Traditional bakery Discher closes: 50 jobs in danger!

Traditional bakery Discher closes: 50 jobs in danger!

The traditional Discher bakery in Öhringen will close all of its branches at the end of August 2025. The reason is significant problems with bureaucracy, rising costs and an acute lack of personnel. This means from for around 50 jobs, which not only has economic but also social effects for the region. Master baker Andreas Discher has been running the bakery for over 30 years and regretted the decision to give up the business after he entered the bakery in 1990 as an apprentice and took over Adolf Hammel's businesses in 2008.

Discher complained that the framework conditions for the bakery trade have deteriorated in a way that was no longer portable. In particular, new regulations, such as the packaging law and protective requirements for coffee beans, considerably make daily operation more difficult. The search for qualified staff remains a major challenge because it is becoming increasingly difficult to inspire young people for their job. The regret of the regular customers is great, because the closure is lost a social hub in the city center of Öhringen.

bureaucracy and rising costs burden the craft

The closure of the Discher bakery is not isolated. More bakeries are currently closing in the entire federal territory than reopens. According to the Central Association of the German Back Trades, there were 780 closings last year compared to only 420 new openings. This trend is mainly driven by high bureaucracy, inflation, rising energy and raw material prices as well as the lack of personnel. Small and medium-sized bakeries have to struggle with the high bureaucratic effort, which also increases the economic burden reports Germany radio Nova .

An approach to deal with the challenges shown is digitization. This is seen as a key to supporting bakeries and to prevent closures. For example, the “Junge” bakery chain has implemented digitized workflows in its 200 branches since the 1980s. With the help of modern IT systems, data is collected for baking processes, which reduces a waste of resources and optimized processes. The use of software makes it possible to make precise predictions about sales figures and helps to use the staff more efficiently.

Digitization can also help to address the problem of personnel lack of personnel. Less qualified staff can be incorporated faster, and young employees have the opportunity to rise in leadership positions faster.

Andreas Discher plans a break after the handling of his company and expresses interest in various offers within the industry. The closure of his bakery is not only a loss for the workers, but also illustrates the growing problems with which the bakery trade is faced.