"Bakeries" in Heidelberg - by Heather Smith

With bakeries on what seems like every corner, bread is a very important part

of German culture. Germany wide there are over twelve different names for a roll and

ninety-five percent of Germans enjoy or very much enjoy eating bread.1 The love of

bread is instilled in children from an early age, possibly influenced by the famous Kika

character “Bernd das Brot” (Bernd the bread). On average Germans eat eighty-five

kilograms of bread per year2 and in 2016 there were over 47 000 bakeries in

Germany.3 Bread is such a staple in many Germans diets, that they even have two

museums devoted to bread, in Ulm and Ebergötzen. Bread is not just a favourite food

or a part of culture, but also one of the most important economic factors in Germany,

with a total turnover of 14.29 billion euros and 273,400 employees.

Since there are many places to buy bread in Germany, the definition used for

this analysis was a place where bread is sold and the product is given to the customer

by a person. They also need to consider themselves a bakery, either on their sign or

on their website. This definition was made in order to exclude data from hospital and

university cafeterias, gas stations, grocery stores and Subway. The methods for this

analysis were qualitative and the data was collected from interviews with the personnel

and shop managers, customers, as well as information from the bakery’s website.

The area of analysis consisted of the following neighbourhoods of Heidelberg:

Eppelheim, Pfaffengrund, Wieblingen, Im Neuenheimer Feld, Handschuhsheim,

Neuenheim, Bergheim, Weststadt, Bahnstadt and Altstadt. These neighbourhoods

make up a total of around thirty square kilometres and contain sixty bakeries, creating

a density of two bakeries per square kilometre. With half of the bakeries being located

in very high traffic areas along the Hauptstraße, around Bismarkplatz, and in the train

station, the high concentration in these three spaces make the overall density in

Heidelberg high. An analysis was conducted at one third of the bakeries throughout

Heidelberg, giving a clear picture of the similarities and differences between the

neighbourhoods.

According to numerous interviews of the bakery personnel throughout

Heidelberg, the most commonly bought food was the croissant and sweet cookies

came in at a close second (this might also be influenced by the time of the year when

this analysis took place, a month before Christmas). An exact price comparison was

not made, but on average, even in the low and high income areas, the products from

smaller bakeries were less expensive than those of the chain bakeries.

All twenty bakeries that were interviewed stated that they serve a wide variety

of customers, but in certain areas the clientele was not as mixed as expected. For

example, while the personnel at the Grimminger in Handschuhsheim stated the

customers were diverse, after a day of observation, the majority of the customers were

families with children and young-middle aged people. Throughout the day there were

only six individuals who looked over fifty and under twenty-five years old, with the

exception of children with their parents. Riegler in Handschuhsheim was similar, with

the majority of the customers being elderly. This can be explained by the older

demographic in these areas, with fewer students than in other parts of the city.

Another interesting result from this analysis was that bakeries that were located

close to large residential areas drew the majority of their customers from the people

who live in the area and planned specifically to go to the bakery. In comparison,

bakeries in high traffic areas, such as the train station and Bismarkplatz collected the

majority of their customers from people passing by who were hungry and looking for

something quick to eat. The only exception to this rule, where the customers came

from a distance to buy bread, is the whole wheat bakery Mahlzahn; the customers

there said they had no problem driving or walking up to half an hour to get their whole

wheat bread.

One of the most interesting findings of this analysis is the contrast between the

bakeries in the very good and not very good locations (see fig. 1). When comparing

the good areas to live in, in Handschuhsheim and Neuenheim, and the simple-average

places to live in, in Pfaffengrund and Wieblingen, there are three main differences that

can be seen, namely: the number of bakeries, the product selection, and the

customers. With twelve bakeries, Handschuhsheim and Neuenheim have two times

as many bakeries as Pfaffengrund and Wieblingen do. Not only do they have more,

but they also have a wider variety of bakeries. There are cafes, small sized bakeries,

middle sized bakeries and whole wheat, organic bakeries. Another point which

differentiates the good and the simple neighbourhoods is the product selection in the

bakeries. Bakeries in Handschuhsheim and Neuenheim are on average larger than

those in Pfaffengrund and Wieblingen, allowing them to offer a greater selection of

products. Bakeries in these areas also likely have more customers per day which can

support such a large selection. Even bakeries belonging to the same company with a

shop in the nicer areas, do not offer as many products in Pfaffengrund and Wieblingen.

