Solhaga Stenugnsbageri
We love this place! There’s so much knowledge and so much drive! It’s better simply to let them speak for themselves about their ambitions:
“We try to inspire and educate about real bread and natural foods through our blog (sarabakar.se), as well as on our Facebook and Instagram accounts. We also share our knowledge through baking courses. Over 1,000 people have taken our ‘how to be a better home baker’ course. We love to tell stories about where the ingredients come from and how they are used in our bakery and kitchen. We are also active in the local community, where we try to recruit and help new entrepreneurs to get started. Our CEO Sara Wennerstrom is also a counselor at Eldrimner (the national resource center for artisan food), where she helps bakers all over the country!”
Who are some of the producers and suppliers you work with that share your values?
Ugglarps Grönt, Godegården, Limabacka Qvarn, Ragnarssons gård, Mostorps Gård, Syster Sur, Utmarkens Bigårdar, Hjulsjö 103 (cider), Lya gård
How do you minimize food waste?
“This is an issue close to our heart. We use as much waste as we can, both our own and from others. One of our breads is made of 25% food waste (malted grains from two different nearby microbreweries, apple pulp from our neighbor Äppelgården, leftover light beer from Krönleins Bryggeri, and our own breadcrumbs). Our CEO Sara Wennerström will soon be launching a workshop at YRGO (the baker education academy in Gothenburg) on how to use different kinds of waste in bread and pastries. We also have something we call ‘waste exchange,’ where, for example, we trade breadcrumbs for egg whites with Skrea Matbruk (a nearby restaurant that makes a lot of pasta in which they only use the yolks). This has been both financially and environmentally successful, helping us reduce both our waste and spending on ingredients.”
How do you prevent bullying, sexism, and other intolerable behavior in the workplace? Is there a clearly-stated policy?
“This might sound a little cheesy, but we only try to [1] hire kind people. Kindness is under-evaluated. It doesn’t matter how well-educated or skilled you are if you don’t care about other people. With this philosophy, we have created a safe workplace with very few incidents of bullying or sexism. There has never been a need for a ‘policy’ because it´s integrated into our company culture. The environment here is nurturing and supportive. We have many long-time employees and returning seasonal workers.”