Eckernförde. Late summer can still get extremely hot. The restaurants and cafés on the east coast in the north of Schleswig-Holstein then rely on Behn Getränke GmbH. Having beverages delivered from this family firm is a tradition in the region: it's been in business for more than 125 years. From 1892 onwards, the family used to supply the workers digging the nearby Kiel Canal. Back in those days the beer was transported by horse and cart.

For the last 60 years, Behn has been using Mercedes-Benz vehicles. Currently, the beverage wholesaler's fleet consists almost entirely of trucks with the three-pointed star. These now include seven Actros 2530, one of which displays many details advertising the 125th anniversary, for example with the anniversary number 125 in the registration plate. Driver Andreas Freiholz (left) drives the truck every day. "As a rule we have 20 to 25 vehicles on the road. And these need to be up-to-date," says Managing Director Waldemar Behn. "Our customers rely on us. Reliability is one of our pledges." A large product range, fairness, trust, and the said reliability are the features which Behn as a family firm can be proud of.

Not only restaurants in this holiday region at the Baltic Sea benefit from the Behn fleet's service: the more than 1000 firms the trucks deliver to include supermarkets, canteens and hospitals. But no address is further than 60 kilometres away from one of the company sites at Eckernförde and Flensburg. "Proximity to customers is important to us. We'd like to be able to deliver quickly," says Behn. After all, the customers rely on that.