicker turnround times.
In 2008 he joined the company NRC (Nordmann & Rassmann) Hungaria, where he gained experiences with the flavours of MANE fils and its subsidiary Gelcrem Italy, specialised for the ice cream industry. Since the product range of NRC covered all main areas of the food industry, Mihaly participated in several R&D projects and pilot productions across various business applications.
Afterwards, he became Product Manager at Brenntag Hungaria in 2010. In that role, Mihaly was in charge of the sales of specialties and commodities from the represented suppliers with a focus on Givaudan flavours for both divisions - sweet and savoury.
In 2014 Mihaly joined HSH-Chemie Hungary as a sales representative. His product portfolio included Frey & Lau flavours and essential oils, as well as various additives for sports nutrition, convenience food, baked goods, meat processing and animal feed.
In 2017 Mihaly and his family moved back to his hometown where he started his own business as an R&D consultant for food manufacturers. In the recent years, he developed vegetable-based protein supplements for people sensitive to dairy products or those following a special diet.
In spring 2019, Mihaly has joined the C.H.Erbslöh Group as the Food Ingredients Account Manager for the Hungarian and Romanian market.
Oleg Skorikov was born in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan, in 1996.
After obtaining his qualifications for admission to a technical college and attending Kaufmannsschule Krefeld (Vocational College of the City of Krefeld), he completed his training to become a wholesale and foreign trade merchant at the fine food wholesaler Bos Food. During this time, Oleg worked in several departments including Warehousing, Accounting and Purchasing.
After passing his exams and being hired by the company that trained him, Oleg initially worked in Internal Accounting for two years before switching over to Purchasing for an additional two years. Here he looked after national and international suppliers before assuming his position as Purchasing Manager at innotaste GmbH in July 2022.
Radoslaw Bojar was born in 1972 in Warsaw. He studied home economics and nutritional science at the University of Agriculture in Warsaw. After his studies Radoslaw started working at Kamis (an herbs and spices manufacturer) as an R&D Specialist. During the following 11 years he was responsible for the product development of spice blends and convenience food for the Polish, Russian and Romanian market. After that he was responsible for product development for Kamis's new B2B company activities. In 2008 he continued his professional career at the Tea Company "Intea" as an R&D Manager. In that role Radoslaw was responsible for the development of flavoured and non-flavoured teas, herbal teas and infusions for the new company brand in the Polish market. As Head of the Research and Development department, Radoslaw has been in charge of the company's rebranding activities for the oldest Polish tea brand "Posti".
Rob Kalf was born in 1963 in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. He is married and has two children. After his logistic studies and jobs Rob started his career in the flavour and fragrance industry at Bush Boake Allen (now IFF). After 4 years of logistic and customer services management he moved into a commercial area as an International Account Manager for fragrances.
In 2001 he changed to Sensient Flavours as a Key Account Manager for flavours and Ingredients. Parallel to this he was responsible for the coordination of the European commercial activities with Unilever. In 2008 he changed to Firmenich as the European Regional Account Manager for Unilever Foods.
Job Titles:
- Key Account Manager for Flavours and Ingredients
Thomas Hable was born in 1976 in Ried im Innkreis (Austria). After graduating from the College for Tourism and Leisure Industry in Bad Leonfelden (Austria), he gained first professional experience in the hospitality industry in Germany, Austria and the United States.
Later on, Thomas joined his parents´ butcher company and worked as an assistant operations manager at the renowned Leberkäse producer Gourmetfein.
After 10 years as an independent sales agent for premium food and wine, he joined Moguntia Food GmbH in 2021 as a sales representative for artisan butchers.
End of 2023 Thomas Hable earned a professional certificate for Product Management from the University of Maryland before starting as Sales Manager Austria for the innotaste portfolio at C.H. Erbslöh Hallein.