Haferkater: Doughnut Design Case Study

01 I Brief Summary and Key Facts

Haferkater is a German restaurant chain that serves healthy vegan porridge to go.

• Location: Berlin, Deutschland 
• Founded: 2014 by Anna Schubert, Leandro Burguete and Levin Siert
• Size: €11M turnover per year (2023)
• Sector: Restaurants
• Legal form: GmbH / limited liability company, public benefit corporation
• Website: www.haferkater.com
• Main products/services: healthy vegan porridge breakfast to go 

Highlight of their unique approach 

Haferkater reimagined the well-known porridge, offering it as a healthy vegan meal to go with a holistic, sustainable approach.

Highlight of their unique design 

The founders chose to prioritise independence and a long term approach, which led to a radical transformation of their business model. They bought out the original investors, partly through a popular crowd-funding campaign, and transformed the business into a steward-ownership model.¹

02 | Founding Story 

Haferkater was founded in 2014 by three friends — Anna Schubert, Leandro Burguete and Levin Siert — after they identified a gap in the market for healthy and vegan food on the go. To do this, they took over a kebab shop in Berlin Ostkreuz and converted it into a small café where they sold porridge, an inspiration Leandro got from England.

The first few years were challenging because the three friends had to earn money from other jobs and, at the same time, finance the young company and forgo weekends and holidays.  The breakthrough came in 2016 when they won a startup competition by Deutsche Bahn. The prize was to open a pop-up store at Berlin Central Station on a trial basis. It was a huge success and helped establish Haferkater as the perfect brand for train travellers seeking healthy food. The company has stores in 18 locations, including the Berlin Airport (BER). There are plans to open ten more stores this year and Haferkater is also available in around 370 train restaurants.

In 2017, Haferkater’s three founders welcomed their first strategic investor, Katjes Greenfood (Investment arm of Bahlsen GmbH & Co. KG), to help scale the business. In 2021, the food manufacturer Zentis also joined as an investor. With their support, Haferkater expanded its footprint and strengthened its market position.

03 | Industry Context

The breakfast-to-go industry in Germany is a fast-growing sector driven by changing consumer habits, urbanisation, and the increasing demand for convenience. However, much of the market is dominated by highly processed, nutritionally poor options such as pre-packaged sandwiches, pastries, and sugary snacks. These products not only lack healthy, high-quality ingredients but also contribute significantly to food waste and excessive packaging.

At the same time, consumer preferences are shifting. A growing number of people are prioritizing health-conscious, organic, and sustainable food choices — a trend reflected in the rising demand for plant-based and environmentally responsible products.

Milk, one of the traditional ingredients of breakfast porridge, makes a significant contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. In typical EU diets, dairy products account around one-quarter of the carbon footprint, sometimes as much as one-third. Cow’s milk has significantly higher impacts than the plant-based alternatives; tt causes around three times as much greenhouse gas emissions, uses around ten times as much land, uses two to twenty times as much freshwater, and creates much higher levels of eutrophication.

Germany's organic food market is growing steadily, with consumers increasingly valuing sustainability and transparency. As one of Europe's leading plant-based markets, demand for dairy alternatives and plant-based meals continues to rise. With urbanisation and busy lifestyles fueling the need for convenient yet responsible food options, Haferkater is poised for expansion. By mid-2025, the company plans to open ten new stores and sustainably grow revenue to €17 million.

04 | Regenerative & Distributive Strategies and Actions

At Haferkater, sustainability is more than a marketing claim—it’s a fundamental principle embedded in every aspect of the business. 

A nutritious alternative to processed food-to-go

Haferkater is redefining food options at German train stations by offering a healthy, high-quality alternative to the typical selection of processed foods and sandwiches. With 24 locations across Germany — and growing through strategic franchise partnerships — Haferkater is on a mission to make nutritious, organic porridge accessible to travelers nationwide. It’s also the first brand to bring vegan organic porridge to the German and Austrian retail markets. The vision is clear: a convenient, wholesome breakfast option available all day, everywhere. There’s always a grain press at Haferkater stores, where the heart of the porridge is freshly prepared every day. The German oats, sourced from controlled cultivation, are first flaked and then cooked. According to Haferkater, this method is the key to achieving a creamy texture, similar to rice pudding, while also being much healthier.

Tackling food waste

Haferkater is committed to reducing food waste through strategic partnerships and precise production planning. The company collaborates with nonprofit organisations like Foodsharing, which redistributes surplus food to those in need, and the TooGoodToGo platform, where leftover products are sold at a reduced price. By planning production carefully, Haferkater also minimises overproduction, ensuring that food is used efficiently. With these efforts, Haferkater continues to foster sustainability, support the community, and reduce food waste.

Sustainability as a core commitment

As the business is primarily based on takeaway products, the company is committed to making its packaging as sustainable as possible. It aims to continuously increase the use of reusable products. Customers can choose between two options: borrowing deposit-free containers at no extra cost through its own reusable pool system or bringing their own containers. 

