Kiosk

Nov 06

German Baking Kiosks frustrating traditional Bakers

Kiosk, Outsourced Services, Technology Comments Off

As the Kiosk revolution continues to roll along the WSJ has a story this morning of “Baking Automats.” Increasingly popular in German supermarkets these baking kiosks are frustrating traditional bakers.

The third-generation baker lobs 15 cents into the massive, beige-colored automat before him, presses a button and cocks his ear to the machine for any clues to what’s transpiring inside. Almost instantly, a warm wheat roll plunks into the bin below.

“Not even two seconds,” says the 55-year-old Mr. Schäfer, who had switched out of a white shirt embroidered with his family bakery’s insignia into a less conspicuous checkered button-down for the stealth fact-finding mission. “Whatever goes on in there, it’s certainly not baking.”

“What exactly does happen inside the automats has become a matter of dispute between Aldi Süd, a discount supermarket chain, and most of Germany’s 15,000 traditional bakeries, since the company began installing the machines in hundreds of its German stores this year. The automats are emblazoned with the word Backofen, or “baking oven,” and pictures of bowls of whole grain and bouquets of wheat. Aldi markets the rolls and bread the machines dispense as “fresh out of the oven—direct into the bag.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304510704575562152983070566.html