Heating the ovens, cooling ingredients and food – many bakeries require large amounts of energy for their daily business. According to the industry, the enormously increased gas and electricity prices are increasingly becoming a threat. “Bread alert” can be read on signs at a rally in Hanover, as “t-online” reports. The protesting employees of the bakery trade demanded fast and decisive state aid.
“The energy crisis is currently hitting the bakeries with full force,” said the organizers. “The signs are pointing to a storm.” Two weeks ago, baker Eckehard Vatter’s contract, which is actually valid until the end of 2023, was suddenly terminated. Then came the bigger shock: The new supplier demands 13 times the gas price – from 5868 euros to 75,000 euros per month. He did not receive a reason. “Are they crazy?” Vatter says to the “Bild” newspaper.
The exploding energy and raw material prices would go to the substance, so did the baker Hans Gerhard Misch to “t-online”. The company already has to remove individual products from the range in order to be able to offer at least a basic offer.
Due to the critical situation, Daniel Schnarre, owner of a bakery in Herford (NRW), is also concerned about giving his employees security. It needs help from the federal government as soon as possible. Many bakeries need a lot of energy for their ovens, for example, but also for cooling ingredients and food and for the delivery trips to the branches. In addition, the industry complains about increased personnel costs due to the adjusted minimum wage and more expensive raw materials.
“We now need quick and unbureaucratic emergency aid,” said Caterina Künne from Herzensbäcker Künne. You can’t wait long for complex instruments to be approved, because a number of companies are already on the brink of financial collapse and are sometimes paying ten times their normal energy bills. A hardship fund must now support such bakeries, but also other ailing craftsmen.
The existential fear was already addressed last week with the “Lights off” campaign. Many bakeries in northern Germany had symbolically switched off the lights in their sales rooms in protest against the high energy costs.
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