auteniQ – how good food, teamwork and a love of entrepreneurship created a brand

Honey is on our minds now, too, because 🍯🫒

• we wanted to keep our team together,
• we were looking for meaningful work,
• we believed in our ability to build a successful business,
• and creating something new as part of a worthwhile project is fun—especially for me.

The idea is simple

• Direct from producers, without intermediaries
• Large packs, so you pay significantly less per litre or kilogram
• Healthy, useful products we can recommend to everyone
• Transparent and honest—for people and animals

An example

Our organic olive oil comes from a cooperative of around 200 farmers near Tarragona. It is supplied in a three-litre tin—perfect for the kitchen, your daily salad, pure enjoyment, frying and cooking, and a long, healthy life.

Our Spanish honey comes directly from a beekeeper who places his hives in exceptionally clean regions and among particular flowering plants. Naturally pure, with varieties including:

• lemon blossom honey,
• wildflower honey,
• lavender honey,
• mountain blossom honey.

They are available only in large 910 g jars. It is the “I share with my family” version—not the “I hide the jar in the cupboard and eat it secretly” version.

Why these particular products?

The answer is simple: I began with my own needs. I wanted good, unadulterated olive oil for everyday use—for my morning salad, cooking and frying, to help combat inflammation and support a long life. Quality that not only tastes good, but is genuinely healthy.

So I did what people do today when they want to become an “expert”: I watched every available YouTube video about olive oil, Spanish ham and honey. Every single one—almost.

Then things became serious.

My wife and I flew to the south of France, which is often our coworking space in September. We visited olive growers and farms, tasted, asked questions, tasted again and requested quotations. Mediterranean romance? Certainly—but accompanied by price lists, production details and tasting notes.

The French harvest is poor this year, while Spain leads the market with around 60% of global production.

From there, we travelled on to Barcelona to visit wholesale markets, cooperatives and producers.

Our ten-day programme:

Ham every day. Every. Single. Day. The best one still tastes memorable today.

Test, test, test—until our taste buds protested, after which we carried on anyway. We also spent three days in Italy, because you never know where a culinary stroke of luck might be hiding.

Our third travelling companion: AI

And this is where the third, invisible member of the trip entered the story: AI.

Without ChatGPT, none of it would have worked.

It translated and improved my emails, explained the legal framework, helped with labelling requirements, classified quality levels and structured tasting notes. In short, while we were eating, smelling and observing, AI was also pulling strings in the background.

Eventually, we found our three products—and our favourite ham.

We were already close to an agreement with a highly respected family business. Everything was excellent and dependable, but there was another ham producer whose flavour outshone everything else, everywhere and every time. There was just one small problem: they did not reply.

So we tried everything:

• we wrote,
• wrote again,
• called,
• and engaged in a little “healthy stalking”.

Eventually—probably through a mixture of curiosity and pity—they responded:

They want to work with us.

That is why I am now fairly certain that we have the best ham in Spain on board. Not the cheapest—but excellent flavour, fair conditions and outstanding quality are rarely the discount option.

The idea behind it

I borrowed the concept of bulk packs and direct sales from Professor Günter Faltin.

In 1985, he founded the Tea Campaign, which remains the world's largest importer of Darjeeling tea. He showed how a continually improved idea—and large bags instead of small tins—can shake up an entire market. That is both necessary and important.

And no, I do not receive a commission if you buy tea now. 😅

If entrepreneurship interests you, that is wonderful—for you and for society.

👉 Follow our entrepreneur blog and learn with us and from us. 😊

Here we go!

🫒🐖🍯 We will be online in 7–10 days.

The new olive harvest is currently beginning:

Freshly harvested olive oil is particularly rich in healthy polyphenols—essential components that make it so valuable.

Jamón de Bellota that surpasses the Black Label, as well as the honey, are also on their way.

Everything has come together at an incredible pace:

Less than three months will pass between the first idea and the shop going live. Will it succeed?

Help us make it happen. Would you buy from us? What is missing?

Test the site, buy something and send your feedback directly to me at: a.kaub@inutec-int.com

Thank you!

👉 Want to know why we stayed calm despite full shelves in the solar business? Here is the answer.

Warm regards,
Your Alexander

P.S. The Q in our brand name “auteniQ” stands for quality. 😅