New baker competition: Former Ankerbrot boss shakes up the scene

The former Ankerbrot boss launched a new bakery concept in 2021. How he wants to stand out from the competition and grow quickly.

A master baker is Peter Ostendorf not. But he knows how to run a bakery well. Ostendorf was head of for twelve years Anchor break. In 2015 he sold his shares, waited out the four-year non-compete clause and joined in 2021 milk & coffeea new bakery concept, was launched. In the interview, he reveals whether the range of hip bakeries is already oversaturated and how he wants to stand out.

DELIVERY MAN: Why did you return to the industry after leaving anchor?

Peter Ostendorf: Simply because it is my great passion and love. After almost forty years in the industry and at my age, I am convinced that I can offer a certain added value.

Who would be?

I understood very well what the consumer wants and what the economic problems of the existing bakeries are.

And yet the range of bakeries is wide. Is there even room for another player?

If you take into account that around 80 percent of the total amount of bread and pastries that Austrians consume is bought in supermarkets, the potential for premium craft bakeries is enormous. What unites us all is convincing consumers that quality craftsmanship is worth the extra mile to the bakery.

There are currently four mel&koffie branches in Austria, with a fifth following in November. How is business going?

We are satisfied, business is going well. I’m just not talking about branches, but about bakeries with an attached sales room. We actually produce 100 percent of the product range at each location. This perhaps sets us apart from others on the market. We have no logistics, no truck driving around.

You make the dough the day before and let it rest for 20 hours. The working day begins at 6:30 a.m. Do you hope to find enough employees?

That was actually a motivation behind it. Of course I knew about the shortage of skilled workers. We have achieved that we get bakers who want to have a normal family life. And those who are not prepared to drive to the bakery at night. In addition, of course, it’s great for the bakers to look the customers in the eye. You experience the happy customer personally and that does a lot for motivation.

How much can handmade baked goods cost?

They are generally more expensive than in the supermarket, but we try to price them.

One kilo of bread comes from…

Six to ten euros. That depends on the variety.

Do you use technology or is it mutually exclusive with the traditional concept?

No, not at all. I always say we are a 360-degree digitized bakery. This starts with the receipt of goods, through warehousing and every single production step. We digitally display and illustrate every product so that every step is comprehensible and transparent for every baker. This means that we always know which products we have available for sale. And it’s going so far that, starting next week, we’ll have an app that customers can use to order goods online. This is certainly an important point if you want to multiply crafts in a decentralized manner today.

It shouldn’t just stay with just a few bakeries. What is your destination?

I haven’t set any bigger goals for myself. This is a purely private company, we are not investor-driven.

Nevertheless, you have a concrete plan to grow through a franchise. How is the search for partners going?

We have been looking for partners in Germany for six months now. The search was quite successful; we now have twelve interested parties. In Austria we are at the beginning of the discussions, so things are still a bit slow.