Fresh Flavor, Smarter Systems: Schmitz-Mertens & Co. KG Success Story with SAP Business One
Download: SAP INFO Schmitz-Mertens & Co. KG Success Story (German)
Coffee is Germany's favorite drink, and getting it right is a craft. For Schmitz-Mertens & Co. KG, a speciality coffee roastery based in Troisdorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, that craft has been in the family since 1863. When the company's patchwork of legacy systems could no longer keep pace with its production, logistics, and service demands, it replaced everything in one move—choosing SAP Business One as its integrated business solution and going live in under two weeks.
At-a-Glance Facts Box
| Company | Schmitz-Mertens & Co. KG |
| Website | www.schmitz-mertens.de |
| Industry | Speciality coffee roasting — wholesale supply to hospitality, offices, and large-scale catering |
| Headquarters | Troisdorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany |
| Founded | 1863 (family-owned) |
| Employees | 16 (8 in sales, 4 in production, 4 in administration) |
| Solution | SAP Business One (6 licences: 2 finance, 3 sales, 1 service module) |
| Implementation Partner | KUTTIG Computeranwendungen |
| Implementation Duration | 9 days (decision April 2004; live June 2004) |
Results
- Implementation time: 9 days
- Systems replaced: Multiple legacy platforms → 1
- Clients managed in one system: 2 (Schmitz-Mertens + Löwen-Kaffee)
Company Background: A roastery with 160 years of tradition — and an eye on tomorrow
Schmitz-Mertens & Co. KG has been roasting speciality coffee in Troisdorf since 1863. Unlike mass-market vacuum-packed products, the company's freshly roasted coffee preserves its aromas naturally and is delivered just-in-time via its own fresh-delivery service. Shelf-stable for six to nine weeks without preservation, it supplies the fine dining and hospitality trade, office environments, and large-scale catering operations across Germany. The company sources raw coffee on international markets and produces custom blends for both espresso and filter coffee. Alongside its core roasting business, Schmitz-Mertens also sells and services coffee machines and automatic coffee equipment — adding a service and maintenance dimension to its operations. With 16 employees across sales, production, and administration, and a second client entity (Löwen-Kaffee) running in parallel, efficient, accurate system management is essential.
The Challenge: Too many systems, too little visibility
Until mid-2004, Schmitz-Mertens ran separate applications for invoicing, financial accounting, and dispatch. A specialist legacy solution from Handelshof served the second client entity, Löwen-Kaffee. Production documents, stock management, and reporting were handled largely by hand, and coffee recipes were still managed manually. The result, in Managing Director Wolfgang Schmitz-Mertens's own words, was an unsatisfactory situation. Production, sales, and service processes had accelerated, but the existing systems could not keep up. Patching the old software to add missing functionality was judged too costly and complex. Adding a second standard solution alongside the existing one would have made the IT landscape even less manageable. The only workable path was a single replacement system that could map all current processes end to end. The requirements were clear: continuous stock management across logistics and finance, full integration of financial accounting and production including recipe management, multi-client capability covering both Schmitz-Mertens and Löwen-Kaffee, raw material batch tracking, and a system straightforward enough to be adopted quickly by a small team.
Why SAP Business One: A decision without a real competitor
Schmitz-Mertens approached SAP Business Partner KUTTIG Computeranwendungen in April 2004 — an existing relationship built on mutual familiarity with the business. After an initial review, it quickly became clear that SAP Business One could not only replace the existing systems but also deliver the process transparency and multi-client functionality the company required. The Managing Director was impressed by the system's capability, its intuitive graphical interface, and the manageable investment involved. The selection process, he noted, was not a typical competitive evaluation: SAP Business One was simply the right answer. Combined with his trust in the implementing partner's knowledge of the business, the decision was straightforward.
Implementation: Nine days from start to Go-Live
Implementation began in May 2004. The hardware required was modest: one additional server and two workstations. KUTTIG Computeranwendungen configured both a test system and a production system, then carried out all installation, company-specific customisation, and user training using live data on the test environment. The most time-consuming element was migrating documents and historical data from multiple legacy systems into SAP Business One across two separate client entities. Six licences were acquired in total: two for financial accounting, three for sales, and one for the service module. On-time delivery and within-budget execution were both confirmed by the Managing Director. By June 2004 — nine days after implementation began — all Schmitz-Mertens staff were working productively in the new system.
Results: One system, full oversight - from purchasing to dispatch
The transition delivered immediate operational improvements across every area of the business.
- Recipes, stock, and batch tracking in one place. Schmitz-Mertens can now manage coffee recipes, inventory levels, and raw material batch records within a single system. Data is captured once and managed centrally, eliminating the redundancies that had previously degraded data quality and slowed reporting.
- Production reporting at the touch of a button. Statistics, business analytics, and production reports — including roasting lists — are now generated on demand. This has made day-to-day work significantly easier and contributed to strong user adoption across the team.
- Automated excse duty compliancei. Coffee sold in Germany is subject to Kaffeesteuer (coffee excise tax), calculated per kilogram net of roasting weight loss. SAP Business One automatically captures roasting losses per batch and produces the required output — replacing a process that previously required time-consuming manual data entry. The system is also compliant with EU batch traceability regulations, documenting the relevant data automatically.
- Both client entities managed from one platform. Production for Löwen-Kaffee — previously administered through a separate standalone solution — is now fully managed within SAP Business One alongside the main Schmitz-Mertens entity, reducing complexity and administrative overhead.
- Full process visibility end to end. From raw material purchasing through production to sales and accounts, management now has a clear, real-time view of the entire business. This simplifies workflows, reduces costs, and creates a foundation for continued growth.
"We now have a complete overview of all business processes — from purchasing through to sales. This simplifies workflows and saves costs. ... "Our company motto says that life is too short for bad coffee. Quality should be the guiding principle in business software too, so you can shape your future. That is exactly why we chose SAP Business One." — Wolfgang Schmitz-Mertens, Managing Director, Schmitz-Mertens & Co. KG
Looking Ahead: More to come - service contracts and CRM
With the core system delivering measurable results, Schmitz-Mertens is already planning the next phase. The service module will be used to manage maintenance contracts for the coffee machines and automatic equipment the company sells. The CRM module is earmarked for expanded use in sales activity management — bringing the same integration and transparency to customer relationships that SAP Business One has delivered to production and finance.
