"18,000 euros per month" - Energy cost explosion drives traditional bakery into bankruptcy
Created: 12/29/2022, 9:04 p.m
By: Miriam Haberhauer
The traditional Upper Franconian bakery Dumler has existed for 65 years.
Because of the energy crisis, the craft company is now on the verge of bankruptcy.
Kupferberg – These are difficult times for craft businesses: energy, raw material prices and rents have exploded in recent months.
Due to the dramatically increased costs, many medium-sized companies are struggling to survive.
This also applies to the traditional Dumler bakery in Kupferberg (Kulmbach district).
Energy crisis drives traditional bakery into bankruptcy - 18,000 euros for electricity discount
Fritz Dumler, the head of the bakery chain, runs a total of nine branches with around 65 employees in Bayreuth, Kulmbach and the surrounding area.
The bakery has been supplying the region with fresh bread and rolls since 1957.
In 2021, his daughter took over the management, but Fritz Dumler is now back in charge of the company: "If things go down the drain, I would like to take the blame myself and not my daughter's," says Dumler.
The electricity contract for the branch in Kupferberg expires at the end of the year.
The switch to the new electricity provider came with bad news: the monthly down payment for the production facility should be EUR 17,812 in the future.
A disaster for the master baker.
"Previously, we paid around 3,500 euros a month," says Dumler.
"We were able to absorb the higher packaging and raw material costs for flour, sugar, butter, cream and quark by raising prices," explains the master baker.
“Unfortunately, the energy costs are not.
I don't know how either.” The additional costs can no longer simply be passed on to customers, says Dumler.
“A normal roll already costs 50 cents.
Unfortunately, many customers – who also have to save – are already running away to the supermarkets.”
Severe losses due to the corona pandemic: "Liquidity outflow now at 200,000 euros"
The electricity costs for the craft company had been rising steadily since the beginning of the year: between January and April they rose in Dumler's branches from the initial 4,600 to 10,520 euros.
From April there was an increase in fuel prices by EUR 1,000 a month and the cost of heating oil by EUR 4,000.
"Because of Corona alone, our business liquidity outflow was 110,000 euros," reports Dumler.
Due to the additionally increased ancillary costs, this is now 200,000 euros.
Due to the explosion in energy costs, the traditional Dumler bakery is on the verge of bankruptcy.
© Madeleine Dumler
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"Scholz's double boom has reached us" - the explosion in energy costs hits the baker hard
"Mr. Scholz's double boom has arrived!" Dumler commented on Facebook about the dramatic price increase.
The managing director is convinced: "If we don't get the energy costs into the affordable range and thus tackle the problem at the root, I see black.
And not only for us, but also for all my employees, who are affected in the same way.” Dumler fears: “The trade should/will probably die.”
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On December 15, the Bundestag gave the green light to the traffic light government's plans for price brakes for gas and electricity.
Officially, the measure should come into force in March, and there should also be retrospective relief for January and February.
Much too late for Dumler - by March he will probably be at the end of his liquidity.
Traditional bakery not an isolated case – “hardship case energy fund” announced
The only thing that could help the traditional bakery in its current emergency is immediate financial help.
At the beginning of November, the Bavarian state government announced a "hardship case energy fund" as part of the presentation of its budget draft.
The 1.5 billion euros earmarked for this are intended, among other things, to benefit small and medium-sized companies whose existence is threatened by the consequences of the energy crisis.
But the case of the Dumler bakery is by no means the only one of its kind. In Garmisch-Partenkirchen, too, craft businesses appealed to politicians for help.
(mlh)
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