The Mestemacher industrial bakery was founded in 1871
and since then, for over 150 years,
they have been supplying bread specialities to Germany
and all over the world.
What is the recipe for success of a family business
that has existed for so long?
And what importance do equality and social commitment have in the company?
We talk about this today,
among others with Prof. Dr. Ulrike Detmers, the managing partner.
Welcome to 50 German Leaders.
Mrs Detmers, more than 150 years:
you are one of the oldest family bakeries in Germany.
What is your recipe for success?
Our entrepreneurial success is based on four pillars.
The first pillar is regionality.
Consumers trust regional producers.
The second pillar is the health orientation of our product portfolio:
it is good for the body and has a favourable nutritional balance.
Pillar three is characterised by the fact
that our products are convenient and hygienically packaged.
You don't have to cut the bread with a knife, it's pre-cut.
And the fourth pillar contains our philosophy:
"Think globally, act regionally".
In this way, we can export our products worldwide as "Made in Germany",
and thus also have a very high export rate of 30%.
How has nutrition changed? What new trends have developed over the years?
Health-oriented and environmentally conscious nutrition plays a major role.
The younger generations favour vegan and vegetarian products.
Mestemacher is one of the producers of purely plant-based products.
Almost all of our products are vegan, and a small proportion are vegetarian.
Bread is something typically German –
how do you position yourself on the international market?
Our high percentage of foreign sales at 30%
is due to our products being naturally preserved.
After packaging, they are heated again to sterilise them
and then have a best-before date of six months to one year.
Ms Mester, you are the production manager. How do you make sourdough?
To do this, we use a very classic process
that has been used in bread making for centuries,
and that is a three-stage sourdough.
That is to say, there is a starter, a basic sourdough and a full sourdough.
And the full sourdough is then used to make the finished bread.
Your breads have quite a long shelf life, up to six months unopened.
How do you achieve this long shelf life?
We cut the bread and then wrap it in foil.
After the packaging process,
the packaged bread is gently heated again,
which ensures such a long shelf life.
We only process wholegrain rye here and we get the rye delivered as a whole grain
and grind it into rye grist in our own mill.
This means that the whole grain is processed
and all the nutrients are still present.
This makes the bread very nutrient-rich. It has a lot of fibre,
which is always good for the health and a valuable nutrition.
Today we are in the bakery of the Westphalian Pumpernickel.
It is also known as the black gold of the Westphalians.
It tastes slightly sweet and bitter at the same time.
It is slightly sticky – and there is nothing like it in the whole world.
The bread is not baked, but cooked in steam tubes,
which makes it wonderfully moist.
Additionally, there is also this typical, bitter rye flavour.
This combination is characteristic of Westphalian Pumpernickel.
My name is Dietmar Schnell
and I am the operations manager here at the Lippstadt site.
We produce Westphalian Pumpernickel here at the site.
It consists of rye grist, which is processed into sourdough and scalded bread
and then kneaded into a Pumpernickel dough.
This is then filled into baking batteries
and baked at a low temperature for about 20 hours.
We produce up to 50 tonnes of bread a day:
Pumpernickel and wholegrain bread.
The Pumpernickel is a regional speciality that is shipped all over the world.
What challenges do family businesses face today
as a pillar of the German economy?
The biggest challenge is that the baby boomer generation is retiring
and it is important to fill this gap with qualified entrepreneurial talent.
That is where I see the biggest difficulty.
The family businesses themselves are innovative,
they are passionate, they are market-oriented.
And it is incredibly important
that we also get skilled workers and managers for the future
who embody this entrepreneurial passion with heart and soul.
How are you involved socially, especially with regard to the issue of equality?
Why is this so dear to your heart?
Since 2000, we have been promoting equality between women and men,
and we promote the compatibility of work and family life.
I firmly believe that men and women act best as a team.
What is your corporate strategy for the next five years?
We want to grow further.
We are planning product innovations,
we want to continue to work on our employer image,
we want to have the best specialists and managers,
because only with them can we be successful in the long term.