H-Albzeit: Time to enjoy

Oven-fresh specialties from the WIESHEU Ebo deck oven

The Merklingen industrial area is ideally connected to the A8 Stuttgart - Munich motorway. The location is halfway between the two metropolises in the south, but is also the stop with a view of the Swabian Alb biosphere reserve.
H-Albzeit: The name says it all! The concept combines tangible regionality with the requirements of a highly frequented location. The core competence of the operator BeckaBeck can be experienced with all senses. Before the eyes of the customers, Swabian pretzels are regularly looped, the roll specialty Beckis and the Swabian souls are pushed into the WIESHEU Ebo deck oven.

Heiner Beck, recently named "Baker of the Year", has been working with WIESHEU for decades. For him, in-store baking is an essential element in making freshness and quality tangible for customers. That is why almost all branches use the WIESHEU Ebo deck oven. “Customers appreciate and pay us for the best quality. For the products that we bake on site, this can only be achieved with deck ovens,” explains Heiner Beck. In addition to the baking quality, the service quality is what impresses him: “If an oven breaks down, I need help quickly. The problem is usually solved on the same day.”

When the areas were planned for the H-Albzeit project, the Ebo already had a prominent place for Heiner Beck. The WIESHEU Ebo 128 deck oven with four baking chambers was installed in consultation with WIESHEU regional manager Michael Pietrzak. Heiner Beck appreciates the baking result: perfect crust formation, a slight sheen on the surface and the optimum volume. Speaking of volume: Since the H-Albzeit is always well frequented, Heiner Beck not only opted for WIESHEU's largest deck oven, but also for a loader from a specialist in order to load the baking chambers as efficiently as possible.

The H-Albzeit is already an architectural statement, standing out pleasantly from the monotony of industrial buildings. Clad on two sides with wooden slats, it has the intentional appearance of a field barn. The pleasure, gastronomy and experience space opens up on two levels via the glass entrance for drivers and customers from the region who are stressed by traffic jams.

From here - for here. Owner Heiner Beck consistently implements this. Regional partners in the construction, but above all in the processed ingredients: eggs, vegetables, honey, dairy products, poppy seeds, linseed, rye and, above all, the spelled he promotes in cultivation, he sources from the region - mostly in organic quality.

Business is Swabian, chattered, but also cooked. In addition to the Swabian classics, there are also vegan variants such as lentil patties with pretzel dumplings or potato pockets with lentil and chili dip. More than 180 seats on two levels and on the partly covered terrace are offered. If you have to move on quickly or want to finish baking the BeckaBeck baking specialties at home, you can use the large refrigerated display cases.

Small shop - big offer

Baked goods, spreads, breakfast, currywurst with fries, but also meatballs, liver dumplings and roast pork are offered in Julia's snack bar in the Braunau suburb. The range is large, the shop in the listed building is small at 60 m2, which is why Julia Mittmann was looking for an in-store oven that offers a high baking capacity, requires little space, is suitable for small baked goods and cakes and is also easy to operate. The woman who started her own business decided on Bakingstation with the WIESHEU Dibas 64 blue M and Dibas 64 blue M convection ovens. The warm snacks and above all the omelettes, which are already well-known throughout the city, are prepared in two Atollspeed 300 H hybrid ovens.

Every day, including Sundays, Julia Mittmann unlocks the shop at 6 a.m. Then the bread shelf and the counter are lavishly stocked. When it starts at half past four in the morning, the first baking process is already over. The half-baked bread is baked to completion in the night start program. Seven trays with rolls are pushed into the Dibas M, while the baking program for five trays of pretzels starts in the Dibas S at the same time. In the second batch, Danish pastries and croissants are baked. Employees from the surrounding offices and the nearby hospital, craftsmen, students and tourists shop for breakfast and snacks.

