Pascal Hanle, Chief Operating Officer of Pets Deli, tells one of the more unusual origin stories in German DTC: a pet food company that went bankrupt, was bought out of insolvency, and was handed to its most tenacious early employee to rebuild from scratch — beginning with Pascal literally sawing frozen meat blocks with a bow saw in the office kitchen to test new suppliers. Now in his 10th year at the company, with 135 FTEs, a warehouse that grew from 3,000 to 11,000 square meters, B2B accounts at Rewe and Edeka, and a target of €100M by 2030, Pascal shares what it actually takes to build durable unit economics, why ownership is the only metric that matters beyond revenue, and why the real sign of a healthy company is whether its CEO can spend two weeks in Egypt without opening a laptop.

 

Topics Discussed

  • How Pascal joined Pets Deli 1, survived the insolvency, and became the first real employee of Pets Deli 2 after an asset deal
  • The rebuild of 2017-2018: completely changed product portfolio, took over supply chain and logistics internally
  • The bow saw moment: sourcing new meat suppliers and sawing frozen meat blocks in the office kitchen to test quality
  • Why the original business model (frozen pet food, outsourced supply chain) had structurally terrible unit economics
  • The core lesson: good margins don't come from economies of scale — they come from meticulous, unglamorous supplier renegotiations
  • The Brexit overstock mistake: overpreparing for supply disruption led to €200-300K of dry food running into best-before dates
  • The vacation health test: two weeks in Egypt, laptop never opened — that's when you know the company is working
  • Current company: 135 FTEs across HQ (65-70), 5 physical stores, and a 45-person warehouse in Frankenberg
  • Warehouse expansion: 3,000 sqm → 11,000 sqm, all logistics now fully in-house
  • B2B growth: Rewe, Edeka as major retail partners; ~1,000 Rewe POS locations; targeting 50%+ B2B revenue growth
  • D2C vs. B2B operational challenge: D2C has predictable repeat behavior for forecasting; B2B is erratic and fast-moving
  • Ownership philosophy: real ownership requires letting people make decisions — even the wrong ones — or ownership dies
  • The 4:30am warehouse story: shift lead showed up independently to recount audit items; now manages half the warehouse
  • From startup to company: the first 20 employees are gone; processes replaced personal relationships; culture requires deliberate maintenance
  • 2030 goal: €100M revenue; expanding German footprint and potentially entering new markets

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