More young bakers through different working hours?

Getting up in the middle of the night so that the rolls are ready early in the morning – unattractive working hours prevent many young people from becoming bakers. A company in Cologne does it differently.

A day without bread? Hardly conceivable in Germany. Work as a baker? Probably not, say more and more trainees. The industry has concerns about young talent. In the skilled trades, the number of trainees fell by a further 11 percent in both production and sales in 2022 compared to 2021, from 12,242 to 10,846. The Association of German Bakeries announced this at its annual press conference in Gütersloh.

According to the association, the number of bakeries in Germany will also continue to fall in 2022. While there were 10,181 companies with more than 20 employees in 2020, the number fell to 9,607 in 2022. The association assumes that the number of bakeries will continue to decline in the coming years.

Fewer trainees, poorer qualifications

“The situation is difficult because the supply of talented and qualified specialists is scarce. There are also complaints about the poorer qualifications in the personnel supply,” says the President of the Association of German Large Bakeries, Ulrike Detmers. She sees a problem in the fact that more and more young people want to study. “There is a tussle among employers over the relatively small number of people who opt for vocational training. That is why employer attractiveness is an important selection criterion for trainees,” says Detmers.

Companies would therefore try to respond better to the needs of “Generation Z”, among other things through a better work-life balance. For example, there are offers of four-day weeks or six-hour days.

Unattractive working hours are also cited as one reason why fewer and fewer young people are interested in the profession. In many companies, the shift starts at 1 a.m. in order to be able to offer the rolls on time.

More young talent through better working hours?

Alexander Onasch, owner of the “prôt” bakery in Cologne, has come up with a new concept. He doesn’t open his branches until 10 a.m. He has also reduced his range: seven types of bread, no snacks, no coffee, no cake, no rolls.

Above all, he has “turned around” the production process in his company, as he says: “We prepare the dough the day before and then put it in the refrigerator at two degrees,” he explains the process. “One person starts baking the chilled dough in the morning. He starts at 6 a.m., the others come at 7 a.m. and start making the dough, but only for the next day,” says Onasch. This procedure would allow employees to start working much later.

Onasch doesn’t have the problem of not finding trainees. On the contrary: trainees from other companies keep coming forward who would like to move to him. “A trainee who was in her third year of training wrote to me and asked whether it would be okay with me if she could continue her training with me,” said Onasch. The reason she gave was that she liked the job, but it was physically very demanding.

1,000 euros net in the third year of training

“Going to bed at 6 or 7 p.m. and then standing in the bakery at one o’clock – many people don’t want that anymore,” says Onasch. And that too with poor pay. In the third year of training, a trainee only receives 1,000 euros net per month, so there is little motivation to get up in the middle of the night.

A new trainee will start at the Cologne bakery next week. He also changed, for the same reasons.

“I said again and again at the guild meeting that people no longer want to work at night, they want to meet friends, they are no longer willing to work at one in the morning,” said Onasch. However, there was not particularly great understanding among colleagues.

Ulrike Detmers from the Association of German Large Bakeries supports concepts like that of “prôt” in Cologne. They are a positive incentive for other colleagues. “However, the opening times also depend on the location of the business. If the rush hour starts at 7 a.m. or 8 a.m., the business owner, who also wants to make a profit, will open earlier. Then the working hours of ‘prôt’ are not market-oriented.” said Detmers.

Investment in cooling required

This argument comes up again and again, Onasch replies. But he can’t understand it. “Most bakers can start working at reasonable hours, at four or five, if you need more refrigeration. You don’t have to make every dough fresh in the morning.” It is a question of will and investment. You just have to invest in cooling equipment so that you can have the dough ready in the morning and just put it in the oven.

In any case, the Cologne bakery is not lacking in staff. The company has 21 employees. He doesn’t have to look for the trainees; they contact him.

Investments should actually be possible in the industry, because the Association of Large Bakeries reports increasing sales. After a slight decline in 2021, it has now risen again to over 20 billion euros for companies with more than 20 employees.