At lunchtime, the two hybrid ovens from Atollspeed by WIESHEU are in full swing: French fries with currywurst, a pizza slice, and a meatball (meatball) in between. With hybrid technology, Julia Mittmann can do without a roaster, fryer, grill, pizza oven and steamer. Atoll speed is indispensable for you when preparing the various omelettes.

A bit of peace only returns in the afternoon, when young and old meet for coffee and cake. When the shop closes at 6 p.m., Julia Mittmann is happy that the ProClean cleaning system cleans the ovens independently.

During the week, Julia Mittmann bakes frozen dough pieces that are defrosted before baking. On Sundays, a bakery supplies her with half-baked baked goods. She grew up in her father's SPAR store. Baking is also done there with WIESHEU ovens. The positive experience strengthened Julia Mittmann in her decision for the market leader in in-store baking.

After 17 years in the office, she started her own business doing what she has always loved to do: baking and cooking. The cakes, spreads, meatballs, liver dumplings and roast pork are homemade, the dry and dairy products and ingredients mostly come from the region.

Demonstrate your craft with the Ebo

The Bernhardt bakery from Wennigsen has 13 branches and a strong delivery business in the Hanover area, where baking in the shop plays a major role. The Ebo deck oven from WIESHEU is used, for example in the branch on Brauhofstrasse.

A conscious decision was made to use deck ovens in order to represent the handcrafted character to the customer and to obtain a distinguishing feature from the food retail trade. In the baking stations of the supermarkets there are usually convection ovens, and so you clearly differentiate yourself from the competition by baking on the plate. Another decisive advantage is that the sliced rolls, which are very popular in northern Germany, turn out particularly well in the deck oven and this is very much appreciated by the customers.

The fact that they decided in favor of a deck oven from WIESHEU is due to the many technical refinements of the Ebo, which have proven themselves in practice. "Three baking chambers that can be controlled independently of one another offer us a great deal of flexibility when baking," says sales manager Uwe Meyer, summing up a major advantage. This means that different products can be baked in each chamber. If necessary, they can also be switched off individually to save energy. The baking chambers of the Ebo 86 S, which forms the heart of the counter area in the branch on Brauhofstraße, are 145 millimeters high and each offer space for one tray (600 x 800 millimeters) or two trays (600 x 400 millimeters). The non-stick coating of the stone baking plate prevents the oven from becoming soiled by the baked goods, but primarily ensures that the crust forms properly.

The door of the Ebo is also very popular with the local sales staff at the Bernhardt Bakery because it is very easy to clean. Thanks to the special cleaning position of the Ebo door, awarded the Südback Trend Award 2010, the inside and outside of the glass pane can be cleaned easily. It does not need to be dismantled, and the door can be cleaned quickly and easily, even immediately after the last baking process of the day. In addition, the extra-large glass doors present the freshly baked goods in the best possible way in the sales room and make customers want freshly baked goods.

The Ebo in the Bernhardt Bakery branch is equipped with the Exclusive control, which offers a high level of operating comfort with the ultra-modern touch surface, the color display and a clearly structured menu navigation. By using pictograms that are stored for the most common products such as rolls, baguettes or croissants when they are delivered, the stored baking program can be activated with just a tap of the finger. Other programs can be freely programmed. The employees at Bernhardt Bakery are particularly enthusiastic about the night start function of the Ebo, since baking can start shortly after arriving at the branch. Especially on Sundays, when every minute counts, this function makes everyday work easier.

With a visual redesign and a new logo, the Bernhardt bakery is pursuing the strategy of giving every point of sale something special. In the Linden branch, for example, a photo wallpaper with buildings from the district conveys an authentic local atmosphere. The Ebo fits perfectly into the spacious counter area, an extensive range of snacks and comfortable seating round off the successful appearance of the artisan bakery.

An artisan’s touch adds sparkle to petit fours!

When stepping into the small bakery in Nordheim in Germany, one is not only immediately struck by the delicious aroma of freshly baked bread but also enters a world representing that rarest of combinations: the sales desk, the large counter in the center and the comparably huge bakery on the inside of the building. This is reminiscent of the classic artisan bakeries of one’s childhood and evokes memories of cheesecakes that used to turn Wednesdays into the highlight of the week.

