Hauenstein AG

What Hauenstein AG does

Hauenstein AG, founded in 1890 by Walter Hauenstein in Rafz, Switzerland, is a privately held Swiss horticulture company that operates what it describes as Switzerland's largest tree nursery, spanning 92 hectares of production area and cultivating over 4,500 species and varieties of hardy garden plants under SUISSE GARANTIE quality guidelines. The company's operations are organized around three distribution channels: (1) four physical retail garden centers located in Rafz, Zürich, Baar, and Winterthur that offer plants, accessories, floristry services, soil analysis, courses, and the on-site Restaurant BOTANICA; (2) a 24/7 direct-to-consumer online plant shop with nationwide Swiss Post and freight delivery; and (3) a dedicated B2B professional sales division with its own Profi-Shop portal, separate volume-pricing tiers, and a field sales team serving landscape construction companies, municipalities, cities, and resellers.

The underlying technology footprint is conventional rather than proprietary: a Shopware-based e-commerce frontend, standard payment gateways (PayPal, TWINT, PostFinance, Saferpay, Worldline), mainstream analytics and marketing tooling (Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, Google Ads, Pinterest Ads), and an interactive but non-AI tree-filtering tool called Baumkompass. The company monetizes primarily through one-time plant and accessory sales at retail or online, with differentiated B2B volume pricing (up to 20% discount at 1,500+ units), a customer loyalty card (CHF 20 bonus per CHF 600 spent), courses and events, a specialist book publishing line, and ancillary services such as floristry, soil analysis, and Plant-Booster branded nutrition products. The customer base spans B2C hobby gardeners, B2B landscape professionals, and government/municipal procurement, with no single anchor customer disclosed; revenue is not publicly reported and the company is led by an executive team headed by Rainer Marxsen as Chair of Executive Management.

Name

Hauenstein AG

Legal name

Hauenstein AG

Website

https://hauenstein-rafz.ch

Company type

Private

Founded year

1890

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Hauenstein AG operates Switzerland's largest nursery (92 ha in Rafz) and four retail garden centers across Rafz, Zürich, Baar, and Winterthur, producing 4,500+ plant varieties under SUISSE GARANTIE for hobby gardeners, landscape professionals, municipalities, and resellers via retail, online shop, and B2B Profi-Shop channels.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Rafz

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Retail Garden Center Sales: In-person sales at 4 garden center locations (Rafz, Zürich, Baar, Winterthur) including plants, accessories, floristry services, and restaurant BOTANICA
2. Online Plant Shop: E-commerce sales of hardy garden plants, accessories, tools, fertilizers, soil substrates, and specialist books delivered nationwide via Swiss Post or freight
3. Professional Nursery/B2B Sales: B2B sales to landscape companies, municipalities, cities, and garden centers from 92 ha production facility following Suisse-Garantie quality standards
4. Courses and Events: Garden courses, workshops, and events on plant care, gardening techniques, and seasonal topics held at garden center locations
5. Specialty Publications: Sale of specialized gardening books covering woody plants, perennials, roses, fruit and berries, and wild plants

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Hauenstein AG produces over 4,500 varieties of hardy garden plants on a 92-hectare nursery in Rafz, Switzerland, and distributes them through four retail garden centers, a nationwide e-commerce shop, and a dedicated B2B professional sales division targeting landscape companies, municipalities, and resellers. The company also delivers supporting services such as floristry, soil analysis, gardening courses, restaurant dining at BOTANICA, and specialist horticultural publications.

