Dr Quendt's cookies - the survival of a small company

The survival of the little Dresden cookie manufacturer, Dr Quendt, in times of major political change is a singular success story.

During Socialist times, all companies were nationalised and turned into "Volkseigene Betriebe" - a business owned by the people. After the fall of the GDR, they were privatised, which mostly resulted in their fusion with a bigger Western company or even their closure. Either way, things never stayed the way they were. But biscuit-maker Dr Quendt managed to take care of himself, his workers and a baking tradition - even when both the East and West German governments tried to stop him.

In 1957, the baking company Berger & Boehme had to surrender 94% ownership of the company to the State and was made government property. In 1985, one worker, Dr Hartmut Quendt, was told to invent a machine to increase company production. He succeeded in speeding up the production of Russian Bread - letter-shaped biscuits - to 200% of former production.

But the production came to a halt with the fall of the Socialist system, plus newly-arrived inspectors from the other side of the Wall declaring that the company was not up to standards. It was sold to a firm in the former West, but the new company also had little faith in the biscuit manufacturing enterprise. The factory was closed and the Russian Bread ceased to be produced.

Now unemployed, Dr Quendt rounded up several of his out-of-work former colleagues and sneaked back into his factory with a truck to steal his beloved machine and other equipment, to save them from the scrapheap.

It took him two years to convince the new government that his industry was competent. He was granted approval to produce Russian Bread, set up his own company, Dr. Quendt Backwaren GmbH, and took on 13 of the sacked workforce.

More and more people then became interested in his produce, which was made using only natural ingredients. By now, the GDR was long gone and some consumers were becoming nostalgic about the goods they could no longer get. People soon began buying Russian Bread once again.

Dr Quendt now employs over 100 workers and produces other sweet products, such as Dresden-style Stollen cake, which sells all around the world.

Address:
Dr. Quendt Backwaren GmbH
Offenburger Str. 1
01189 Dresden
Tel: 0049 351 436 16 10
Shop opening hours: 9:30am - 6pm
Guided tours available

Links:

Dr Quendt's cookies
The official site of Dr Quendt. The history, the products and an online shop to order cookies and cakes. In German.

Florena
Another example of the nationalisation and privatisation of an East German company under different economic systems: Florena, skin care products. In German.