A few things are quite different, however: The windows are decorated with colorful macarons, creative motif cakes and various spelt-based baked goods that catch the attention of customers who will definitely get an attack of the munchies once they see the display. Stylish black-and-white striped boxes sit on the shelves, ready to carry the purchased “masterpieces” home.

Master baker Daniel Böhm goes his own way

Boxes and advertising displays include a small camera icon, indicating the Instagram account of Daniel Böhm’s Bakery (#baeckermeisterdanielboehm). The 28-year old master baker from Stuttgart is living his dream as a bakery owner, having opened his own store in October 2018. He practically inherited his passion for baking from his father, a passionate baker himself, who enthusiastically supports Daniel and his plans. At the Nordheim location, two factors came together: luck – the store had already been a bakery and both equipment and staff were already in place – and the courage to make a decision. Instead of entering the family business, Daniel Böhm decided to go his own way. His plan seems to be working out. Daniel Böhm’s Bakery is so popular with the locals and commuters that the opening hours and variety of products available – baked goods made with heirloom grain in particular – could be expanded.

Large selection - also for payment

Building on bakery classics, the portfolio is cleverly enriched using special, regional retail products, such as honey from a local apiary. All baked goods are produced in-house. The pastry chef makes individual cake dreams come true and the bakery also includes its own chocolate factory where the owner himself acts as a chocolatier. The bakery accepts cashless payments for shoe-shaped chocolate – a great gift for all footware fashionistas – and all other items on sale. Payment can be made by debit card or bakery loyalty card offering discounts on baked goods and coffee specialties. In the end, there was only one thing missing when it came to equipping Daniel Böhm’s flagship bakery: an in-store baking oven. It was an essential investment in Daniel Böhm’s sale concept, since he wanted the flexibly to offer baked goods, even during opening hours, without having to use the large production oven.

WIESHEU baking ovens fit perfectly into the concept

He chose a combination of WIESHEU deck and convection ovens. The doors of both open inwards, requiring no extra space in front of the baking station. The Dibas-Ebo combination could therefore be installed in the small walk-through between the sales counter and the bakery, enabling customers entering the store to see fresh products baking in the oven for themselves. Responding to growing demand, more pretzels and in particular the popular “Glücksbrötchen”, rolls with grated carrots can therefore be baked several times a day. The afternoon bread sold fresh from the oven is baked in the deck oven. Thanks to the touch control, this is so easy that Daniel’s fiancée, not a baker herself and new to the baking business, can operate the oven on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

In his first weeks as a young entrepreneur, Daniel Böhm has already developed many new ideas that he is planning to implement. In cooperation with the neighboring butcher shop, he has recently set up a refrigerated vending machine with fresh meat for the grill and bread for dinner for those customers who cannot make it to the store before closing time.

In the summer, the bakery also offers ice cream sundaes for customers to enjoy at one of the tables out front. We will certainly keep tabs on this business and will be happy to make ourselves available as guinea pigs for the testing of any new products.

When everything came together...

Do energetic and positive people have more luck in their lives? We think we are lucky that everything has happened this way: time, circumstances, people! The result is a successful company and a harmonious atmosphere. Yes, many stories are true, but it is like the tip of an iceberg – it is the only thing that is visible. I am pleased to be able to tell the story of Nina Mironova, the owner of two cake shops in Kaliningrad, and her path to success.

The story begins in 1999, when Nina Miranova had completed her degree at a technical university in her home town of Vladikavkaz and decided to go to Kaliningrad. She did not want to work as a programmer and remembered the great passion of her childhood – cake! When she was young, Nina watched her Aunt Ethel create her culinary masterpieces – cakes. Everything was breathtaking to her: the magic of the right mixture of ingredients, the baking, the smell and the decorations! Nina wanted to turn her hobby into a job, but her parents insisted that she had to get a "normal" education. When she arrived in Kaliningrad, she replied to a job advertisement for a pastry chef. The employer was looking for someone with experience and specialist training. Nina proved herself and was hired for the production team.

