A Day In The Life Of…

12 Feb 2015
|
2 min read
Tanja Bäuerle is the founder of Brezitella, an organic manufactory in Stuttgart, Germany. She tells FOUR about the creative processes that go into developing her products.

Morning

My day starts at 5.30am with a latte while checking my emails at home. Then I coordinate shipping orders for our corporate customers, like biscuit and chocolate orders from our online shop. After breakfast with the family it’s high time for me to bring my daughter to school.

After that, I am attending the first meeting with my agency in the west of Stuttgart. We’re currently planning to develop our product designs, so we have gathered everyone from PR and concept design around a table. For inspiration I have brought along heart-shaped pretzel made of chocolate and almond shortcrust. In Germany, the pretzel is a symbol for luck, hospitality, love and the bakery trade. We gave it a heart shape and the Old High German name Brezitella. This shows our love for the product and also to detail. Therefore we have created labels for special occasions and celebrations. At the moment we’re discussing in what way we can create something special for Valentine’s Day. And Easter is coming as well. We all agree that gift-giving with a personal message on top of the enjoyment is our priority.

MIDDAY

I’m not having a long lunch break as I’m off to the test kitchen at the heart of Stuttgart. Here the new recipes are created, perfected, baked several times and tasted. I constantly have creative ideas for Brezitellas. At the moment I’m creating savoury recipes and varieties. We bake these fine titbits at the Eselmühle, a bakery at the outskirts of Stuttgart, which follows Demeter (biodynamic) guidelines.

Regionality and certified organic agriculture are ecologically essential, I think. Most of the ingredients of our dough come from the region. We want to keep the supply routes as short as possible. We also take great care that the ingredients in our products are 100% certified organic – animal products and flours come from Demeter or organic farmers. To me, Brezitella means: 100% organic, fair, delicious and sustainable.

AFTERNOON

My test phase in the kitchen extends into the afternoon, then I’ll take care of the packaging and shipping of my Brezitellas. I visit the packaging team because Brezitella products aren’t only handmade, but also hand-packed. My philosophy is, produce it with a good conscience and appreciate the value of manual labour.

It’s also my aim to actively support people with disabilities. So I work together with a facility for blind and visually impaired people. The team of Nikolauspflege handles all steps regarding the shipping, so that our Brezitella delicacies are quickly and carefully packed to reach our customers through the carbon-neutral GoGreen programme of Deutsche Post DHL.

Responsibly dealing with our resources is a top priority for me. Therefore Brezitella donates 10% of its profit to a foundation that works in the outdoors, education and sustainability.

EVENING

Dinner time is family time. During our meal together we can things over and spend time together. A question I’m currently mulling over is. Where can I sell my products directly and where do I open a shop? And also, who will I work with as a partner in the near future? These are exciting times.

At the end of the day I can only say that it was worth connecting this story with the symbolism of the pretzel, because it’s not only about enjoyment but also about how it’s produced. It’s all about luck and Brezitella makes me very lucky.

For more information visit brezitella.com