GERMAN-AMERICAN HEROES WISH FOR MORE MEMORABILIA FROM DEUTSCHLAND

A recent survey among German-American Firefighters and Law Enforcement officers revealed that a majority is missing items connecting them with their German roots. A new tribute product from Germany - The BierFranz™ - fills this void.

New York City, April 14, 2007. The survey, conducted online by Stapfpower Lifestyle Products among 116 German-American members of the Firefighting and Law Enforcement profession, revealed that these heroes take great interest in their German family history. Over 77% stated that they have some or even a strong interest in their German heritage. But the survey also made clear that there is a huge lack of tribute products that honor these roots, as 58 % complain that “there are no or only just a few products available for Americans of German heritage” and the same number would “like to see more” of them. Or as one participant put it “Give me anything that reminds me of this beautiful country!!!” They simply want more German products.

The first product for “American Heroes of German Heritage”
With this in mind and the awareness of firefighters’ and police officers’ general passion for memorabilia (the same study showed that an impressive 83% own some kind of professional memorabilia), young German entrepreneur Robert Stapf, who grew up in Germany’s scenic black forest region and just returned home from living in the US for several years, decided to design the first product that honors both - German cultural heritage and American firefighting & law enforcement tradition.

Robert’s soft spot for Heroes
“It all started when I befriended a 911 dispatcher from New Jersey and consequently met many Firefighters and Law Enforcement Officers. I have always admired these professional groups. Heroes who risk their own health and even their own lives in order to keep others save. You see it in the news every day –I have nothing but the highest respect for them. I also realized how many Germans there were in those forces and I simply wanted to give them something special that salutes them in their role as American Heroes of German heritage” Robert explains. “Something new, authentic and high quality, something that has never been seen before, and something that is both: distinctly German and a patriotically American.”

The solution: A beer steins with a twist
To achieve this, Robert started looking for a product that is highly representative for German culture, something traditional but also contemporary – and he did not have to look far. It was not in his back yard, but close. He found it right in the Beergardens of Munich – a beer stein. “It struck me instantly – it can only be a stein” (A good choice, as the research later proved that over 98% participants know about German beer steins!) But Robert decided to do something unusual: Instead of using the rather old fashioned ceramic steins with a lid, he opted for something more modern and authentic: The genuine glass stein from the Oktoberfest in Munich. “These glass steins are the real deal – anyone who has ever been to the Oktoberfest can confirm that!”

German preciseness makes glass steins so popular
In fact, the steins are so popular that every year at the Oktoberfest, over 230,000 is taken “as souvenirs”. “Last year, a guy was stopped at the airport when he tried to leave Munich with 12 of these trophies!” The popular glass steins are used all over Germany and are actually more popular than the ceramic ones. “There is actually a reason why we prefer the glass version in Germany these days,” Robert explains. “We are very particular about our beer, and with ceramic steins, it often happened that people felt cheated by the bartender, because he would fill their ceramic stein predominantly with foam and not properly with beer, and because it was ceramic, you could not instantly prove it”. The introduction of the glass steins helped preventing this cheat and made the glass version the Number 1 stein. All of the see-through glass steins – also Robert’s of course – feature a “One-Liter Calibration Mark” which ensures for a precise filling. “Oh yes, we even have an organization, the ‘Verein gegen betruegerisches Einschenken’ (‘Association against Fraudulent Pouring’), to monitor the bartenders’ ‘filling morals’, especially at the Oktoberfest! These passionate people were the driving force behind the switch from ceramic to glass steins in order to prevent the cheating!“

The refinement of the steins
To give American Heroes a legal way of getting these popular steins, Robert purchases the genuine glass steins – or Masskruege as the Germans say – directly from the Manufacturer in Germany and refines them locally with a beautiful firefighter and law enforcement decoration. This way they become the world’s only genuine steins “saluting American Heroes of German heritage”.

Making an Tribute for Heroes
Robert decided to create two different designs, one for Firefighters and one for Law Enforcement Officers. “The center of the decoration pays tribute to the respective profession and resembles a patch. The Law Enforcement version then carries an Eagle-top American police badge with the inscription “U.S. Law Enforcement – to serve and to protect” on it, while the Firefighter version shows an original Maltese Cross, dedicated to “U.S Firefighters – the Bravest”.

Paying tribute to Germany
They also show the emblems of all 16 German states and the major German cities – in gold. “Our research showed that most German-Americans know which state their ancestors came from, and we wanted everyone to have their personal place of family origin written on the stein”

A treasure made in Germany - by hand
The stein is then finished off with a golden rim. “Real gold - not the fake one that is often used for glassware decorations” Robert adds proudly. “The steins are stunningly impressive – real treasures, everyone how has seen it wants one! There is also a lot of manual labor going into the production – a machine simply can not get this job done.” Needless to say, all off the work is done in Germany.

Impressive dimensions worth a hero
But it is not only the decoration - the sheer dimensions of the steins are impressive. Like every real German stein, they hold one liter or 34 ounces and are 8 inches high, 4 inches in diameter and weight a hefty 2.7 pounds. “It’s strong and thought – exactly like the American Heroes I wanted to salute” Robert explains.

BierFranz – a name inspired by Saturday Night Life
To give the stein a worthy name, Robert drew from his cultural American experience. “When I first came to the police station where my friend worked, everybody started calling me either “Hans” or “Franz”, just like in the popular SNL skit. So when I was looking for a name, this was it! I combined it with the German word for beer and “BierFranz” was born!

Charity Donations
Inspired by the heroic work that the heroes he salutes to do every day, Robert also decided to give back through the sales of the BierFranz™: “One Dollar of each sold stein goes to a good cause, either an organization that helps burn victims or a charity that supports police survivors – families of officers who were killed in the line of duty.”

The BierFranz™ is now available exclusively on Robert’s website. www.bierfranz.com . It can be shipped anywhere within the US for local shipping rates, as Robert set up a US distribution network.

Stapfpower lifestyle products is a family-owned manufacture and distributor of authentic German products for the huge population of Americans of German descent. It’s is headquartered in the Black Forest region in Germany, while its U.S. operation is driven out of the New York City office. The website www.bierfranz.com offers a range of information about the tradition of beer steins in Germany. BierFranz™ is a trademark of Stapfpower lifestyle products.

Robert Stapf (Owner Stapfpower lifestyle products and BierFranz mastermind) robert.stapf@stapfpower.com

or

Anthea Fasina (General Manager US)
anthea.fasina@stapfpower.com

Stapfpower Lifestyle Products LLC.
156 East 2nd street, Suite 8
Phone: 212 - 979 8252

This release was published on openPR.