Circumstances required that she had to work twice as hard, virtually without days off or rest days. But she was hard-working and diligent and gradually gained professional experience. After a while, a master baker came to the production team to teach baking techniques and baking standards. Nina was eager to learn and listened carefully. She absorbed the new knowledge like a sponge and tried to directly put it into practice. She was not afraid to experiment and create new products. Thanks to good cooperation with suppliers from the confectionery industry, the product range was continuously updated and the company became a trendsetter for innovations. One of the ingredients suppliers offered Nina a job as a process engineer, which opened up great perspectives for training, travelling and development. A few years later, Nina became the general manager for raw materials. 

Nina agreed to move to a new location for this. There were training courses for the new president programme, international exhibitions, the latest innovations and trends in the industry. This experience helped Nina with structuring and planning her work and that of her employees and with preparing and checking contracts with partners. In 2009, she was promoted to deputy director. In the same year, Nina became the head of patisserie at Factory Kitchen.

After three years, she was once again working with the supplier for restaurant raw materials and equipment in sales. This continued until 2014. Everything was smooth and stable. One day, a customer called and requested a personal meeting. Nina had handled a not quite successful project at two cafés. Customers stayed away from the café, although it was a very good establishment. The owner was tired of fighting for customers and decided to close the café. She remembered Nina's enthusiasm and business acumen and offered her the lease for the space. Nina had not been expecting such an offer and was generally not ready for it. The customer, however, ensured her that there was no risk, sent contracts for review and invited Nina again. All the knowledge she had gained from her various fields of work proved useful: She used her technical knowledge to evaluate production and in particular the reason for the unsuccessful product range and the management's failure to correctly calculate costs, and to check the contracts with suppliers. Nina was still not completely sure whether to accept the offer. She then visited the cake shops and saw the great equipment with WIESHEU ovens, and decided to go for it. In the first years, she added to the equipment. Five years after the takeover by Nina, it has become a very successful business. And we decided to ask how exactly she managed to virtually revive the café. 

PARTNER: Nina, how do you assess the situation in 2014? Why was business not going well for the customer? 
Nina Mironova: I think the main mistake was that there was no in-house production. They were only selling imported frozen products from Europe. At the time, that was accordingly very expensive for guests at the café.

P.: What were your first steps? And what convinced you to take on a struggling business?
N.M.: When I saw the great ovens, proofers and freezers, I realised that this could be used for a successful business. Otherwise I would not have agreed to it.
When I saw the freezer section, I immediately knew which products I wanted to sell. 

P.: How did your experience and knowledge of technology and management help you?
N.M.: The work would have been impossible without this knowledge. I baked the first cakes myself, looked after the pricing and found raw material suppliers. I like natural products, without chemicals or preservatives – and with a great taste! There should be many different toppings and fillings, and the products should always be freshly baked.

P.: Is everything produced in one place? Which area do you look after?
N.M.: Yes, our production is at the central café. They focus on making cakes and dough – exactly what I have been learning about all my life. We make some frozen products and then bake them at the shop.

P.: Do you bake in WIESHEU ovens?
N.M.: Yes, that is my great treasure. Honestly! I am not saying this to please the manufacturer – it is a recognition, because they have never let me down in my work. These ovens are multifunctional. We can easily bake many different products and that is quite rare.

P.: How does the service work for these ovens?
N.M.: I am content to say that we do not need service very often, although I am always in contact with the Russian representatives who are available with help and advice. I like working with them and that is important, too!

P.: Nina, what are your plans for the future?
N.M.: I have great plans! There will be a pizzeria in mid-April! That had been my childhood dream from the start! I am very proud of the project, it is almost a part of my soul. The room is adjacent to the cake shop, which is convenient for production. We will offer traditional Italian pizza. And of course we will also bake them in a WIESHEU oven!

