Höflinger miller saves cake gossip

The social start-up Kuchentratsch in Munich was rescued from insolvency because a bakery group stepped in.

For a long time, it looked as if the Munich start-up Kuchentratsch's time was up. It filed for insolvency in July. However, after founder Katharina Mayer gave some hints back in September, it is now clear that Höflinger Müller GmbH is joining the company. New bakers are already being sought and the grandmas and grandpas who bake will continue to be employed on a mini-job basis.

In 2014, Mayer presented her idea for a start-up on "Die Höhle der Löwen", where grandmas create cakes and pies and sell them online. The idea worked so well that Mayer wanted to move Kuchentratsch within Munich and set up an "experience bakery" on 650 square meters. Shortly before the end of the conversion, it became clear that there was not enough money, the investors did not want to close the gap and even a crowdfunding campaign did not raise the 400,000 euros needed.

Kuchentratsch is now one of the more than 140 branches of the Höflinger-Müller Group. Katharina Mayer will no longer be making any decisions for her start-up from the end of the year. Kuchentratsch now also sells Höflinger-Müller products - and vice versa. "The Oma cakes are the perfect addition to our stores," says Höflinger-Müller Managing Director Franz Höflinger.