The shelves and counters are empty, the lights are off: the branches of the Laupheim bakery Mäschle have been closed since October 1st. Since April, the traditional bakery had been in self-administration insolvency proceedings, which had been supervised by lawyer Michael Winterhoff as restructuring representative.
Got into trouble due to the pandemic
“The aim was to renovate the bakery using our own resources,” explains insolvency administrator Florian Schiller from Pluta Rechtsanwalts GmbH, who is overseeing the process. The closures during the corona pandemic and the skyrocketing prices for raw materials and energy had put the bakery in trouble, master baker Christian Mäschle told the “Schwäbische Zeitung” in the spring.
He and his brother Harald took over the company from their father in 1996. “The Mäschle bakery has been struggling for several years, like many medium-sized bakeries are currently,” explains insolvency administrator Schiller. But the goal was clearly formulated in the spring by the Mäschle family and also by Winterhoff: the bakery should be back on track by fall at the latest.
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But the restructuring did not go as hoped, explains lawyer Winterhoff when asked. Sales increased at the beginning. “But despite the efforts, we were unable to get the company out of trouble using our own resources,” says Winterhoff. “Sales were too low to generate sustainable profits in the long term.”
With the approval of the creditors’ committee, it was decided to convert the self-administered proceedings into regular insolvency proceedings. “Continuing operations with losses is not possible in insolvency proceedings,” explains insolvency administrator Schiller. Both Schiller and Winterhoff emphasize their desire to preserve as many jobs as possible.
Mäschle with your own investment plan
Christian Mäschle explains that he found out from the insolvency administrator 14 days ago that the self-administration proceedings would not be continued. He then developed an investment plan and submitted an offer. With this plan, Mäschle wanted to continue operating the bakery with almost all employees and six of the 14 branches so far.
Christian Mäschle found out on Monday that this should not happen as things stand. “At 1:30 p.m. in the bakery I received information from the insolvency administrator that we would no longer be opening on Tuesday,” says Mäschle. “I was completely run over.” At the works meeting in the evening, which was chaired by insolvency administrator Florian Schiller, the mood was very depressed, “sometimes it also got emotional and quite loud,” said Mäschle. “The situation has become more severe and the cessation of operations on September 30th was therefore unavoidable,” explains insolvency administrator Schiller.
Ulmer Bakery in talks with the insolvency administrator
There is also an offer to take over parts of the company from the Ulm bakery Staib. “We are currently in discussions with the insolvency administrator,” says company boss Marcus Staib when asked by the “Schwäbische Zeitung”. Staib emphasizes that he is very interested in finding a compromise that satisfies most of those involved. Florian Schiller also confirms these discussions: “It’s not settled yet, but I’m confident that we’ll find a solution.”
