Jarmer specialty bakery in Kottmarsdorf closes down

Kottmarsdorf. The Jarmer bakery on Löbauer Straße in Kottmarsdorf has been out of bread and rolls since the beginning of the year. Thanks to its wholemeal and gluten-free breads, the bakery in eastern Saxony also known as the allergy bakery has closed. Forever - as a notice on the store door makes clear. Jacqueline and Ulf Jarmer don't mince their words when explaining the reasons for the closure to customers. "The disastrous politics of recent years" and the "associated disastrous economic situation in Germany" have caused their business model to fail, they write. As a result, they are "unable to continue running our bakery as usual", according to the entrepreneurial couple.

Yet a document in the former store bears witness to a not-so-distant, happier world. It was only a few months ago, in 2024, that the Chamber of Crafts issued Jacqueline Jarmer with a certificate confirming that she had passed her master craftsman's examination on December 10, 1991. The document certifies that she is a master craftswoman. "That's nice, but it doesn't help us in the current situation," says the 55-year-old.

For several years now, the circumstances in her sector have become increasingly critical. "Of course, the annual balance sheet was always positive. But since corona, the figures have only gone in one direction - downwards. And they haven't recovered." In the coming years - that is certain - nothing will change. That is why they are "drawing a line under it with a heavy heart." This is how the Jarmers put it in their information letter to customers. It is important to them: "It is a business closure, not insolvency."

In 1990, Jacqueline Jarmer and her husband Ulf opened a snack bar in the old Kretscham on the S148 in Kottmarsdorf and later turned it into a bakery. When their children suffered from allergic asthma and neurodermatitis with food allergies, they changed their baking philosophy. This was followed by the development of the allergy bakery, whose products customers from all over eastern Saxony wanted. Because there were people with intolerances everywhere. In addition, weekly markets were held in Zittau, Görlitz, Bautzen and Dresden.

But none of this was enough to lead the company into a carefree future. On the contrary: "Cost increases in all areas left us with less and less room to breathe," explains the master baker. And she lists a few examples of how prices have developed between 2000 and today. The price of a liter of heating oil has risen from 0.40 to 0.91 euros. Petrol for the baker's cars no longer costs 1.03 euros per liter, but has to be bought for 1.80 euros. The price of electricity - a very important element for a bakery - has also risen sharply in recent years: from 0.16 to 0.35 euros per kilowatt hour.

Everyone is struggling with rising costs. It's a never-ending spiral. - Jacqueline Jarmer, master baker from Kottmarsdorf

Not to mention the costs for tradesmen's hours, which are constantly incurred in the company for electrical and installation work, for the oven builder, but also for machine maintenance and maintenance of the building fabric. "The hourly rate has risen from 15 to 25 euros to 45 to 65 euros," Jacqueline Jarmer calculates. However, she does not blame her colleagues in other sectors. "Everyone is struggling with rising costs. It's an endless spiral."

However, there are several other factors that put additional pressure on the price of allergy baked goods, which are already not cheap. The village bakery has to pay a 100 percent surcharge for the materials - i.e. flours, ingredients and special additives. Compulsory insurance, costs for tax consultants and bank charges, as well as contributions to the Chamber of Crafts, guild and professional association have also skyrocketed. Not forgetting the "necessary wage increase for employees due to inflation", explains Jacqueline Jarmer.

And she continues: "We can't pass all this on to our products." In order to participate in the market to any degree, a large proportion of the products would have to be sold below the production price. But that is not something we want or can do. Because the end result would be insolvency at some point. And the situation in Germany, including the upcoming elections, gives little hope of improvement.

In future, we will only go to the bakery on a whim, more or less for our own use. - Jacqueline Jarmer, master baker from Kottmarsdorf

The baker couple are sad that it has come to this. On a personal level, however, the two Kottmarsdorf residents are moving on in the industry. Ulf Jarmer has found a job with a master baker friend. Jacqueline Jarmer passes on her experience as a specialist teacher for bakers and specialist salespeople at the vocational training center in Görlitz. "In future, we will only go into the bakery for fun and pleasure, for our own use, so to speak. Because the machines and equipment are still there."

SZ