In May 2023, Haferkater launched the 'Reusable May' campaign, offering a 50% discount to every customer who either brought their own containers or used the deposit-free borrowing option for packaging. This initiative encouraged customers to make more sustainable choices. Future initiatives, such as the 'Reusable Challenge' and the exclusive 'Reusable Cat' product (available only in reusable packaging), will further support sustainability efforts. Haferkater also collaborates closely with the German sustainability project Projecttogether and Deutsche Umwelthilfe. Beyond using reusable packaging, the company takes a holistic approach to sustainability, ensuring responsible practices across operations, sourcing, and production. Haferkater is committed to setting new standards in sustainable food retail, demonstrating that convenience and environmental responsibility can go hand in hand. 

Fostering Transparency through a Sustainability and ‘Un-Sustainability’ Report 

Haferkater prides itself on being transparent and direct. To demonstrate this commitment, the company released both a sustainability report and an “unsustainability” report in 2023. In these reports, Haferkater openly addresses sustainability efforts, highlighting areas where they are making progress, as well as those where optimal solutions are still a work in progress.

For example, the company currently uses plastic in packaging to extend shelf life. While recyclable plastic is a step forward, it’s not the ideal solution, and there is no plant-based alternative yet available that balances sustainability with durability, they state. Other challenges include reducing cow's milk content (which remains in high demand) and improving waste separation processes (while the train station infrastructure disposes of all waste together in the end).

05 | How the Deep Design Enables Strategy and Action

A path to independent and sustainable growth

In 2017, Haferkater’s three founders — Anna Schubert, Leandro Burguete, and Levin Siert — welcomed their first strategic investor, Katjes Greenfood, to help scale the business. In 2021, the food manufacturer Zentis also joined as an investor. With their support, Haferkater expanded its footprint and strengthened its market position.

Haferkater co-founder and head of finance, Leandro Burguete, emphasised that while the company’s investors have been strong partners, there is no guarantee that leadership will not be influenced by investors in the long run. For the founders, bringing in additional venture capitalists would have meant sacrificing control over their vision. They believed that the pressure to maximise profits per store could eventually lead to staff reductions and lower-quality ingredients, ultimately compromising Haferkater’s commitment to excellence.

In parallel, the pandemic presented unforeseen challenges. With stores forced to close, the company faced mounting operational costs, including rent and salaries for its 100 employees. What was once a stable and growing business was suddenly under financial strain. This crisis led the founders to reflect on a fundamental question: If a single event could threaten everything they had built, how could they create a more resilient and independent business model?

The founders discovered that they were not alone in facing the challenge of balancing their startup’s ideals with growth opportunities. Many entrepreneurs expressed frustration, as few could sustain their businesses solely through their own cash flow. Burguete observed that, particularly in the food industry, competitors acquired by larger corporations often failed to improve product quality. With this in mind, Haferkater aimed to buy out its previous investors to maintain control over its mission and values.

A strategic shift: Inspired by Patagonia

Haferkater redefined its ownership and growth strategy, drawing inspiration from Patagonia’s responsible business model. The company prioritised financial independence and long-term stability over short-term gains, ensuring its mission and values would remain intact by becoming ‘Verantwortungseigentum’. As part of this transformation, Haferkater committed to a responsible ownership model, where voting rights would be held exclusively by active employees, preventing any future sale of the business and securing its long-term vision.

Crowdinvesting: A bold move toward independence

To buy out its investors, who collectively held 33% of the company, Haferkater turned to an innovative solution — crowdfunding. Instead of seeking large institutional investors, the company invited its own customers and supporters to take part in its future. Launched in early 2024, the campaign was initially planned to run until autumn. However, due to the overwhelming interest, they reached their target of €3.3 million before the end of June. 

Lenders will receive 8.5% annual interest until 2030. If the number of branches grows from the current 29 to 78 as planned, the return will increase to 15% in the final year. "Not all companies are lucky that the existing investors who want to take a different path with the company are as cooperative as was the case with Haferkater," explains Jakob Willeke from the consulting and investment company Purpose Ventures, which advised Haferkater on the conversion to responsible ownership and invested equity. Another advantage was the strength of the brand. In such a case, financing via the crowd offers "among other things, a stronger bond between customers and the company."

Haferkater successfully raised the necessary €3.3 million to buy out its previous investors. Alongside crowdinvesting, which contributed a significant share, over €2 million came from new investors, including entrepreneurs, private individuals, and institutional investors such as Karma Capital and Purpose Ventures. These investors have limited decision-making influence and no entrepreneurial control. While their returns are capped, Haferkater states that they are significantly higher than the 8.5% offered through crowdinvesting. 

