Germany’s BackWerk unveils premium bakery-café revamp

BackWerk currently has more than 350 outlets in Germany | Photo credit: BackWerk

Swiss foodservice operator Valora is ‘realigning’ its BackWerk bakery chain to elevate the brand from its primary self-serve and value focus to a ‘higher quality’. 
 

Launched in 2001, BackWerk currently has more than 350 outlets in Germany, alongside more than 60 stores across Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland. 

Valora has launched its new BackWerk concept store in Hanover as part of plans to make the bakery brand ‘fit for the future’. 

Alongside a premium-focused bakery menu, the upgraded store format also features espresso coffee machines, with barista-prepared beverages offered alongside BackWerk’s established self-serve coffee machine network. 
 

The new BackWerk stores will also feature juice bars, to introduce healthier smoothies and fruit juices to its beverage menu, as well as a soup bar. 

“The opening of the new location makes me very happy: A great store and an inspiring team will help our Hanoverian guests rediscover BackWerk. I am very much looking forward to following the development of the store and taking another step towards the realignment of the making a brand,” said Dick de Vilder, Director Concept & Brand, BackWerk. 

Valora, which acquired BackWerk in 2017, said the more premium-focused concept will be rolled-out to existing stores across Germany in the coming years, starting in Düsseldorf this Summer. 

Germany is the second largest branded coffee shop market in Europe by outlets, behind the UK. World Coffee Portal research shows the market comprises 6,798 outlets, 67% of which are food-focused operators. 

The total German branded coffee shop market is forecast to reach 7,020 outlets by 2028. 

Valora also operates the 32-store Caffè Spettacolo coffee chain across Switzerland and Luxembourg, as well as the k kiosk newsagent chain, avec convenience stores and pretzel chains Brezelkönig and Ditsch.