“Customer Success’s primary goal is to strive for the success of our customers. With this in mind, every day is about working with vendors to provide them the highest quality service and communication.” – Matt Kapplehoff, Customer Success Manager

 

By: Living a Stout Life

 

About Malteurop Malting Company (MMC)

We are a collective of craftsmen devoted to making exceptional malt. We are innovators, designers, scientists, farmers, brewers, distillers, and artists. We are your link from farm to beer, and we want you to know us as a vital part of the craft beer and distilling community. 

Meet Matt Kapplehoff

Matt Kapplehoff’s position as Malteurop Customer Success Manager may have started in July 2021, but he’s been in the success field for decades.

 

As a father and a self-defined jack of all trades, ensuring successful relationships comes naturally to Matt. You might even say he was born into the field.

 

Being a manager and a family man, Matt knows that creating successful relationships isn’t a solo job. It takes a team. And at Malteurop Malting Co., everyone is part of the team.

 

And Matt is at the helm of the Customer Success team.

 

How did you decide to build a career at a malting company?

Malteurop may not have been on Matt’s radar when he graduated high school, but we’re grateful he created the path that eventually led him to join the MMC team.

 

With early aspirations of becoming an accountant, Matt earned an Associate’s Degree in accounting. Parenting full-time, working full-time, and attending school part-time, Matt has never shied away from hard work.

 

It was precisely that hard work that paid off. In 2013, Matt earned a position at a local production and warehousing facility in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he was also born and raised. He began working on production planning for international accounts and was soon promoted to Client Service Manager.

 

However, as it often does, life took a turn, and Matt was laid off. In March 2018, Malteruop was looking for assistance with barley procurement. Matt joined the Malteurop team. One year later, he moved up the ladder to work in Sales and Operations Planning, where he managed the distribution centers and other logistics.

 

Matt was highly respected for his skills garnering success working with MMC’s partners and his team at MMC. During the summer of 2021, he earned another rung on the ladder, becoming MMC’s Customer Success Manager. Today, he not only builds relationships with MMC’s partners, ensuring their success in crafting their specialties but also ensuring Malteruop’s success from within.

 

“Good customer service builds trust from within and with all of MMC’s partners.” 

 

What does your average day look like?

And that success starts from the most basic task of showing up to work ready to work. Ready to give customers quality service, quality products, and price stability through data-driven and customer-proven research and what you, our customers and partners, need.

 

“Customer Success’s primary goal is to strive for the success of our customers.  With this in mind, every day is about working with vendors to provide them the highest quality service and communication.” 

 

Each day is different, but every day is about the customer, with customer service dictating what needs to be accomplished to make sure MMC’s customers – their partners – get exactly what they need. 

 

Matt consistently and efficiently mentors his team of customer service representatives, while supporting the craft sales managers that are in the field, boots on the ground at breweries and distilleries across the continent.

 

Not only is Matt the go-to person when it comes to oversight of customer and partner relations, but he is also the Microsoft Excel resident expert. There’s nothing Matt won’t do to keep MMC’s partners functioning at their highest levels of achievement.

 

“No one day is the same and that’s part of why I love it here. Each day presents new opportunities to continue to strive for better!”

What is your greatest career accomplishment?

Every day for Matt is an accomplishment for him because every day he plays an essential role in the success of Malteurop’s partners.

 

But his biggest career accomplishment, and one he is extremely proud of, is how he increased efficiency and ease of access to quality malts for all customers. In 2019, MMC only had one distribution center. Matt worked diligently to increase that number to seven.

 

Today, with continued dedication to reducing costs while getting high-quality malts to all of MMC’s customers, there are nine distribution centers located all across the U.S.

 

Matt’s unwavering commitment to Malteruop’s customers is an achievement of the highest level.

 

How do you work with others at MMC to consistently get brewers and distillers the specific malts they need?

MMC’s success comes from our partners’ success. And that cannot happen without that unwavering commitment.

 

Matt and the Customer Success team go above and beyond to stay on top of industry news, standards, and expectations, gathering knowledge, and ensuring informed decisions whether working with internal team members or any one of their valued partners and vendors.

 

MMC doesn’t wait to see what their customers need. Being proactive allows Malterurop to act instead of react. And that’s what builds both customer and in-house success.

 

“We provide the best-in-class service and communication. Communication and honesty are key to everything!” 

 

Where do you see the future of malting heading?

Matt, like almost everyone in the industry, is fairly certain that beer will continue to have its ebbs and flows, but at the end of the day, it is not going anywhere. He sees a possible shift happening, bringing us back to traditional “beer-flavored” beers, and maybe less IPAs, but beer will always be a part of our society.

 

And that includes craft beer and the craft breweries that produce them. They may have to shift their focus to stay up-to-date with what consumers want, but they will remain a staple in the industry.

 

Because of this, malting has to shift, as well. Everyone in the industry – brewers, distillers, maltsters, and farmers – has to focus more on pricing in the coming years, becoming even more price-conscious than we all are now.

 

Consolidations and partnerships could become the new norm in the future, allowing for smaller businesses in the industries to thrive and stay in business.

 

As for Malteruop’s future in malting? “MMC is looking to continue to service our customers by growing our product offerings.”

 

Matt’s goal is simple – keep high quality malts in your hands and your needs in his.

 

What’s your favorite style of beer and why? What’s currently in your fridge?

When it comes to the beverages Matt enjoys, his answer is just as simple and concise as his goal for customer success.

 

“I’m your very typical American lager kinda guy.  I do switch it up a little bit to keep things fresh.”

 

His fridge confirms his statement.

 

“In my fridge currently is Miller High Life and Spotted Cow.”

 

No frills, just good, easy-drinking beer.

 

What defines you outside of work?

And that is exactly what also defines his style – easy-going. But even before that, the first thing Matt told us about himself was that he is a family man. A husband and father first, before anything else.

 

He is also a self-defined jack of all trades, happily working on his vehicles and repairing appliances around the house. Those pesky home repairs that many of us put off? Matt relishes them. Size doesn’t matter, either. In fact, he is currently rewiring his entire home’s electrical system.

 

Family Man … Customer Success Expert … Jack of All Trades … Easy-going. 

 

“Life’s short and time is the one and only resource that you can never get back. And as George Strait says, ‘We’re here for a good time, not a long time.’” 

 

Premium grains from field to flavor.

 

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About Malteurop Malting Company (MMC)

Malteurop Malting Company (MMC) is based in North America—specializing in growing and producing quality malts for the beer, whiskey, and food processing industries. With local farms and Malthouses spread across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, Malteurop’s commitment to excellence is fully ingrained into every batch it produces, ensuring businesses of any size can create the finest beverages and food products on the planet. 

 

Visit www.malteuropmaltingco.com to learn how we can support your malting needs.

 

Contact us at customersuccess@malteurop.com or (844) 546-MALT (6258) for questions or to place your order. 

 

Malting is our passion. Quality is our promise.