BreadValue
Cross-media consumer communication for bakery customers
A joint project between the university-affiliated Institute for Management and Innovation (IMI) and Ludwigshafen-based bakery Görtz GmbH to combat food waste and promote greater appreciation of high-quality bread and baked goods is nearing completion.
Together with Bäcker Görtz GmbH, Ludwigshafen, the Institute for Management and Innovation (IMI) at the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society (HWG LU) is developing and testing communication measures aimed at bakery customers to increase knowledge and appreciation of high-quality baked goods and reduce bread waste in households. The project, which was launched in September 2022, is funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture and supported by the Zentralverband des Deutschen Bäckerhandwerks e.V.
Various digital and analog communication measures were developed based on findings from other projects and studies, our own consumer survey and company experience and have been used in practice since the spring of this year. The project is currently entering the home straight, but various activities will continue until the end of the year in parallel with the evaluation of the project results.
Yesterday, company boss Peter Görtz and IMI Institute Director Prof. Dr. Dieter Thomaschewski, flanked by Anabel Görtz, Assistant to the Management Board, and Görtz Marketing Manager Katja Thieme, presented the project in more detail at the bakery's Rheingönheim headquarters: Thomaschewski first outlined the initial situation: according to a study by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), up to 78 kg of food per capita and year ends up in the garbage bin of private households in Germany. Bread and baked goods account for 13% of this. The reasons for this are revealed, among other things, by the results of an online consumer survey of regional bakery customers conducted by IMI in cooperation with baker Görtz: bread is often thrown away when it appears hard and dry, even though it is still perfectly edible In addition, people often buy more than they need, and this happens more often to men than women. Another problem is incorrect storage, which causes bread to age more quickly and ultimately spoil. The project partners IMI and Görtz are countering this with an information campaign that educates consumers in an entertaining way about the important staple food bread, gives tips on ideal storage and offers ways to use leftovers - "without moralizing", as Dieter Thomaschewski and Peter Görtz explain in unison. The two hope that this triad will lead to a greater appreciation of high-quality baked goods and a greater awareness of food in the long term.
Bakery customers are informed both analog and digitally: digitally via the bakery's website, its app and social media channels; analog via in-store promotions, poster campaigns, tablet displays, postal coupons and printed bags. A multi-part quiz on bread knowledge, production and consumption as well as sustainable handling was particularly well received by customers. An interactive quantity calculator for celebrations with guests was also very popular. In the period from February to August 2024 alone, 80,000 visits were made to the "Brotwert" pages on the Görtz website, says Thomaschewski.
But doesn't promoting sustainable consumption conflict with the commercial interests of bakeries? No, says Görtz Managing Director Peter Görtz: "My baker's heart beats stronger here than my salesman's heart. "Our aim is not for our products to be thrown away."
A further survey is to be carried out in the fourth quarter of this year at the end of the project to gather feedback from consumers. The results will then be published and made freely available. There are also plans to transfer the project to other areas, such as meat consumption. Cooperation with schools is also a possibility in the future, according to Professor Thomaschewski.
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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