Do you know Sansibar?

…not the island, the stylish scene-restaurant on Sylt in the North Sea?

Long time ago, I went to the German island of Sylt and stopped for a snack at Sansibar. Their currywurst was said to be simply sensational, and I could not agree more. While cooking dinner during lockdown one night, I started wondering how their curry sauce is made. After a quick search, I found that their recipe is available online.  And even better: You can also order the sauce online… and it seems they are using SAP software by now. I found that even more remarkable and became really curious: What had become of the little kiosk from way back then?

During my research I came across Sansibar’s website and several articles. Today, besides fine food and restaurant reservations, the company offers fashion as well as other services like its own online wine club. Incredible, compared to what I experienced back then, having my first Sansibar currywurst on Sylt.

Apparently, founder and owner Herbert Seckler has recently been looking for a way to position his growing company even better for a possible successor. This became necessary because the company simply grew faster than its structures could cope with, Seckler said in one video. For example, once a cruise ship ordered several thousand bottles of wine and part of the order could not be delivered. (I would not have even thought that Sansibar would deal with such large orders.) But even the little things had gotten out of hand. Sometimes it just happened that outstanding bills were not sent or collected.

Obviously, Sansibar has solved most of these problems with SAP for Retail and an integrated web shop based in SAP Commerce Cloud. I am still amazed how the comparatively small company has virtually reinvented its business and how intelligently it has positioned itself for this time of COVID-19 and possible lockdowns. These are important advantages that other companies would probably wish for.

I believe that Sansibar’s rise from a beachfront kiosk to an omnichannel SMB is a really amazing – and it was news to me. Does anyone in the SAP community know of any other cool SMB related success stories? I would be very interested.

All the best,
Uwe

PS: But I would also be interested in recommendations for particularly tasty curry sausages. Where is your favorite spot? ?

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