INTERVIEW: Happy birthday, TACWRK

How time flies... The TACWRK in Berlin is celebrating its birthday. Ten years ago it was launched and has since become an integral part of the tactical scene in Germany. We spoke with TACWRK CEO Benno Krewer about its origins, the anniversary, and the future.

SPARTANAT: Benno, congratulations on 10 years of TACWRK. How does it feel to be so old?

Thank you, Jürgen, and the whole SPARTANAT team. You have supported TACWRK and us from the beginning! And somehow, these 10 years have passed by so quickly! When my son turned three, an acquaintance said to me, "It's true... the nights are long, but the years pass by so fast!" That's exactly how the last 10 years with TACWRK feel!

Once you have a history, there are stories. What was the story behind the beginning of TACWRK? How was it even conceived?

My older brother had been in Kosovo since 1999 and worked there with the Bundeswehr. I always helped him during school holidays and in 2005 I joined him full-time. In 2007, I took over the development of our Afghanistan business. At some point, we came up with the idea of a mail-order business in Germany, and for various reasons, it had to be in Berlin. The idea was that we wanted to offer our customers a wider range of products via mail than was possible in our retail stores in the Bundeswehr, NATO, and UN camps. After two years of planning, we finally started with TACWRK in November 2011!

Compared to back then, how has TACWRK developed over the past ten years?

The development so far has been incredible for us! My brothers and I come from a family of merchants. Since childhood, our father taught us how to turn one mark into two. Up to that point, we had only operated stationary retail stores and had no experience in eCommerce and distance selling. TACWRK was an absolute experiment for us, but we were extremely eager to understand this area of commerce as well. Today, TACWRK employs nearly 40 great people each month. We are incredibly proud of this development. Our team in Berlin comes from seven different countries and speaks ten different languages - so lunchtime or currently Zoom meetings are never boring!

A classic question from a job interview, but also suitable for anniversaries: Where do you see TACWRK in ten years?

One of my favorite creeds comes from the Austrian Peter Drucker, a native of Vienna who unfortunately passed away in the USA in 2005. He once said, "Culture eats Strategy for Breakfast!" We at TACWRK just have to make three groups happy: our team colleagues, our customers, and our business partners! Therefore, our main focus every day is on how we treat each other properly in our team, how we can provide the best possible service to our customers, and of course, the fair treatment of our suppliers! So, we actually don't know where the journey will take us in the next 10 years - but we already know - it's going to be a blast!

BENNO KREWER,

born in 1983 in Fulda. Founded his first advertising agency with his twin brother at the age of 14. After graduating, he gained several years of advertising experience in Munich before starting to set up Duty-Free shops for soldiers in various Bundeswehr, NATO, and UN mission areas from 2005. In 2011, he founded TACWRK in Berlin. Proud father and passionate hobby cook, who could challenge Tim Mälzer with his Bolognese at any time!

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