Wolfgang Grupp is known for his pithy sayings. The entrepreneur behind the fashion brand Trigema will retire at the end of the year and, at the age of 81, will step away from day-to-day business. On the occasion of the upcoming Christmas holidays and the paradigm shift in his company, the company owner did not miss the opportunity to address his workforce one last time. From January 1st, his two children, daughter Bonita Grupp and son Wolfgang Jr., will take over Grupp.
Grupp begins the speech very seriously, almost seriously. “My dear employees, before this year comes to an end, I feel it is my personal need to say a few words of thanks to you,” he begins his speech. He talks about the future management of the company and maintaining the previous values that he believes Grupp embodies.
“I will continue to be in the company, but my wife and children now have the decisions and responsibility. So I can say thank you today for everything you have done over the years so that we don’t have to deal with some of that We were able to put the simple years behind us in a positive way and can now look to the future with confidence,” Grupp continues his long and detailed acceptance speech.
After Grupp initially delivered his speech very confidently, he now becomes more and more emotional. The sentence “I will not forget all these years and decades” overcomes him and he visibly has to hold back tears. Long, loud applause follows, the group is allowed to collect themselves, but they only succeed mediocrely. He hands the lectern to his son.
While the youngsters are speaking, you can see the otherwise tough group wiping their tears with a gigantic white cloth. After a short break during which his son addresses his future employees, Grupp returns to the desk.
He ends his speech with the words: “A lot of joy with your family and, above all, the best of health. And let’s not give up hope that our world might become a little more normal again. And so I wish you all the best for the new year 2024 . Above all, good luck and good health. And thank you again for the over half a century that I was able to be with you.” With the last sentence it comes over him again, shortly afterwards the video ends with applause.
As the “Frankfurter Rundschau” reports, there are said to have been bonuses for the employees afterwards. It is said that Trigema pays all full-time employees who have been with the company for at least a year 1,000 euros, and new hires and apprentices receive 100 euros. The number of employees is currently around 1,160.
Wolfgang Grupp took over the Trigema company from his father in 1969. At that time the company was heavily in debt. Grupp managed to continuously increase sales – in 2022, Trigema had sales of 127 million euros. Wolfgang Grupp is a personally liable partner, meaning he is responsible for the company with his own assets. His son will take on this role in the future.