Product overview

Hauenstein AG is a Swiss garden center and nursery company operating Switzerland's largest tree nursery (92 hectares in Rafz) alongside four retail garden centers in Rafz, Zürich, Baar, and Winterthur. The core offering comprises the Baumschule (tree nursery) serving professionals with over 4,500 varieties of hardy plants, the Gartencenter retail locations providing in-store shopping, floristry services, and restaurant facilities, and the Online-Shop/Pflanzenshop e-commerce platform delivering plants and garden supplies nationwide. The Profi-Shop serves B2B professional customers, while supplementary services include the Baumkompass tree finder tool, Plant-Booster nutrition products, soil analysis, educational courses, and a customer loyalty card. Specialist reference books on plants, roses, fruit, and wild plants round out the product ecosystem. The company was founded in 1890 by Walter Hauenstein and employs 180 staff members with 15 apprentices annually.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Baumschule Rafz (Tree Nursery) Switzerland's largest tree nursery covering 92 hectares in Rafz, producing over 4,500 species and varieties of hardy garden plants under SUISSE GARANTIE quality guidelines. Serves landscape professionals, municipalities, and reselling garden centers.
• Gartencenter (Garden Centers) Four retail garden center locations (Rafz, Zürich, Baar, Winterthur) selling plants, garden supplies, accessories, floristry items, and offering floristry services, the BOTANICA restaurant, and a display garden (Schaugarten) at Rafz. Targets hobby gardeners and private customers across Switzerland.
• Online-Shop / Pflanzenshop E-commerce platform for purchasing hardy garden plants, tools, fertilizers, soil substrates, accessories, and specialty books. Delivers throughout Switzerland via Swiss Post (packages) and freight carrier (LKW) for larger orders, available 24/7.
• Profi-Shop (B2B Professional Portal) Dedicated B2B online portal for professional customers (landscape companies, municipalities, cities, garden centers) offering professional pricing, tiered volume discounts up to 20%, and dedicated ordering capabilities.
• Restaurant BOTANICA On-site restaurant at the Rafz garden center offering a special ambiance and facilities for celebrations including weddings, birthdays, and anniversaries served to garden-center visitors and the public.
• Floristik-Service (Floristry Service) Floristry services including flower arrangements for occasions, event decorations, wedding floristry, and funeral arrangements, with a flower delivery service. Sold to private and business customers.
• Gartenboden-Analyse (Garden Soil Analysis) Soil analysis service provided at the garden centers to help customers evaluate soil conditions and select appropriate plants for their gardens.
• Kurse & Veranstaltungen (Courses & Events) Educational gardening courses, consultation days, and workshops on plant care and gardening techniques held at all four garden center locations for hobby gardeners and learning-oriented customers.
• Fachbücher (Specialist Gardening Books) Published plant reference books covering woody plants, perennials, seasonal flowers and indoor plants, roses, fruit and berries, and wild plants, sold through the garden centers and online shop.

Quantifiable outcome

• 4 garden center locations serving customers
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration22 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• SUISSE GARANTIEcoreOthersSUISSE GARANTIE is a Swiss quality certification for plants ensuring they meet specific origin and quality standards. Hauenstein nursery produces plants according to these guidelines.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Jardiland: Leading French garden center chain offering plants, garden supplies, and pet categories across France. Comparable as a multi-store specialist garden retailer with similar assortment and target customer, though operating in a different geography.
• Intratuin: Large Dutch garden center chain with experiential retail formats (in-store restaurants, workshops). Comparable in the integrated garden-center-plus-hospitality-plus-education model that Hauenstein has built around BOTANICA and courses.
• Dehner: Largest garden center chain in Germany, with integrated nursery production and a broad retail assortment of plants, garden supplies, and pet/outdoor categories. Comparable as a vertically integrated nursery-plus-retail operator, though significantly larger and German-focused.
• Pflanzen-Kölle: Family-owned German garden center chain with own nursery production and large flagship stores. Comparable in being a multi-generational, family-controlled nursery-and-retail operator with a strong regional brand.
• Hornbach: German DIY/home improvement retailer with significant garden centers and plants assortment in Switzerland (Hornbach Schweiz). Comparable as a garden-products retailer, though Hauenstein differentiates on nursery-grown live plants versus Hornbach's broader DIY focus.

Regional players

• Volg: Swiss rural retail chain with seasonal garden and plant offerings in its stores. Indirectly comparable as a Swiss retail channel serving rural and suburban customers with gardening products.
• Landi: Swiss agricultural cooperative retail group with garden centers and plant assortment across Switzerland. Comparable as a Swiss-based competitor selling plants and garden supplies to hobby gardeners and smallholders, though with a broader agricultural supply focus.

Direct peers

• Lubera: Swiss online plant specialist (Markus Kobelt) selling fruit, berry, and ornamental plants direct to consumers across Europe. Closest comparable online nursery competitor operating in the same Swiss home market with overlapping product categories (fruit/berry trees, roses, ornamentals).
• Gärtnerei Meier (Baumschule Meier): Swiss plant nursery and garden center competing in the same Swiss-German market with a comparable assortment of hardy ornamental plants, trees, and perennials. Closest head-to-head competitor at the regional nursery level.
• Bakker (Bakker Hilhorst): Dutch online specialist for plants, bulbs, and garden products shipping across Europe. Directly comparable in online plant e-commerce, catalog breadth, and direct-to-consumer horticulture model, though with broader European geographic reach.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hauenstein-ag

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Hauenstein AG