P.: Very interesting pizza concept. I was not expecting that!
N.M.: I studied different pizza-making techniques for a long time. I travelled through Italy, watched, tasted, compared. I came to the conclusion that the best and tastiest pizza corresponds exactly to our technology. I am sure that our guests will enjoy the unique taste of the pizza and the cosy Italian design of the new building.

P.: I wish you great success, prosperity and new ideas!

Interview with Catherine Starkova (translated from Russian into German and English)

WIESHEU ovens play a decisive role in Schmidt's Backstübchen

Found a reliable convection oven for the counter area and deck oven for the bakery

In September 2012, the Schmidt bakery in Marienheide opened its fourth branch - Schmidt's Backstübchen. After the convection oven in the counter area and the deck oven in the bakery could not convince with user-friendliness and quality, the owner family Schmidt looked for alternatives. At trade fairs, they had the technical parameters explained to them in detail and tested stoves in practice. In the WIESHEU company, they finally found a competent partner who offers them the service they want and whose ovens meet their requirements. The heart of the counter is now the Dibas convection oven, and in the bakery, cakes and pastries are baked in the Ebo deck oven.

In the youngest branch of the Schmidt bakery, two ovens, a convection oven and a deck oven, should meet the different demands of the wide range of baked goods from bread to confectionery specialties. This division has already proven itself in other branches. In the initial phase, however, the problems increased: there were always difficulties with the oven settings, the baking results were not satisfactory, the temperature curve was slow and uncontrolled. Different technicians could not solve the problems. Waste production was the order of the day, and the entire operational process was disrupted by the malfunctioning ovens. Master baker and confectioner Stephanie Eisenbach was the only one in the company who was able to assess the function of the deck oven and often had to make adjustments to achieve good baking results in the confectionery. "I was already having doubts about my professional competence," says Stephanie Eisenbach looking back, adding: "Buying a new furnace became unavoidable. After these formative experiences, we wanted to make sure that we bought a stove that would meet our demands in terms of quality and manageability. The oven is the heart of a bakery, it stands for craftsmanship and has to function in everyday life. The service for everything to do with the in-store oven is also crucial, it just has to be right”.

"The oven is the heart of a bakery, it stands for craftsmanship and has to function in everyday life."

At trade fairs such as Südback and Internorga, Stephanie Eisenbach and master baker Michael Schmidt had various in-store baking ovens from different manufacturers demonstrated and compared functions and performance. The two had previously clearly formulated the requirements for their new shop oven: it should be a convection oven with speed control to regulate the fan speed and ten drawers. "The only option was the Dibas from WIESHEU, with which we have also had very good experiences in another branch. In the black nostalgic look, it fits perfectly into our counter area. Our sales staff can operate the in-store oven very well. We use it for baking rolls, cookies, muffins and snacks like pizza tongues. Of course, the retractable door is also a very big advantage of the Dibas - for reasons of space and safety," says Michael Schmidt.

"The only option was the Dibas from WIESHEU, with which we have also had very good experiences in another branch. With its black nostalgic look, it blends in perfectly with our counter area.”

At the beginning of 2013, the decision was made to replace the deck oven in the bakery. At the Internorga, Stephanie Eisenbach and Michael Schmidt received detailed advice from application engineer Olaf Mieth at the WIESHEU stand. Stephanie Eisenbach remembers: “Mr. Mieth spent a lot of time with us at the trade fair. He answered our questions intensively – we wanted to use the deck oven primarily for confectionery needs, which of course entails other requirements. It was important to us to see the Ebo in action. So we met once in a Dutch supermarket that uses an Ebo. After that we phoned Mr. Mieth once or twice and drew up a list that made it clear which competencies the deck oven had to have for our purposes. It was a long process until the decision for the Ebo. But after the negative experiences, we now wanted to be sure to find the right deck oven for the bakery and an appealing consulting service.” The Ebo was installed in one day – the deck oven to be replaced was uninstalled in the morning and the Ebo connected in the afternoon. Only a few hours were available for programming the oven.

