A baker at heart
Thomas Koch has put his heart and soul into the art of baking. The master baker and pastry chef, who is also an enthusiastic bread sommelier, deliberately and very successfully sets himself apart from the bakery chains with his handcrafted products. He uses only selected regional raw materials and relies on a long dough proving period to make his baked goods particularly light and digestible. This quality is appreciated: the company, which is based in Balingen and Bisingen, 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. However, the enjoyment of coffee and cake should not be impaired by the sales process, either in terms of atmosphere or noise. This is very important to Koch.
- Family-run traditional bakery since 1908
- 1 headquarters with bakery, 3 additional branches
- Café, lunch menu and events
- 50 employees
Taking bread sales and café operations to a new level
About 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 fast, even fresh bread has to be sliced cleanly and placed in the bag, and the noise level in the bakery has to allow pleasant communication with the sales staff. The old bread slicer could no longer 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 The machine was also outdated in terms of speed, precision, ease of use and cleaning requirements.
Relaxed coffee enjoyment
The noise from the old bread machine was also affecting the café's 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 be able to feel comfortable, chat, and stay - perhaps for a second cup. So the task was to create a quiet atmosphere. Finally, it was important for Thomas Koch to be able to call on customer-oriented technical service quickly when needed, so that the heart of his bakery is always ready for action.
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 fitted perfectly into his existing bread rack without any conversion work. After extensive testing, Thomas Koch decided to purchase the machine.
Performance test passed
With approximately 200 loaves of bread of varying shapes and textures every day, a bread slicer needs 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 its high throughput, the CSP can easily handle long operating times. The machine has been absolutely reliable since start-up, with no need for maintenance and no need to change or resharpen the saw blade.
Intuitive operation & quick cleaning
Other key criteria for Thomas Koch were quick training for his team and easy cleaning. Here again, the CSP impressed him. It has a self-explanatory touch display and a dial that makes it easy to set the desired slice thickness. Innovative SmarterSlicing functions ensure optimum hygiene: indicators signal 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.
More hygienic than guillotines
When Thomas Koch was looking for a new bread slicer, a classic guillotine cutter was out of the question because of the high hygiene requirements. Such machines often have hard-to-reach areas and open blade frames, making cleaning time-consuming and error-prone. The CSP, on the other hand, impressed him with its closed, smooth design, easily accessible components and selectable automatic cleaning functions. Add to that a crumb-free cutting system, antibacterial materials and an integrated UV disinfection system, and it was an easy decision for the discerning master baker.
Stable conditions in the sales room and café
Customers in the bakery cafés have also noticed that the new CSP bread slicer 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 shops. A win-win situation: high employee satisfaction ultimately has a positive impact on service quality and customer satisfaction.
Let’s count
