Many buy the bread in passing in the supermarket or discounters anyway.
Yes, we bakers let them take the role of local supplier away from us. We really felt the bakery shops from Lidl and Hofer. All you have to do is look at how many thousand kilos of bread are there on the shelves every day.
Allegedly as much bread is thrown away in Vienna as is eaten in Graz …
Moment! You have to look at the proportions! Graz is not even a tenth of Vienna, I don’t want to know how much fruit is thrown away, but this bread example always comes …
How much bread does Felber have to dispose of?
None at all. We work together with Vinzi, the crypt and light in the dark.
Is that a logistical challenge because of the hygiene regulations?
Not when the organizations collect the bread from the branch. They do that with us.
100 percent?
The remainder is given to a farmer in Bad Vöslau. He feeds it to his animals. Wegg’haut is nothing.
In times of Corona, many want to do their shopping quickly and in a shop. Do you feel that in your almost 50 branches?
You have to make a distinction. Our business is going very well again in the residential areas, but not at all in the prime locations.
What about the latter?
Drops of minus 40 to 60 percent. At the Praterstern, for example, those who are now in the home office are missing, at Reumannplatz we had a large coffee house that is now closed in lockdown and there is a lack of tourists and employees in the city.
They have locations in Vienna and Lower Austria. Can you sell the same hand roll everywhere?
No Unfortunately. You can mainly sell hand rolls where Joseph also sells bread, i.e. in the inner districts (laughs). As an alternative, we have our aroma rolls, which are made by the machine but have a long dough guide. That doesn’t cost more money, but it makes them more aromatic.
Speaking of money: You have 47 locations, are you currently paying full rents everywhere?
I have been following the landlords for discounts since March. Only where the sales still fit, I don’t accept them. We had to close three locations, five more could follow.
How much less sales do you expect in 2020?
I won’t have the exact figures for a few weeks, but I reckon a minus 30 to 40 percent.
You recently wrote a profit of 60,000 euros and reported a net profit of 1.3 million. What are the prospects for the Corona year 2020?
Difficult, we have a difficult situation all around. Our business with the hotel and catering industry is down to zero. But we do everything we can to get through it, even have a management consultant who makes sure that nothing goes wrong.
In spring 2020, i.e. in the first lockdown, 340 of 440 employees were on short-time work. How is it currently looking?
Unchanged, the instrument of short-time work works perfectly.
Are your children already in the company?
One of my sons didn’t get a job because of Corona and therefore has to work for me now. And my daughter is still studying and has to stand in the branch (laughs) …
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