The final major difference between these two areas is the customers. As mentioned

before, all bakeries claimed to serve a mix of customers, but the customers in

Handschuhsheim and Neuenheim, where it is more expensive to live, looked like they

had more money than the customers in the other neighbourhoods. In Pfaffengrund

and Wieblingen I saw more people that looked like they had a lower income and more

people with an immigrant background. The bakeries in these areas also admitted to

speaking English more often than the bakeries in Handschuhsheim and Neuenheim.

These findings are significant because they show how the social practices and

communities influence the food that is offered to them. An example of this is the

placement of the whole wheat bakery. Products are more expensive there and the

bakery would likely not be profitable in areas such as Pfaffengrund where the rate and

length of unemployment is greater, the people are not as educated, and the

percentage of people living in subsidized housing is higher than in the other areas.6

The location in Handschuhsheim and Neuenheim allow the whole wheat bakery to thrive, as the people who live in those area earn more7 and can afford to eat organic

foods, which are often more expensive.

The final part of the analysis was comparing the websites of the bakeries. While

the majority of the bakeries websites were not aimed at a specific audience, as

bakeries attract all kinds of people, the marketing strategies used by the bigger

bakeries attempt to humanize the buying process by romanticising their history and

small start with black and white pictures or shots of the owners smiling as well as by

giving information on the social projects they are part of. Yormas uses a very personal

approach by trying to connect the customer and the company by including a section

where customers can send in videos or pictures of their products, or provide feedback

to a friendly looking woman. These strategies are efficient, because they give the

customer the feeling that the bakery is responsive to their feedback and needs, while

encouraging the customer to choose to buy bread at their bakery as opposed to the

competitors.

This analysis has highlighted how bakeries have responded to the needs of the

people, by opening up shops in highly visited areas and residential zones with little

competition. They have adapted their products seasonally to what the people want

and employed marketing strategies to include the customer in the exchange of goods.

Germany’s tendency to move away from small privately owned businesses toward

middle and large sized chains has also affected the baker’s trade. Traditional bakeries

where the bread is produced on site have declined, with many bakeries now producing

dough in a factory and then shipping it to the bake shop each morning to be baked on

site. My analysis has shown that this has also happened to many of the bakeries in

Heidelberg, reflecting societies post industrial change in consumption.

Works Cited

"Deutsche Essen Im Schnitt 85 Kilo Brot Im Jahr." Spiegel Online. Spiegel Online GmbH 31

July 2001 http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/europa-rekord-deutsche-essen-imschnitt-

85-kilo-brot-im-jahr-a-147953.html. Accessed 15 November 2017.

"Statistiken Zum Bäckerhandwerk in Deutschland." Statista GmbH

https://de.statista.com/themen/1762/baeckereien/. Accessed 15 November 2017.

"Wirtschaftsfaktor Bäckerhandwerk." Zentralverband des Deutschen Bäckerhandwerks e. V

31 December 2016 https://www.baeckerhandwerk.de/baeckerhandwerk/zahlenfakten/.

Accessed 13 November 2017.

Gerner, Joachim et al. Bericht Zur Sozialen Lage in Heidelberg. edited by Amt für

Stadentwicklung und Statistik, Stadt Heidelberg.

Hörnle, Micha. "Jeder Stadtteil Hat "Gute" Und "Einfache" Lagen." Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung

GmbH 8 September 2017 https://www.rnz.de/nachrichten/heidelberg_artikel,-

wohnen-in-heidelberg-jeder-stadtteil-hat-gute-und-einfache-lagen-

_arid,301156.html. Accessed 13 November 2017.