Two Austrians, one crazy idea: to open a bakery in Mexico this year and to export the love of bread from Austria to other countries.
Josef Hader (37) and Johannes Wiesinger (29)
Josef Hader, no not the cabaret artist Josef Hader, but a food and biotechnologist from Vienna, is standing at Cancun Airport (Mexico) and is nervous. There is an illegal substance in his luggage: Austrian sourdough. Because the import of food is prohibited in Mexico.
Josef is searched. The slightly bubbly, strongly smelling chunk of dough, stored in a can, ends up in the hands of a Mexican security guard. “I have hair loss and this is my hair restorer”, Josef whispers in perfect Spanish and gets away with a skeptical look from the Mexican. From then on, nothing stands in the way of the dream of having your own bakery in Mexico.
Bret and Zel is located in León – 4.5 hours northwest of Mexico City by car
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Two years earlier, the friends Josef Hader and Johannes Wiesinger were sitting in their Vienna apartment together with a beer and dreaming of independence, of their path to pursue a job that fulfills them. “If we already work so much, then let's do something that is really good for us,” says business IT specialist Johannes Wiesinger. The ideas got more imaginative with every bottle of beer: from an app for organic farming to a kind of tinder for pets.
Since both of them have always enjoyed traveling and have always missed the local bread, the idea was born to open a bakery abroad. It finally became Mexico because Johannes' girlfriend lives there and there is too much competition from bakers at a high level in Austria. The boys were convinced: “Good bread in Mexico is a niche in the market”. Some friends smiled at them. “Few believed that we would pull through,” says Josef.
Mexican and Austrian baked goods as well as small dishes are offered
In the sister's oven
The financial means were available through years of saving, what was missing now was the know-how. Johannes already flew forward and took care of the organizational, the search for a place, the cultural peculiarities of the Mexicans, legal framework. Josef, on the other hand, moved back home to Upper Austria and started experimenting with bread in his sister's kitchen. “YouTube videos were a first aid, but I checked out the exact processes at our small bakeries in the Perg district.
Especially Johann Kapplmüller, head of the Pani bakery, was of great help to me. On the first evening he welcomed me with wine and a snack and said: 'So, now you can sleep two more hours and I'll teach you something at midnight.' “The family of Johannes' friend has a bakery itself and was also able to provide support with specialist knowledge . Friends of the two had to taste up to 20 sourdough breads just to be able to choose the best one.
Typically Viennese doesn't work
The bureaucracy in Mexico was far from perfect. “I had to wait a year just for my work visa,” says Josef. Despite bureaucratic challenges, it finally worked and the “Bret and Zel” was able to open at the end of August this year despite Corona.
You can buy typically Mexican food such as concha (translated: mussel), a sweet bread with vanilla or chocolate (see picture), pan de muerto (translated: totenbrot, a seasonal specialty), but also Austrian farmer's bread, rolls, donuts and curd cheese . “The apple strudel is an absolute hit among Mexicans,” says Johannes. And how does the Mexican customer differ from the Austrian? “For Mexicans, bread is something sweet, for the salty taste they have the tortillas. That is why our farmer's bread with aniseed and caraway is very polarizing, ”says Josef.
And otherwise? “The Mexican himself is extremely friendly and open-minded. The service would not work in the typical Viennese way. ”Apple strudel and friendliness seem to go down well with the Mexicans. Business is going so well that the two are already planning further branches. Because they definitely came to stay.
The concha is a sweet bread made from yeast dough with sugar. The Mexican loves them with cafe
