Case study

CSP meets the increased demands of the Koch artisan bakery

Modern slicing technology enables efficient sales and a relaxed café experience

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CSP meets the increased demands of the Koch artisan bakery

he artisan breads from the Koch bakery are well known and popular in the region. The daily throughput is correspondingly high. The bakery café is also doing well. However, the old bread slicer no longer met the requirements for efficiency, cutting quality and smooth operation. A new machine was needed.

A baker at heart

Thomas Koch has devoted himself heart and soul to the art of baking. The master baker and confectioner, who is also an enthusiastic bread sommelier, consciously and very successfully distinguishes himself from bakery chains with his handcrafted products. He uses only selected regional raw materials and relies on a long dough proving time to make his baked goods particularly easy to digest. This quality is appreciated: the Balingen and Bisingen-based company sells around 200 loaves of bread from its own production every day.

The café and bistro are important additional sources of income for his bakeries and keep customers coming back for more. However, the enjoyment of coffee and cake should be affected as little as possible by the sales operation – both in terms of atmosphere and noise. This is something Koch attaches great importance to.

company

Bäckerei Koch GmbH

For four generations, Koch Bakery has stood for a passion for baking. The Engstlatt bread factory combines traditional formulations with modern craftsmanship. The heart of the bakery is handmade bread with an aromatic crust, oven-fresh Krustis and the popular butter yeast plait. The Koch bakery has close ties to regional sports: the company supports and provides fresh baked goods to handball and soccer clubs.

Family-run traditional bakery since 1908
1 headquarters with bakery, 3 additional branches
Café, lunch menu and events
50 employees

More information

koch-engstlatt.de

Our Zollerngold is a special creation of our own. We bake it from Zollernspelz, a valuable type of spelt that is grown in neighboring Wessingen by a farmer we trust, without the use of chemical pesticides. That's our understanding of quality!”

Thomas Koch

owner of Bäckerei Koch GmbH

CHALLENGE

Taking bread sales and café operations to a new level

Around 80 percent of the customers at the Koch bakery prefer pre-sliced bread. Thomas Koch shares their expectations of the slicing results: it has to be quick, even fresh bread should be sliced cleanly and placed in the bag, and the noise level in the bakery must allow for pleasant communication with the sales staff. The old bread slicing machine was no longer able to meet these requirements. It was getting on in years, and the loud running noise interfered with communication. The machine was also outdated in terms of speed, precision, usability and cleaning requirements.

Relaxed coffee pleasure

The noise from the old bread machine also affected the café business. But even if the café is connected to the shop, it should still be possible to enjoy a relaxed cup of coffee. Guests should feel comfortable, chat easily and enjoy lingering – perhaps for a second cup. The task was therefore to create a quiet atmosphere. Finally, it was important to Thomas Koch to be able to call on customer-oriented technical service quickly if necessary, to ensure that the heart of his bakery is always ready for action.

SOLUTION

Slicing fast, quiet and in highest quality

Thomas Koch has relied on Bizerba for many years and has had good experiences with both the products and the service. His new bread slicer should therefore also be from Bizerba. He decided to try out the CSP Assisted Sales. The new machine arrived in November 2024 and scored points right from the start during installation, as it fit perfectly into his existing bread rack without any conversion work. After extensive testing, Thomas Koch decided to purchase the machine.

Out of conviction for the craft, I actually prefer cutting by hand. However, due to time savings and precision, there is no alternative to a modern bread slicer. With the CSP, I have found my machine.”

Thomas Koch

Performance test passed

With around 200 loaves of bread in various shapes and textures every day, a bread slicer has to be powerful and precise. With its Teflon-coated circular blade, the CSP cuts up to 200 slices per minute and delivers the best results with minimal waste, even with demanding products and warm bread. Important for everyday bakery work: despite high throughputs, the CSP also masters long operating times with ease. Since start-up, the machine has been running absolutely reliably; there has been no need for servicing, and the saw blade has not had to be changed or resharpened.

Intuitive operation, quick cleaning

Other key criteria for Thomas Koch were quick training for his team and easy cleaning. Here too, the CSP impressed him. It has a self-explanatory touch display and a dial that allows the desired cutting thickness to be set in no time at all. Innovative SmarterSlicing functions ensure optimum hygiene: indicators signal in good time when the machine needs to be cleaned and the blade sharpened or serviced. Daily cleaning takes just five minutes, and the CSP is simply rolled out for this purpose.

More hygienic than guillotine cutters

Due to its high hygiene requirements, a classic guillotine cutter was out of the question for Thomas Koch when selecting a new bread slicer. Such devices often have areas that are difficult to access and open knife frames, which makes cleaning time-consuming and prone to errors. The CSP, on the other hand, impressed him with its closed, smooth design, easily accessible components, and selectable automatic cleaning functions. Added to this are a crumb-free cutting system, antibacterial materials and an integrable UV disinfection system – an easy decision for the discerning master baker.

Stable conditions in the sales room and café

The customers of the bakery cafés have also noticed that the new CSP bread slicing machine is much quieter. There has been a lot of positive feedback about the more relaxed atmosphere. More peace and quiet also means less stress and a more pleasant working environment for the teams in the Koch bakery branches. A win-win situation: the high level of employee satisfaction ultimately has a positive impact on the quality of service and customer experience.

Let’s count

loaves per day

0 generations

of traditional baking

0 %

for the connection to regional sports clubs

“Our CSP is now seen as an essential part of our daily business. And that's exactly what it is, because high-quality bread cut to perfection is and will remain a central item in our product range and customer service.”

Thomas Koch

“The CSP has proven to be an extremely robust and reliable solution in daily use – exactly what counts in the demanding everyday life of a bakery. For our customers, it is crucial that technology is not only powerful, but also works smoothly in the long term. We are very pleased that this is the case at the Koch bakery.”

Nico Rewes

Director BU Retail Germany (Bizerba)

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