November 11, 2003

PAGE ONE

VW's Mixed Grill: An Assembly Line Turns Out Sausages
Car Maker's Wurst Sideline Keeps Its Workers Well Fed

By NEAL E. BOUDETTE
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL


WOLFSBURG, Germany -- At its massive headquarters plant here,
Volkswagen AG made 515,000 cars last year. But cars aren't the
factory's highest-volume product. "We make 1.5 million currywursts a
year," boasts Klaus Labersweiler, head of the car company's meat
department, while giving a tour of his white-tiled facility. "That's
more wursts than cars."

In fact, Europe's largest auto maker is expanding its sausage
production and extending the line. Its butcher shop, located in a
corner of its assembly plant here, supplies about two dozen company
plants and offices in Germany and hopes to reach VW cafeterias across
Europe.

In Wolfsburg, employee canteens have added soup made from the
company's best wurst. Soon there will be VW currywurst spread, for
smearing on bread at breakfast. Still in development: VW currywurst
ragout and a microwavable two-wurst package suitable for vending
machines.

How Volkswagen built one of the auto industry's strangest sidelines is
an unusual tale of industrial history. It dates back to the Wolfsburg
plant's origin as a Nazi government project before World War II.

When construction was started in 1938, Wolfsburg was little more than
a castle and a few hundred people. For the thousands of workers who
built the first "people's car," the plant had to provide housing and
food. During the war, the plant employed slave laborers. Afterward,
the British army restarted production, and again the plant had to
provide many basics for its employees.

For a time, the plant kept its own cattle and vegetable gardens, but
that ended long ago. Remaining from that era are the VW greenhouses
that provide fresh flowers for executive suites and special events.
The greenhouses turn out memorial wreaths whenever a current or former
Wolfsburg plant employee dies.

The butcher shop might have passed away, too. In the 1950s, it
produced meats that have been German staples for ages -- bockwurst,
liverwurst, beef sausage and suelze, a meat-and-gelatin loaf that is
sliced and served cold. Currywurst was concocted right after the war,
and by the early 1960s it had become a favorite of the legions of
laborers rebuilding Germany, especially in northern cities. The tangy
new sausage also sparked a feud between Berlin and Hamburg, with each
claiming to have invented the dish.

In 1962 or 1963, VW butchers, amused by the Berlin-Hamburg dispute,
decided to try making this newfangled wurst. After about six weeks of
experimenting with different combinations of curry, spices, pork and
beef, they had a sausage that workers loved.

One of the men working in the VW butcher shop at the time was an uncle
of Mr. Labersweiler's. The man encouraged his nephew to take up the
meat trade, noting it would be a good way to get a job with the car
maker. After an apprenticeship with a local butcher, Mr. Labersweiler
joined Volkswagen in 1967, at the age of 17. In 1976, he became a
master butcher. In 2000, amid the mad-cow disease scare, he helped
reformulate the recipe to use only pork.

Today the public can enjoy a grilled VW currywurst for the equivalent
of $2.88 at soccer games at Wolfsburg's VW Arena, or a plate of two
wursts, smothered in spicy VW ketchup, at the restaurant at Autostadt,
the plant's theme park for car enthusiasts and customers. Another
option is Autostadt's Ritz-Carlton hotel, which features VW currywurst
on its room-service menu.

Next year, the butcher shop will install additional equipment needed
to obtain a European Union license to export currywurst to VW plants
in Spain, Belgium, England and other countries.

VW regularly hears from stores and grocery chains interested in
carrying its currywurst, but the company puts the brakes on those
ideas. VW's corporate chef, Nils Potthast, says VW probably could do a
good business selling its wurst in stores. But, he adds frankly, "From
a corporate image standpoint, I'm not sure it makes sense to have the
VW name on a meat product."

Mr. Potthast was hired two years ago to add tastier and healthier food
to cafeteria menus. Currywurst is such a favorite among employees that
he started to experiment with new variations, like the soup. He's
nearly done with the currywurst spread but is still tinkering to get
the color just right. "It's not red enough," he says.

Top management supports the effort and sees no reason to outsource
sausage production. Indeed, VW currywurst is often served at board
meetings. At one gathering last year, the brass sampled the new
currywurst soup, which was served in espresso cups. Currywurst, says
Chief Financial Officer Hans-Dieter Poetsch, "is part of VW culture."

The currywurst recipe is actually one of the company's most closely
guarded trade secrets, known only to Mr. Labersweiler and three or
four others. Even Mr. Potthast, the chef, is out of the loop, although
a local company that provides VW's mix of spices is in on the secret.
"They've signed a nondisclosure agreement," Mr. Labersweiler says.
"The main ingredients are curry and pork. I can't say any more than
that."

Mr. Labersweiler is willing to say one of the secrets is keeping the
sausage relatively lean. "The fat content is only 25% to 30%," he
says, shouting over the roar of a stainless-steel meat grinder. "Your
average wurst is 50% fat or more." Another key is fresh ingredients.
Four days a week, VW receives a shipment of two tons of pork, which is
almost immediately fed into the grinders. "We use the just-in-time
method," Mr. Labersweiler explains. "No preservatives or filler.
Everything we get, we turn into wurst that day."

One part of VW isn't clamoring for more currywurst: Audi AG, the
premium car division, in Bavaria. Audi has a butcher shop of its own
that makes its weisswurst, a mild Bavarian specialty made of pork,
veal and milk.

Asked which is better, Mr. Potthast says you can't compare them. He
prefers weisswurst before noon with sweet mustard and a beer.
Currywurst is good any time of the day, with lots of ketchup of
course, he says.

"They're totally different products," Mr. Labersweiler adds. "It's not
like comparing a McDonald's hamburger and a Burger King hamburger."

================================================

Geoff wrote:
>
> November 11, 2003
>
> PAGE ONE
>
> VW's Mixed Grill: An Assembly Line Turns Out Sausages
> Car Maker's Wurst Sideline Keeps Its Workers Well Fed
>
> By NEAL E. BOUDETTE
> Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
>
> WOLFSBURG, Germany -- At its massive headquarters plant here,
> Volkswagen AG made 515,000 cars last year. But cars aren't the
> factory's highest-volume product. "We make 1.5 million currywursts a
> year," boasts Klaus Labersweiler, head of the car company's meat
> department, while giving a tour of his white-tiled facility. "That's
> more wursts than cars."

I've never seen a fresh sausage recipe using curry. I did a quick
Google search and found references to curry sausage but no recipes.
Might be fun to experiment with.

Rich

Rich McCormack > schrieb:

>I've never seen a fresh sausage recipe using curry. I did a quick
>Google search and found references to curry sausage but no recipes.
>Might be fun to experiment with.

It´s late, but better now than never. ;-)

The Curry on "Currywurst" is no ingredient to the sausage but to the
accompanying sauce - a spicey ketchup with curry. The curry is both in
the sauce and in powder form on the sausage.

The sausage is either an ordinary bratwurst or a boiled sausage of
Berlin origin (Bruehwurst) - this depends on where you consume it.

Eat it with a Broetchen (Hot, crispy bun) or french fries.

Weird, I can´t find any decent looking picture representing a
Currywurst... the one image provided by Greenpeace (sic!) is more or
less the best..Very strange.

http://www.diecurrywurst.de/

>Rich

Gruss, Roman