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HEINER KAMPS
German master baker
I originally didn't become a baker of my own volition. My father owned a small bakery in the country and, since I was the eldest son, I was expected to follow in his footsteps. I set up on my own in 1982 after I had studied applied economics at night school. While I learned my trade in my father's bakeshop, I heard about the 'succession problem' in many small craftsmen's establishments in Germany: many of today's young people don't want to take over their parents' business. I was sure that here was my chance to build a large regional business. The standard artisan training [in Germany] is insufficient if you want to set up your own business these days. It's no longer enough just to be a good baker, you also have to be a good organizer. The reason is that the size of enterprises has increased in recent years, markets have changed, customers' demands have increased. The regulatory framework of our vocational training for the handicrafts, however, still dates back to the 1950s. The training regulations should be reformed radically because we need people with higher qualifications for self-employed businesses, particularly in the bakery trade. Despite all this, the old adage still holds: a trade in hand finds gold in every land. If, for all that, the number of apprentices is on the decrease, the reason is that there are too few high-school leavers who are interested in the bakery and related trades. That's wrong because there are a quite a few businesses today that offer prospects for personal growth in the production sector as well as the management sector for people who have passed their vocational traineeship.
It's a cliché that the large businesses devour the small ones. It's a normal process that small businesses have to be closed down once the older generation retires and there is no successor around. Consumers need not be concerned by this development. On the contrary. The quality of breads and pastries has improved and there is a much greater variety on offer today because there is competition between the bakeries. A revolution has taken place during the last 20 years, and that has caused the baking trade in Germany to rank high among the other crafts.