Energy crisis and inflation: A baker's bitter bill - "We have no other choice"

Created: 09/26/2022, 14:41

By: Peter Schiebel

Obermeister Wilhelm Boneberger in his bakery: The Gilchinger fears that small and medium-sized craft businesses in particular will suffer from the massive price increase at all levels.

© Andrea Jaksch

Baker Wilhelm Boneberger can't help it: With a heavy heart he raises the prices for the second time this year on October 1st.

He explains how his craft is struggling with the current situation.

Gilching – The news is fresh: Bread is more expensive than ever in the European Union.

According to a statement by the European statistical office Eurostat on Monday, the price of bread has risen by an average of 18 percent in the EU since August 2021.

A development that does not surprise Wilhelm Boneberger (45): "We have no choice but to raise the prices," says the foreman of the bakers' guild in the district in an interview with Starnberger Merkur.

And he calculates how his costs have changed over the course of this year.

Seven years ago he took over the bakery founded by his great-grandfather in Gilching in 1909.

The price of wheat flour has fluctuated around 28 to 32 cents per kilogram for around thirty years.

After three price increases this year, it is now 62 cents, calculates Boneberger, who gets his most important raw material from Lower Bavaria.

Energy crisis and inflation: challenge for bakers - butter almost twice as expensive

A kilo of butter used to cost five euros, now it's nine euros.

And Boneberger assumes that the price will continue to rise before the Advent season, even if the demand for the production of cookies, stollen and the like increases.

Another supplier had just raised the prices for its products by 20 percent on August 1st.

And then there are the energy costs: the 45-year-old needs around 120,000 kilowatt hours of electricity to keep the bakery on Brucker Strasse running.

It was "extremely lucky" for him to sign a contract in April 2021 with a fixed price of around 22 cents per kilowatt hour for three years.

Still, that's a lot more than before.

There are also 30,000 liters of heating oil.

He bought a large amount of oil in the spring for 1.35 euros per liter - a year ago it was almost half that.

By the way: everything from the region is also available in our regular Starnberg newsletter.

Raw material prices make up around 25 percent of his calculations, around 50 percent are personnel costs – Boneberger employs 25 people in his workshop, 18 of them full-time.

There are also costs for operating materials, energy, packaging material, maintenance and depreciation.

Luckily, Boneberger owns the property, so at least there are no rental costs.

However, the 45-year-old does not yet know whether he will make a return in a year like this.

Inflation and energy costs: bakers have to raise prices - for the second time this year

What he knows: On October 1, he will raise prices for the second time this year.

The normal bakery roll then costs 55 cents from him.

At the beginning of the year it was 45 cents, since April 1 it has been 50 cents.

"I'm raising 10 percent now, but I should actually be raising 15 or 20 percent."

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Only: It is questionable whether the customers will participate.

"When petrol and heating become more expensive, many people save in the premium segment," he says.

Instead of going to the local baker, who still produces artisanal goods, they would then buy rolls, pretzels and bread from large chains or straight away from supermarkets or discounters, he believes.

Nevertheless, he hopes that his customers will understand, so that they also accept the new increase.

Especially since savings in staff are taboo for him.

"My employees are my capital," he says.

Many long-serving employees have long been part of the family.

What's next?

"A bad year is an entrepreneurial risk," says Boneberger.

"But two, three or five bad years can't be coped with." The 45-year-old, who sits on the Starnberg district council for the FDP, calls for more support from big politics.

"It seems to me that the middle class is being overlooked," he says.

The small and medium-sized businesses need an injection of liquidity, "otherwise they will stop producing".

High electricity prices: Bäcker warns - small and medium-sized businesses in particular are at risk

In addition, bureaucracy must be reduced.

And Boneberger even considers state intervention in the electricity market to be inevitable.

This is problematic, but in the short term he sees no other way of catching energy-driven inflation after the European Central Bank (ECB) has taken itself out of the game with its interest rate policy.

Boneberger also criticizes the sluggish expansion of the network infrastructure and the investment backlog, for example in roads and rail.

He himself is already trying to save as much energy as possible.

He uses the waste heat from the stoves for hot water, all lamps have been switched to LED, and he also switches off the illuminated advertising from 10 p.m. to 4 p.m., as required by politicians - although customers driving by now have to look twice at half past six in the morning to see if they are there the bakery is already open.

This is another point where he doesn't feel understood by big politics.

You can find more current news from the district of Starnberg at Merkur.de/Starnberg.