Confiserie Speck to take over Confiserie Fürst

Clemens Räbsamen, the owner of the Confiserie Fürst in Baar, announced yesterday that Confiserie Speck would be taking over his business as from Monday 27 June.
 
A flyer he had had printed said he wanted to thank everyone for their custom and support over the past 16 years and hoped they would place as much trust in the new management as they had in him, adding he hoped had been able to sweeten up customers’ lives in some small way over this time.
 
While it is good that another company has been found to take over Confiserie Fürst, it is sad that another small, independently-run bakery is to disappear from the canton. It was only announced recently that the city had chosen Confiserie Speck to run a business in a new building on Kolinplatz. This means that, once it is opened, the bakery will have six branches in the canton, the second-largest number after the Konditorei Nussbaumer of Cham, which has eight.
 
Naturally, it was a sad day for Räbsamen and his wife, Heidi, to have to announce the news to their customers and seven staff. What makes it all the more difficult for him is that, as yet, the 48-year-old father of three from eastern Switzerland has no other job. He said how difficult it had become in recent times to keep the small business going. Furthermore, he had been working very long hours, leaving little time for leisure activities. “We have noticed how customer habits have changed over the years, with people going away more at Christmas time and on these bridging days after public holidays, amounting to 30% fewer customers when looked at annually. Our premises here at number 1 Dorfstrasse are not the most modern, either, and then our tenancy came to an end, too. Although we have been achieving a good turnover, weighing everything up, I decided to call it a day and am now on the lookout for another challenge,” he said.
 
Kurt Staub of Neuheim, who has been a baker for 34 years, was able to understand only too well Räbsamen’s decision. “It is very difficult for small business to keep going these days,” he said. “Customers expect to be able to choose from the same range larger businesses can offer, not to mention the competition they face from all these shops at petrol stations. These days many people just want a warm bread roll fresh from the oven without concerning themselves with quality products like we offer.” Staub employs a staff of 12 and is enjoying success with his “9 o’clock morning break delivery service” but he still puts in between 60 and 70 hours a week.
 
For his part, Peter Speck, the proprietor of the confiserie of the same name, said he had been asked by Räbsamen if he would like to take over his business and this was agreed. He will also be taking over the seven staff at Confiserie Fürst. “It is very difficult for small businesses to make a profit these days,” said Speck, who currently employs between 60-70 staff. “We look now to keeping the business in Baar going and continuing to offer high quality products there.”