With the investor buyout complete, the founders will take the final step toward full independence by transferring their remaining 66% ownership to the company itself. This means that Haferkater will become fully self-owned, ensuring that its mission, values, and long-term vision remain protected for years to come. This underlines the interest in investing in new forms of governance models. The support of key investor Bahlsen was crucial in this process. They agreed to be bought out based on Haferkater’s valuation during the COVID period, providing a vital foundation for the transition.

The specific payout amount for the three founders has not been disclosed.

Change of legal form

Haferkater also pursued a change in legal structure, which has now been successfully completed after extensive preparatory work. However, co-founder Leandro Burguete emphasised that Germany still lacks a dedicated legal framework for steward-ownership models, despite ongoing government discussions. He noted that such a structure would have simplified and reduced the cost of implementing responsible ownership, offering greater security for investors and eliminating the need for complex foundation arrangements.

A key aspect of Haferkater’s new structure is the separation of voting rights and profit rights, ensuring that investor returns remain capped. The company’s statutes define a fixed return amount, which is distributed solely from future profits. Burguete pointed out that if the company were to operate without profit for an extended period, investors would receive no returns during that time. Since they hold no voting rights, they also lack the ability to exert financial pressure, ensuring that the company remains aligned with its long-term mission.

06 I Reflections and Lessons for Other Businesses

Haferkater’s journey is a compelling example of how steward ownership can align a company’s purpose with the support of both customers and investors. The overwhelming success of its crowdinvesting campaign highlights the strong trust and engagement from its community—an exceptional case in the world of business transitions. 

Multiple pathways and challenges to steward ownership

Haferkater is not alone in pursuing this path. Many other companies have successfully transitioned to steward ownership, demonstrating that such a shift is both feasible and impactful. A notable example is the Finnish startup ShareTribe, which structured its investor buyout to be funded through company profits over a ten-year period. Having begun this process in 2018/19, ShareTribe anticipates completing the transition by 2028. While effective, this approach can temporarily slow a company's ability to reinvest in its mission, as initial profits must be allocated to investor payouts before fully redirecting resources toward long-term impact.

Haferkater, by contrast, has taken a bold and accelerated approach: by mobilising its community through crowdfunding, the company secured the necessary funds upfront, allowing it to regain full independence much faster. This strategy minimises the transitional strain on operations and ensures that Haferkater can immediately refocus on its core mission. As a result, Haferkater stands as a powerful and innovative example of how steward ownership can be achieved efficiently, demonstrating an alternative path for businesses seeking long-term purpose and independence.

Converting Haferkater's legal structure to a responsible ownership model through the Haferkater Foundation was more complex and costly than expected, according to the  founding team. The Purpose Network has proposed a  separate legal form for responsible ownership to streamline the process. Over 50 companies, including Ecosia, WeTell, ShareTribe and Stapelstein, are already using the Purpose Foundation’s veto model.

The role of finance and investors in steward ownership models

Purpose Ventures and Purpose Evergreen Capital have raised about €50 million in capital, investing in several companies. They are also planning fund solutions for broader investor participation. Their approach focuses on making economically sound decisions and supporting companies for the long-term when needed, moving beyond the traditional private equity model.

Finance and investors are vital to shaping what businesses can do and be in the world. Many socially-driven startups struggle to find investors that support their genuine social purpose, which may entail slower growth for the business and the deployment of alternative ownership models. ShareTribe and Haferkater exemplify different paths to executing the financial transition towards steward-ownership. The company's structure, key players, and customers must be considered to find the right model. The Purpose Foundation has advised both companies on their transition. They offer great resources and advice for any company considering steward ownership.

Globally, steward-ownership is helping drive new discussions and models for corporate purposes. Policy-makers are also taking note. In Germany, a new legal form is envisaged to facilitate the founding of steward-owned businesses. Historically, companies like Bosch, John Lewis and Zeiss are examples of steward-ownership companies. These recent developments suggest that a fresh wave of startups, along with established players, are engaging with steward-ownership to embrace a purpose-led model.

This case study was researched and written by Vanessa Rosenthal and Tim Frenneaux in collaboration with DEAL.

Footnotes:
1. Definition by Purpose Economy: “Steward-ownership is a corporate ownership structure that presents an alternative to shareholder value primacy. It ensures that companies prioritize their long-term purpose over short-term profits – by legally enshrining two principles: self-determination and purpose-orientation.” https://purpose-economy.org/en/whats-steward-ownership, accessed 30.06.2024

Sources:
https://www.mintel.com/insights/food-and-drink/how-on-the-go-eating-habits-are-impacting-breakfast-innovation-in-germany/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211912418300361

www.haferkater.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/UNNachhaltigkeitsbericht2023.pdf

https://haferkater.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Nachhaltigkeitsbericht2023.pdf

www./projecttogether.org/pressemitteilung-mehr-mehrweg
www.duh.de/englisch/who-we-are

www.purpose-economy.org/de
https://purpose-economy.org/en/purpose-foundation