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From Bakers for Bakers The backaldrin Story
Whoever talks about backaldrin must also mention Augendopler – and vice-versa. The history of the baking additives producer, established in 1964, is intimately linked with the Augendopler family, interlaced with great baking ideas and authentic success stories. backaldrin succeeded in becoming the Austrian market leader, inventing the most successful brand-name roll in Europe in 1984, selling its products internationally shortly afterwards, and remaining a 100% family-owned company in the highly competitive market for baking products. The formula for success practiced by the company’s owner Peter Augendopler has many different ingredients: customer orientation without any comprising ifs and buts, dedicated employees, a sure instinct for doing business, an essential portion of luck and above all, the heart and soul of a baker, which can be experienced and viewed in the "House of Bread", which he had built in 2003.
It all began in the year 1964, when Alois Augendopler, his wife Juliana and his son Peter "spontaneously decided to produce baking products by themselves, and launched their own company in just a three-month period. We had nothing else except for a lot of good will", reminisces backaldrin owner Peter Augendopler, who was there at the very inception of the company. And, as everyone knows, faith can move mountains. Managed by three members of the Augendopler family and six employees, there was no doubt why "things went well for the company from the beginning". Within three years, this family of bakers expanded the firm’s Vienna-based business throughout Austria. In the year 1969, production was transferred to Asten near Linz , where the company headquarters and its "House of Bread" are currently located.
"We are bakers ourselves, and the needs of bakers were the focal point of our business from the very first day. Our customers have to gain an added value from us, and everything else is subordinate to achieving this goal. Nothing has changed up until today", says Peter Augendopler. In a short time, not only Austrian bakers but their colleagues in Germany could benefit from backaldrin products. It was the year 1968, the first time in which people spoke about possible Austrian membership in the European Economic Community, or today’s European Union. "Our fear of being overwhelmed by large international companies led us to proactively and boldly take a leap in the dark. At that time, we had absolutely no idea whether this adventurous step would turn out to be a success". Whereas Austria’s EU membership was a long time coming, backaldrin’s expansion into the German market was an immediate success. The dream of operating in Bavaria was quickly fulfilled. But even more than that, it only required a few years until backaldrin was well represented in the baking profession throughout Germany, offering the art, culture and tradition of baking from Austria. "This enjoys a very good reputation worldwide", Augendopler says. "There are Viennese bakeries around the world, and they are a synonym for baking par excellence".
A Global Hit: Kornspitz
At the time of his expansion drive into Germany, he had no way of knowing, of course, that he would soon strike gold internationally with his successful Kornspitz grain roll. The birth year of the Kornspitz occurred precisely at the time when the issue of dietary fibres was in the public limelight. backaldrin was also striving to develop baking products which were rich in fibres. After six months of intensive efforts, the company launched a new roll, which was intended to serve as the small-scale counterpart of the so-called Kornbeisser bread. Introduced to the marketplace under the brand name "Kornspitz", the innovative roll already achieved a breakthrough at its world premiere, which took place at the Austrian Baking Exhibition in the autumn of 1984. "No one could anticipate that only a few people would be interested in our new bread, and that everybody wanted the roll", says Kornspitz inventor Peter Augendopler. Well, no matter what, from that moment onwards, nothing could stand in the way of the continuing rise in popularity of this tasty roll, until it ultimately emerged as the most successful brand-name and fibre-rich roll in all of Europe. Consumers in 68 countries do not want to do without their Kornspitz, eating a total of 4.5 million of these rolls each and every day.
New markets open new business opportunities
It is not in Peter Augendopler’s nature to rest on his laurels. That is why he seized the chance to exploit growth opportunities a few years later in the new, emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe. In the years 1990 - 1991, backaldrin set up representative offices and later subsidiaries in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
This was the starting point for backaldrin’s ambitious export drive. Originally establishing a department to oversee foreign business operations, the company then set up a separate subsidiary, backaldrin International GmbH, in 2003. The managing director is Harald Deller, who served as export manager in the middle of the 1990s, made a major contribution to Austria’s leading producer of baking products establishing a global foothold and successfully operating in more than 80 countries worldwide. "Everywhere we have people who are 200% backaldrin supporters", says a proud Peter Augendopler – "Mister backaldrin himself". Nobody else embodies the company’s philosophy as much as he does, summoning the backaldrin spirit to life everyday, even evoking this feeling in his employees.
In the year 2006, backaldrin took another step in its international expansion. In addition to Asten, the company commenced operations at a second production facility, located in the Jordanian capital city Amman. This enables backaldrin to more effectively target the markets in the Arab world and North Africa. "Austria is and will remain the number one production location", says the backaldrin President. "In Austria, we have a solid basis for raw materials, and a first class agricultural system. We also buy the products we need which grow in Austria".
High-tech meets craftsmanship in the House of Bread
In the last few years, more than EUR 30 million have been invested to expand backaldrin headquarters in Asten. Peter Augendopler, a trained baker and "intuitive thinker", has not only constructed one of the world’s most modern production facilities, but has also demonstrated that his heart belongs to the baking trade, his "secret love". In the "House of Bread", it is not hard to experience this keen sense of what bread is like, as well as the love of baking and everything connected to it. "At this place, we have gathered materials derived from seven centuries of knowledge on the topic of baking, and have made this treasure of experience available to all interested parties", says Mr. Augendopler.
The library contains more than 4,000 books, including precious treasures such as the second oldest baking book in the world. One can discover interesting examples in the history of baking bread just be perusing the printed works in the light-flooded foyer – ranging from the Byzantine bread stamp and coins from the heyday of the Roman Empire imprinted with grain motifs, to valuable trade guild mugs from Europe.
Just a few steps away, the visitor can enter the realm of the future, getting a closer look at what lies ahead for baking as a craft. In the backaldrin Forum, a modern auditorium, bakers from around the world attend seminars to learn things they can apply practically in their work the very next day. More than 7,000 bakers and specialists are provided with information each year about the latest trends and developments in the branch.
The story goes on ...
For Peter Augendopler, the House of Bread is primarily "a place for creativeness and innovation, where we are using the most advanced methods and technologies to develop ideas for break and rolls which can be applied today and in the future". The manager added another milestone to his life’s work, when a modern bakery centre was launched in the Russian capital city Moscow in the year 2007.
However, it must be emphasised that progress and innovation are not the only important things to him. Continuity and tradition also have their rightful place. Married and the father of two children, leading the company in the second generation of the family-owned business, Peter Augendopler is already being given extensive support by his daughter Regina in running the day-to-day business operations of the firm. His son Peter, who is completing his studies, has also had the privilege of fully inhaling the air at the backaldrin plant – which, as everyone knows, is rich in baking ideas, and smells of fresh bread and rolls. Whoever has once learned to love this fragrance can never get enough of it, as Peter Augendopler can explain. The third generation of the Augendopler family will also not be able to resist this lure, and follow his call to manage the company well into the future.