Bäckerei Orlamünde opts for Epson label printer

Bäckerei Orlamünde devotes itself to baking without using any ready-made mixes or unnecessary additives, and prides itself in printing every single ingredient of its baked good in detail on the packaging. The business uses the ColorWorks C3500 label printer to satisfy its labelling needs.

When Holger Orlamünde decided to completely remove industrial ready-made mixes from his bakery and to revive time-honoured baking traditions, he knew he'd face tough competition from the big industrial bakers. They use ready-made baking mixes, produce very high volumes and are increasingly pushing the smaller bakeries out of the market with their low prices.

However Orlamünde had seen trend towards more natural foods without additives very early on, and realised that he could stand out from the competition by offering customers something out of the ordinary with high-quality ingredients such as daily handmade natural sourdough.

"This does involve significantly greater expense and labour than working with ready-made mixes," says Holger Orlamünde, "But ultimately, this re-think and the associated organisational restructure probably saved the life of our bakery."

Part of the new concept is giving customers comprehensive information about the ingredients of company's baked goods. "Previously, we ordered the labels from a printing house and had to accept high minimum orders. This meant that we couldn't respond quickly to changes in recipes and declaration requirements. We also had to dispose of surplus labels," explains Holger Orlamünde.

So the company looked for a simple, flexible and relatively cheap solution to enable it to print labels individually and according to its own requirements. The bakery also wanted a device with easy operation and the option to print in colour. This led to a decision to buy a ColorWorks C3500 label printer from Epson.

"With this compact printing system, we can now print more extensive information on our labels in addition to the legally required details of ingredients and allergens used. And because labelling legislation changes rapidly these days – for example, new rules on stating nutritional values are always being introduced – the ColorWorks C3500 gives us the ability to make changes to our labels quickly and easily," continues Orlamünde.

The C3500 is a four-colour system that works with water-based pigmented inks. This ensures that the colour is resistant to smearing and water.

"It isn't exactly necessary for our purposes to print labels in colour, but the alternative would be monochrome thermal labels, and these are now outdated," says Orlamünde. "The colour labels give us better design options – not least because our logo is in colour – and attract more attention. Ultimately, the colour allergen symbols offer people with allergies and food intolerances better, clearer information they can understand at a glance."

Customers' reaction to the switch to natural ingredients and eliminating unnecessary additives was positive and continuing success backs up the changed concept. The company now supplies eight branches from its bakery in northern Germany – the latest one opened only recently. And with its three mobile shops, the bakery also delivers to six weekly markets around Bremen.

This new bakery concept requires complete openness in its labelling. "If we didn't inform our customers honestly and comprehensively through our labels," says Orlamünde, "we'd quickly lose our credibility."

The bakery is a member of the "Natur Pur" ("Pure Nature") association, meaning it is certified to follow the principles of naturalness, honesty, craft and flavour, while only using natural raw ingredients.

The change of concept at Orlamünde has led to a complete transformation of the company's philosophy. The bakery now only uses packaging produced in a climate-neutral way, and 100 per cent of the power used by the bakery and all branches comes from renewable energy sources.

"Researching and inputting data for the 250 to 300 different products that we have in stock, depending on the season, was very demanding," notes Holger Orlamünde. "It took us around two years. In comparison, however, the installation and setting up the ColorWorks C3500 was brilliantly simple and was completed very quickly. For our labels, we use the label printing software included. It's ideal for what we need."

The user interface is very simple. Merle Orlamünde, a master baker like her father, who's responsible for sales in the company, took charge of printing and acquainted herself with the C3500 in no time at all. She prints around 1,500 labels per week, thanks to an output speed of up to 103 millimetres per second, without significant extra work. The finished labels are then delivered to individual branches, where the sales staff stick them to the packaging of freshly packed baked goods.

"We are completely satisfied with our Epson label printer," enthuses Holger Orlamünde. "The print quality is outstanding, plus the device is nice and small and fits easily into our office with its small footprint. The integrated paper cutter is also practical - it allows us to either cut individual labels or longer sections with multiple labels for the branches."