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Dinkel's Bakery in Chicago
www.dinkels.com
Boasting five generations of master bakers, this 83-year-old family business focuses on German bakery items, a full-line of pastries, breads, and rolls. Many items are still made from their original 1922 recipes. Dinkel's Bakery is now under its third generation and continues to provide original recipes and the same great hospitality to the community.
Address: 3329 Lincoln Ave., Chicago Founded: 1922 Management: Norm Dinkel, president; Libby Ryder, administrative assistant; Richard Reaves, foreman; Can-dice Florance and Joan Elias, store managers Bakery size: 12,000 sq. ft.
Signature products: stollen, cakes, cookies, Danish and specialty baked foods
[Interview:]
How is your business different today than it was in 1997 when the RBA show was last in Chicago?
Norm Dinkel: We do world-wide shipping via our mail order service and use the internet for order taking and for placing orders with our suppliers. We also focus our business more on cakes and cookies than the other items we bake.
Have you added any equipment or technology that has improved your bakery business?
N.D.: Computers and software and a new cake mixer.
What should RBA tour participants note about your bakery?
N.D.: I find that since we have been in business since 1922, we offer today's customers nostalgia, stability in a very fast changing world and personal service (most businesses today do not offer personal service.) Because there are fewer retail bakeries, lots of people in this country want to buy from us, therefore the advent of the mail order business.
What's special about being a retail baker in Chicago?
N.D.: We have a great dynamic world class city, which allows opportunities to create new and exciting baked foods for a group of people willing to buy and try these foods. |
