NAIROBI, KENYA – A pastry chef’s decision to ship a container of discarded bakery equipment from Austria to East Africa reshaped Nairobi’s bread market and built Kenya’s largest quality bakery within four years.
From hotel kitchen to risky phone call
In the mid-1990s, an Executive Pastry Chef at the Grand Regency Hotel in Nairobi was on the verge of signing a second two-year contract when a call from Austria altered his plans. A friend reported that the long-established Konsum bakery in Graz had become insolvent and its machinery was being sold off as scrap. Within two days, the chef flew to Graz without a business plan but with what he described as a clear vision.
Scrap machines packed into a 40-foot container
In a freezing hall at minus 15 degrees, he bought everything that had not yet been taken by other interested buyers from Eastern Europe: baking machines, shelves, trays, pumps and fluorescent lights, even trays still bearing croissant remnants. All of it had to be loaded within three days into a 40-foot container using basic tools, a pallet jack and the last-minute help of a forklift driver. When the driver asked whether the “scrap” was insured and destined to be sunk in the sea, the baker replied:
“No – I am going to open a bakery in Africa with it.”
said the Executive Pastry Chef, recalling the exchange.
The driver waived his wages and responded:
“I wish you luck.”
said the forklift driver, according to the baker.
From icy Graz to Nairobi via Mombasa
The container travelled from cold Graz through Italy to Mombasa, then another 660 kilometres into the Kenyan highlands to Nairobi. At customs, a brief inspection sufficed when mouldy croissant trays fell from the container and startled the official, who quickly signed off and released the shipment. The machines were installed in a rented hall with high-voltage power, a former carpentry workshop that was fully overhauled by an Austrian mechanic friend.
A six-square-metre shop that changed a city’s bread
Test baking began in June and proved successful. On 16 June 1996, the chef opened a shop of just six square metres in the Karen Shopping Centre. What followed marked a turning point for the local market, as Nairobi residents were offered, for the first time since the colonial period, a genuine choice of high-quality bread and pastries.
From toast dominance to quality loaves
Until then, toast bread – a legacy of British railway construction around 1890 – had almost entirely dominated the bread market. Starting alone, the baker first trained his gardener, then additional staff, placing craftsmanship, quality and training at the centre of the business. Despite political uncertainty, security problems and numerous setbacks, the bakery grew within four years into the largest quality bakery in Kenya.
Building international links to Thailand
The international expansion continued with early connections to Thailand, forged through personal contacts including the Songkran festival at the residence of the Thai ambassador in Kenya. Through the German Business Association – initially as a member and later on the board – a network emerged that, according to the account, has endured to this day.
Proof that risk can reshape markets
The baker framed his experience not as a fairy tale but as evidence that entrepreneurial courage, skilled craftsmanship and a willingness to take risks can change markets even under the toughest conditions. He argued that success did not begin with capital or perfect conditions, but with an idea, a container and firm belief in its feasibility, concluding that the business was now ready to serve customers throughout Thailand.