"Everything has its time": Traditional café closes after more than 100 years - no future for family business
Created: 03/09/2022 15:22
Soon to be a thing of the past: father and son, Reinhard Golder (left) and Lukas von Thülen, together in the bakery.
© Ursula Nagl
The traditional Vogel café has been in Diessen since 1904.
The fifth-generation family business has now had to close for a number of reasons.
Dießen
- "Everything has its time," says Jutta Golder and smiles.
For 42 years, the 54-year-old daughter of the house worked almost every day as managing director and master confectioner in the bakery or behind the sales counter of the Café Vogel confectionery, which has been around since 1904.
In the traditional shop at Johannisstraße 4 in Dießen there are cakes made with traditional craftsmanship.
As soon as the bell rings when the front door is opened, one is enchanted by the sight of the sweet delicacies.
All of that will soon be history.
The Golder/von Thülen family of confectioners has decided to close their café in the summer – forever.
The oldest pastry shop in Dießen is closing: the fifth generation of the family business
The oldest confectionery in Diessen was founded in 1904 by Viktoria and Paul Vogel.
They created a meeting place for young and old. Since Jutta Golder took over the business from her father Hermann Busch in 1997 in the fifth generation, she has trained 23 apprentices.
Ten employees currently support the family team, which consists of master confectioners and managing directors Jutta (54) and Reinhard Golder (53) and their son, junior manager Lukas von Thülen (27).
The three explain that they did not make it easy for themselves with the decision to give up the café and confectionery – there was a lot of thinking, talking, calculating and fighting.
By the way: everything from the region is also available in our regular Starnberg newsletter
And while sales have increased in recent years, profits have not.
The best raw materials still have top priority, stresses Jutta Golder.
But the prices for it have risen, as have the energy and wage costs for the employees.
"On the other hand, we have always struggled with price increases for our products," explains Reinhard Golder.
To this day, a filled tubular pasta costs 1.20 euros at Cáfe Vogel.
In Munich cafés you usually pay twice as much.
Traditional cafe closes: "We have always found it difficult to raise prices"
In addition, the sales behavior of customers has changed.
The location on the busy thoroughfare is a problem, and the number of regular customers and walk-in customers is going down.
It is no longer attractive to stroll and shop on Johannisstrasse.
Shopping on the through-road is not without danger by bicycle, and car parking spaces are not available.
In recent decades, the municipality has simply failed to calm traffic, from which the tradespeople on Johannisstraße would also have benefited.
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In the end, the family worked diligently, but were unable to build up any significant reserves.
And now not only the shop, but also the bakery is a "time bomb": "We have nothing but old equipment.
My father bought the oven in 1963.
It does its job, but if it breaks, a new oven costs around 70,000 euros.
And we also need a new dough mixer that meets the latest regulations,” explains Jutta Golder.
A new refrigerated counter is also due.
Cost point: also around 70,000 euros.
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A modernization concept has been in the drawer for a few years, but implementation has not been possible so far.
"Today you have to work much more effectively, with as few staff as possible and a lot of self-service," says Jutta Golder and adds: "We are currently debt-free", which is why the family agreed at Christmas not to make any new investments but to give up the business .
The production ideas with son Lukas had just picked up speed.
He had motivated his parents to come up with unusual business ideas: Original themed boxes with temptingly sweet contents were advertised, packed and sent for Carnival, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day and Christmas.
The cake packages are popular - even during the pandemic.
Although most of the café remained closed, the pastry shop remained open as usual.
Nevertheless: "A lot has changed around it, which we can no longer compensate for with our own efforts, although we have always enjoyed our work very much." business.
What the Golders are happy about is that they were able to place their two apprentices and some employees well.
Son Lukas also has promising prospects.
Starting in the fall, he will assume a managerial position in a large, modern bakery.
And something else is certain: the Golder/von Thülen family wants to spoil their customers with the usual quality and friendliness until the last day of the Café Vogel's opening hours, probably in the middle of the year.
Ursula Nagl
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