The kbbreview Interview // Dr Reinhard Zinkann
the kbbreview interview
the kbbreview interview
Dr Reinhard Zinkann
Miele Interview: Andrew Davies
Premium appliance giant Miele has opened its latest Experience Centre on London's Wigmore Street in a market that, as co-owner Dr Reinhard Zinkann admits, is currently very tough. But aſt er 126 years, he says, longevity is the key - "we focus on consistency and on doing what we’ve always done".
T
he staff of the brand new Miele showroom on Wigmore Street - or 'Experience Centre' as they would rather call it - are fidgeting. The official opening is happening that evening and while all the preparations are complete there is a nervous anticipation that is making them all shuffle and watch the door. "He's here", someone whispers and they all stand to attention as, through the arch of fresh flowers adorning the
entrance, in walks the smart yet avuncular figure of Dr Reinhard Zinkann. It's not hard to see why his arrival is a big deal, he is, after all, not only the current co-owner of Miele, but also the great-
grandson of one of its founders. What he thinks of this new endeavour matters. After shaking the hand of every person there he launches into an off-the-cuff speech (fluent English of course) thanking them all for their hard work but, as he concludes, his phone rings and he discretely steps to the side to take the short call. "That was," he declares to the room afterwards, "my 96-year-old father. He wanted to know if everything was ok with the new London showroom..." Zinkann's father, Peter, was also an executive director of the company alongside the father of the other current co-owner, Dr Markus Miele. The same is true of their fathers before them. Founded by Carl Miele and Reinhard Zinkann Sr, the company has been run as a partnership between the two families for 126
years. Starting with cream separators and butter machines in 1899, the now global brand hit a turnover of €5.04bn in 2024 and has around 23,500 employees. The new Wigmore Street showroom marks another expansion of its Experience Centre strategy. Pre-covid there were two in
the UK, now there are nine including ones in the Bluewater and Brent Cross shopping malls. The Edinburgh showroom, opened in 2021, was the company's 100th globally. Designed, at first, to give retail partners somewhere to send clients interested in seeing more of the range, they attracted controversy by also openly selling directly to consumers - a model now adopted by many other appliance brands. But, while there's no question that the Miele brand is very powerful in the kitchen studio arena, the reputational stock of the appliance sector as a whole is still recovering from lockdown supply issues and debates around low margins, all against the backdrop of a depressed kitchen market. But for the reassuringly long-termist Dr Zinkann, this is all a mere blip. "Miele has seen many crises in the world in its history," he says. "But there will always be people who want to pay the difference for quality…"
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Alan Dodds Roca
18
kbbreview
May 2025
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