The image of the classic family business is deeply anchored in the German understanding of business: the father as founder and boss, the mother as the manager in the background, the children as successors in the second and third generation. That would also have been an option for Kati Decker and Danisichting. The family used to own several pastry shops in the Rhineland.
But neither the sisters (nor their brother) wanted to take over their parents’ business. The two of them see it as a kind of coincidence that they still run a family business today. Shared childhood memories and a shared executive chair – that suits them both like colorful sprinkles on sweet cakes. And the sisters are not alone with their type of company. But siblings as business leaders – can that work well in the long term?
First cake, then sprinkles
So far, yes for Kati Decker and Danisichting, they are the creators of Super Streusel, a mail order company for unusual cake decorations. However, the two started with a different start-up. The sisters sold cake pops, i.e. small cakes on a stick, over the Internet. Danisichting founded the shop in 2013. A little later, sister Kati Decker joined “Guter Kuchen”. However, they discovered that there was very little decoration available on the German market. And so they sourced their cake pops from Australia and North America, among other places.
“At some point we thought to ourselves: If we so urgently need more choice of sprinkles, then surely others feel the same way,” says Dani. The idea for cake decoration sales was born. “It wasn’t far before we got the name Super Streusel,” says Kati. “After Good Cake only Super Streusel could come,” Dani finishes her sister’s thought.
That was in 2018. At the beginning, however, it was anything but easy. “We had problems getting the minimum order quantities,” remembers Kati. Today things are different: Many manufacturers have Super Streusel producing their own punches – exclusively for the brand. A nationwide campaign is currently underway with a large chocolate kiss manufacturer. In addition, the Europa Park in Rust (Baden-Württemberg) has had Super Streusel develop decorations that will now trickle onto the ice in the park all summer long. The sisters have expanded their repertoire of hand-mixed sprinkle mixes to include cake icing, even sell sugar-free sprinkle variants and offer silicone molds, piping nozzles, glitter powder and baking mixes on their platform. Music act DIKKA also has his own collection, as does singer Ross Antony.
What started as a small business with just three other employees is now a company with 55 employees. In a few weeks we will move to a larger operations center. The office and warehouse complex on Kieler Straße has become too small. “We used to have a nice entrance area here, but now the high-bay warehouses are here. We needed more space,” says Dani.
Of course, not everything was always harmonious. “As children, we argued every now and then about what siblings were like,” remembers Dani. And even in the early days at the start-up, “there were arguments – because we were overwhelmed because we did everything ourselves,” says Kati. Dani adds: “That was in the first year.” Today? “There’s actually never a day where we argue anymore.”
They both find the fact that they work together as sisters to be a great advantage. “We are happy that we run the company together,” says Dani. And Kati adds: “Because you can say anything to each other.” This openness is a central success factor for them. “You don’t try to solve everything yourself, as you might do if you had a co-director with whom you don’t have a close relationship. You just quickly ask the other person because she’s your sister,” explains Dani.
Many successful family businesses
What is a recipe for success for the two sisters is also a recipe for success for around 420,000 other companies in Germany. According to figures from the Association of Family Businesses, around 90 percent of all German companies are run by families. In Hamburg, compared to countries like Bavaria or Baden-Württemberg, where there are many small businesses, agriculture and crafts, there are few family businesses per capita. However, Hamburg is considered the capital of successful family businesses. According to the medium-sized business portal “Die Deutsche Wirtschaft”, 186 of the 5,000 family businesses with the highest sales are located in the Hanseatic city. These include the well-known big names such as Otto, Beiersdorf and Fielmann.
But the Hanseatic city also has strong brands to offer among smaller family businesses. One of these well-known labels is the sister business “Hey Honey”. The sisters Imke von Johnston and Janka Oeljeschlager laid the foundation for their yoga clothing brand in 2015, both of them worked in the textile and fashion industry and both are yoga fans. What they couldn’t have known at the time: Five years later, a pandemic would upend the world and banish humanity to home offices.
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Successful with colorful leopard prints
During the forced isolation, priorities shifted, which also changed fashion. Why squeeze into tight jeans when you can just as easily take part in the video conference in casual homewear?
To say that “Hey Honey” owes its success to the pandemic would be too simplistic. After all, the leggings, whose trademarks early on were leopard print patterns, dipped in colors unusual for leopard print – old rose, cobalt blue or emerald green – were the latest rage just two years after the company was founded and thus long before Corona. And not just among yogis.
Around this time, in 2017, Tomma Oeljeschlager, who is now responsible for everything related to marketing, joined. The founders got to the point where it was clear: This would be bigger than two people could manage.
Tomma had just finished studying at the time. “My sisters spoke to me and I didn’t hesitate for long. The decision came from my gut and was absolutely right.” When people finally returned to the office after the state of emergency, it became clear: sporty clothing in general had become suitable for the office. This gave the young label an additional boost.
The three sisters pull together, which doesn’t mean that everything always runs smoothly for them. “Of course things get crunchy sometimes. Mostly when we are under time pressure or have to juggle many topics at the same time. We are three different personalities with different strengths – that is our great strength, but it can also lead to tensions in everyday life,” says Tomma Oeljeschlager. It then helps to see the “friction” as part of the process – “it shows that everyone is putting their heart and soul into it.” Most of the time there is a problem when it comes to questions of taste or creative decisions where we don’t immediately come to a common denominator.
Most recently it was about a new print idea, two of them agreed on one thing, but the third didn’t. But it is never a competition, but rather a struggle for the best idea, says Tomma Oeljeschlager. “We then took the time to take another look at our brand DNA and got feedback from our team. In the end, we revised the draft and found a common path – with a result that we all love.”
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Together since the first breath
The thing that holds them together is that they trust each other blindly. “We have known each other since the first breath, which creates a very special form of collaboration.” At the same time, it is precisely this closeness that can sometimes be challenging because it is difficult to separate professional and private life. “It helps to be aware that you don’t always have to sort everything out right away. It’s often good to sleep on it for a night or more.”
It is said that hardly anyone can hurt you like siblings can. Because they know about the sore points that other people know how to hide. Does this sound familiar to the trio of sisters? “Absolutely. We know each other inside out – with all our strengths and weaknesses. But that’s exactly why we are particularly careful with each other. We address conflicts directly and know that in the end the relationship with each other is more important than any argument. This openness and depth make our collaboration so special – and strong.”
What both sets of founders have in common: The sisters have learned to translate their family closeness into entrepreneurial clarity – and in doing so have created a new form of family business. Not inherited, but founded together. And that gives them a level of trust that no business plan in the world could guarantee.
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