Rico Regner, CEO of VECU Berlin GmbH 

1. Describe your company.   

We operate two large canteens in the industrial park in Adlershof and have a top-class catering company for business catering (corporate clients). Additionally, we host large corporate events, cooking classes, corporate pentathlons, BBQs on the raft, or provide catering for events with up to 3,000 attendees. In our own venue, we can accommodate and cater for up to 300 people. Wanting to spoil our customers with high-quality expertise and skill in all culinary areas, we have also developed various culinary gift items that can be given as gift baskets to employees or business clients. For smaller celebrations such as Christmas or Easter markets, we have our own food trailers to organize company events.


2. Why are you involved as a Berlin-Partner? 

I have a personal connection to this large, vibrant city, and after over 20 years of world travel, I am happy to have returned to enjoy the benefits of my colorful city. Berlin Partner should provide me with the interface to high-quality guests who appreciate my sustainable and creative quality. I always find networks very important because it is always easier to do business with someone you have already built trust with. The word "partner" also contains partnership. 


3. What issues drive you in relation to your industry?  

I have been working in the hospitality industry all my life and love making my guests happy every day and surprising them with that little "extra mile". I want to make it easier for receptionists to professionally organize large high-quality events. I always enjoy serving good and beautifully decorated food to my guests. I want to gradually reduce the meat content in my catering with delicious, healthy, creative, meat-free food, without coercion, simply through a great valuable offering, and additionally support fair animal husbandry. Since we process large quantities of food, we can contribute to good nutrition and fair animal husbandry here.

4. What makes Berlin special for you?  

Berlin is my home base, I am a Berliner! Additionally, Berlin is a gigantic, fantastic WORLD CITY. Berlin is colorful and always open to new things. I just feel free in Berlin. In my life, I have traveled to over 60 different countries, but Berlin is just different from the usual. The people are definitely less complicated, and yet you can feel the international pulse of the time in Berlin. In short, I am in love with my city.

5. Why is Berlin attractive for your company?  

In Berlin, honest, vegetarian cuisine has been well received and accepted for a long time. We have a lot of startups and other new modern companies that have understood the new concept of sustainability. Dealing with employees and colleagues in Berlin (in my opinion) is very uncomplicated. In Berlin, I have had and continue to have the opportunity to work with the most modern companies (e.g., Amazon, Tesla, Salesforce, Sum Up, WeWork, Facebook, etc.). In Berlin, I have the opportunity to present such modern companies with our sustainable, modern food or to be able to conduct great team events with the employees.

6. What does Berlin stand for to you?

Home, colorful, multicultural, modern, international, world city, great host, pioneer in healthy eating culture, at the pulse of the time, unique flair, and much more.

7. How does your company implement the topic of sustainability?

The topic is very comprehensive for us because we value it precisely. It starts with our Green Lease rental contract in one of the most sustainably certified buildings in Europe. It also has photovoltaics, providing electricity for the entire building, rainwater flushing in the toilet, special thermal glazing, automated temperature control through blinds, recyclable building materials, and much more. Our building uses almost all resources twice and offers employees a special kind of indoor climate.

We order almost up to 80% from suppliers we know or directly from the farm. We cook seasonally and pay attention to delivery routes. Leftover food is offered through "Too Good To Go", and we are happy to save food before it is disposed of, even though it is still perfectly fine. We have a CO2-friendly beverage vending machine to save delivery routes here as well. We have not used any single-use plastic products for many years. We prefer to repair our equipment rather than simply throw away valuable resources and buy new ones.

We live sustainability because we also live it in everyday life, because we all have children, and they should be able to live as beautifully as we already do.