"It was really great to get such a professional introduction."

“The user-friendly programming made it possible for the customers not to notice that the furnace was being replaced. We didn't want to impose restrictions on the production of confectionery. Mr. Mieth was also at our side during the commissioning of the Ebo", reports Michael Schmidt, and Stephanie Eisenbach adds: "It was really great to receive such a professional introduction. The exclusive controls work instinctively. I always say: If you can use a smartphone, you can also use the WIESHEU control. The programs that you have stored work exactly as you programmed them. This gives me the freedom to let my trainees operate the oven. We are more independent and flexible in production because the programming works so well. For example, it is possible to set different temperatures in different chambers without the radiant heat falsifying the baking results. For us, WIESHEU stands for reliability.” Winner of the Südback Trend Award 2010, the special cleaning position of the Ebo door has proven itself in practice and makes daily oven cleaning easier. With the previous oven, Stephanie Eisenbach and her team had to wait until the hot panes had cooled down before they could safely remove them. Now she simply unhooks the pane and cleans it with a damp cloth. Another achievement is the night start of the Ebo. The oven then has the desired temperature when it is needed. Everyday work can be made more flexible and independent.

Depending on the requirements of the company, the Ebo can be put together individually. It is available with a wide variety of sheet metal dimensions and chamber heights - depending on the requirements of the point of sale and the product range on offer. "We adapted our Ebo to our needs and chose four chambers - the lower chamber is the highest. We feed them, for example, sand cakes or Easter lambs when Easter comes. The baking results are always convincing. The bunch comes up evenly, the crust is evenly distributed on all pastries - without readjustment.

“The baking results are always convincing. The bunch comes up evenly, the crust is evenly distributed on all pastries – without readjustment.”

It is important to us to be able to load the deck oven efficiently, which is why we decided on four chambers that all employees can reach without having to step or use a ladder. This not only has the advantage that all chambers are used and thus optimal economic efficiency prevails, but also occupational safety is guaranteed. That is very important to me,” says Stephanie Eisenbach. She adds: "The way we have our ovens in Schmidt's Backstübchen now, I wouldn't want to do without them. I'm glad we made that decision back then. WIESHEU ovens and the associated service will continue to be the first choice in the future.”

"WIESHEU ovens and the associated service will continue to be the first choice in the future."

“An extremely popular port of call, especially at the weekend.”

In 2004, SPAR Hungary started the implementation of a freshness campaign, in the course of which the SPAR Express markets at OMV and Lukoil filling stations were equipped with Euromat in-store baking ovens. The customers appreciate the attractive range of freshly baked goods, and especially at the weekend, the bakery counter is extremely popular. The round-the-clock availability on a 7/24 basis, together with the comprehensive range of products, is a magnet which is attractive not only for passing customers but also for regular customers from a wider catchment area.

“… because there are freshly-baked products all day long!”

Florian Gusenbauer knows exactly what appeals to his customers. This is also why the high quality, constant availability and great care of the fresh products in his SPAR supermarket are of enormous importance. He has been managing it since 2013, and the attractive bakery products from the WIESHEU in-store baking oven rounds off his wide range of products perfectly. Customers of all age groups appreciate the variety of bakery products and enjoy the wide choice around the clock. However, a precondition for this is also the permanent availability of the technology, and Florian Gusenbauer finds this “super”, for “the after-sales service always comes on the same day, if need be.”

“… very satisfied after only a short time.”

In the SPAR supermarket Kesselaar in the small Dutch coastal town of Westkapelle, two Euromat B5 in-store baking ovens have been providing the customers with fresh baked goods since February 2017. Even now, the range of products has been very well received by the locals. From April until October, however, a large number of tourists will also flood the popular holiday resort. The son of the market manager is already certain that the wide range of bakery products direct from the in-store baking oven will also make countless friends, and is looking forward to a busy season.