A lot of energy is needed to produce Maultaschen. It will therefore be more expensive for the Bürger company. And with it probably also soon for lovers of the Swabian specialty.
Ditzingen (dpa / lsw) – The pasta specialist Bürger wants to increase its prices again because of the increased prices for energy and raw materials. The negotiations with the trade are currently underway, said Martin Bihlmaier, head of the company from Ditzingen (Ludwigsburg district), which is known for Maultaschen, the German Press Agency.
“We are extremely energy-intensive and dependent on gas,” said Bihlmaier. The energy costs of the family business have tripled or quadrupled this year. “We have to cook all of our products,” explained Bihlmaier. Spaetzle and Schupfnudeln are cooked in water, Maultaschen with steam – and gas has been used for this up to now. The products then have to be cooled down, which requires electricity.
In order to be able to switch from gas to oil in the steam generators in the event of a gas shortage, Bürger ordered conversion kits for 300,000 euros. For 2023, the company expects the costs to more than double with the same energy supply.
The cost of raw materials has also increased enormously. “We’ve never had what we’ve experienced in the last two years,” said Bihlmaier. In some cases, the prices for the main raw materials have more than doubled. These are rates of increase that would have been unthinkable before. “It was a really challenging year,” said Bihlmaier. In 2022 he mentally wrote it off. His gaze is therefore directed ahead: “We can count ourselves lucky that we continue to grow.”
A trend that is helping him in the big cities in particular is vegan products. Sales of vegan Maultaschen have tripled in the past three years. The growth rates are significantly higher than with meat-based Maultaschen. “We assume that vegan products will continue to grow and that this is not hype that will pass,” said Bihlmaier. The vegan Maultasche is even more expensive to produce than the meat equivalent, so the margin is correspondingly lower. That could change if meat prices rise.
According to Bihlmaier, the Maultasche is still unknown in many parts of Germany. The Maultasche is in need of explanation and citizens “quite southern-heavy”. Everything beyond the state border of Baden-Württemberg is “quasi international business”. He doesn’t have to explain other pasta such as gnocchi or tortellini to anyone, “because everyone has been to Italy or to the Italian restaurant around the corner.” In order to increase awareness in the north, since this year Bürger has increasingly relied on the cities of Berlin and Hamburg.
The family business recorded sales of 216.6 million euros in 2021. At the end of 2021, Citizens employed 1012 people. The company usually does not communicate any information about the result. According to the annual financial statements for the 2020 financial year already published in the Federal Gazette, the annual surplus was nine million euros.
