Jan Bredack

Jan Bredack, 2014

Jan Bredack (born 24 April 1972 in Salzwedel/Germany) is a German entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Veganz,^[1] a German wholesaler and supermarket chain for plant-based products.

Bredack was born on 9 April 1972 in Salzwedel, a small town in East Germany. As soon as he finished college, he began to skyrocket in the automotive industry. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, he started working within the Daimler Group, and was tasked with setting up the customer service function within the truck division. In conjunction with the Daimler Group, he completed an MBA at one of the top business schools in Continental Europe, the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland). He was then promoted to be Head of Sales and Service for Commercial Vehicles in Germany and managed over 24,000 employees. At the time, he was only 30 years old. Among other things, he established the first Russian commercial vehicle plant and he set up the local sales organization for the group in Tatarstan.

In 2008, the stress got the best of him and Jan came to the realization that he had to make some radical changes in his life He became vegan and in the spring of 2011 he founded Veganz, a vegan wholesaler with its own chain of grocery stores.

Why the German entrepreneur founded Veganz, he explained in an interview with Organic&Wellness News in the fall 2015: "In 2008 I had a burn-out and took some time off. Then I feel in love with a woman who was a vegetarian, so I tried out the vegetarian lifestyle and soon afterwards became a vegan. Back then it was difficult finding vegan foods and I stood in the grocery store wondering which products I could actually buy - and that is when I hit upon the idea of opening a vegan supermarket! We found a suitable location in Berlin, found investors, staff and products and in early 2011 I opened the first Veganz store in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg neighbourhood."^[2]

In six German cities, in addition to Prague and Vienna, the company offers vegan food. With its wholesale department, Veganz is by far the largest distributor of vegan products within the entire German market.

In 2014, the company was as a finalist for the German Entrepreneur Of the Year Award. At the end of the 2014, Jan was elected to the Person of the Year by PETA Germany.

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