Bavarian bakery breaks with centuries-old tradition - and wants to save the future of the craft

Created: 2022-01-14Updated: 2022-01-14 05:17

By: Thomas Eldersch

Steffi and Markus Steinleitner want to break new ground in their bakery.

Soon they will switch to day shift.

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The trade suffers from a lack of young people.

The bakers are no different.

A married couple from Lower Bavaria now has an idea how to make the job more attractive.

Niederwinkling - The alarm clock goes off at 10 p.m.

A quick shower, a quick breakfast and then off to work.

While others stretch out on the couch and tiredly reach into the bag of chips while watching TV, most bakery employees have to get down to business.

This also applies to the 22 production employees of the Steinleitner bakery from the Lower Bavarian district of Straubing-Bogen*.

For them, the working day begins at 11 p.m.

But that could change soon.

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Bakery from Lower Bavaria is fighting for a better reputation for their guild

Steffi (46) and Markus (51) Steinleitner are passionate bakers. And they know their craft. In the ZDF show "Germany's best baker" Markus and his three colleagues took second place in 2015. Apparently, the quality also goes down well with the customer. The Steinleitners call eleven branches in the Straubing/Deggendorf* area their own. There they celebrate their motto "Baked like in grandmother's time". "If you bite into our bread, then you should simply experience a little moment of happiness," says their website.

So it's not surprising that Steffi Steinleitner gets emotional when it comes to her beloved bakery.

“In recent years, handicrafts have often not been presented in a positive light.

There was hardly any appreciation," she complains to

.

The 46-year-old says it would be the same for all trades.

But bakers and butchers in particular would suffer from a bad reputation.

Steinleitner cannot understand that.

"We feed people.

How can you get bread like a Coke bottle out of some baking machine these days.” She is hoping for a rethink, otherwise the guild would collapse.

All bakers would otherwise be forced to produce only industrial goods.

The Corona crisis brought the necessary distance for the realignment

So that it doesn't come to that, Steffi and Markus Steinleitner have given some thought. Surprisingly, the Corona crisis* also helped. “Before, there was only day-to-day business. The routine spread," says the 51-year-old in an interview with

. "We needed to step out and work on a way forward." And they did. They put a lot of brains into moving much of the production to the day shift.

They had had the idea for a long time.

Three months ago they took the plunge with the confectioners.

The working day there now starts at 8 a.m. and “it works wonderfully,” says the master baker.

Employees finally have more time to spend with their partner or family.

"We hope that this will make the job more attractive again," says the 51-year-old.

Young bakers are to be addressed by switching to the day shift

At the end of January, the dough for the bread should also be made during the day. A longer storage time would even improve the quality. At night, the Steinleitners would only need two employees to do the baking and order picking. "We have two employees who have always worked nights and want to continue doing so," explains Steffi Steinleitner. Your two trainees would be looking forward to finally being able to sleep a little longer. The new day shift is supposed to start around 5 or 6 a.m. - the couple is still working on the exact time.

Only time can tell whether the model from Lower Bavaria will set a precedent.

For young people in particular, the new start to work should be more inviting than the night shift at unchristian times.

So far, the Steinleitners have still found enough applicants, but the number has decreased in recent years.

The baker couple identified the working hours as the reason for this.

Interns would have always liked to work for them.

Only getting up early would have bothered them.

Now the young bakers can meet up with friends in the beer garden in the summer, says the boss.