Bread and pastry shop Brans & Westers in Oude- and Nieuwe Pekela will close both stores on Saturday. A family business with a 170-year history is coming to an end. Necessary due to lack of staff. “We have been doing grief processing for weeks. It’s a sad time.”
Lunch is just over. The spaghetti has been eaten. Andries Jan Ludolphie (50) goes to bed. “I sleep better with a full stomach.” It’s the daily routine. He usually goes to sleep in the afternoon immediately after a hot meal and then returns to his wife Monique and both children in the evening.
Only for a short time, because at one o’clock in the morning work calls again. The baker’s job largely takes place at night. It’s a way of life that not everyone is born for. “It is the love for the profession, but it is also an attitude,” says Ludolphie. “And we have a family business. That is slightly different from being employed.”
Full house on Saturday
The family-owned bread and pastry shop Brans & Westers is coming to an end after 170 years. The shops in Oude and Nieuwe Pekela close on Saturday. Out of necessity, because the tightness on the labor market also affects Andries Jan and Monique. Of course they contacted schools, but unfortunately. There is not much enthusiasm for the profession. In any case, not to work during the night.
Once again it’s going full steam ahead this Saturday. When the shops open, Andries Jan has already done his work. It is then Monique and employees’ turn. They stand in the store and help customers. “I will take a few nerve tablets, because it is not nothing. It was my father and mother’s family business. From the moment we announced the closure, we have actually been dealing with grief,” Monique explains. “It’s a sad time.”
She was born in the building of the bakery and shop. She lived there for fifteen years until they moved elsewhere in Pekela. “But this is ours. This is where our history lies. My father and mother are still alive. They helped build the company. Then it hurts to stop But it is a conscious choice. There’s no point in continuing. My husband has been working eighty or ninety hours a week. That is physically and mentally unsustainable.”
Andries Jan nods affirmatively. “But there’s nothing wrong with me. I’m hardly sick. Ultimately you do it to yourself.” Even with a broken tibia, he was active in the bakery. Seated in a wheelchair and with his leg in a plaster up to the groin, he got to work.
Mentally burned out
“It’s been zero sense lately. But on Sunday, the only day off, I noticed it in my body. As soon as the daily rhythm is broken, you notice aches and pains. Then I was broke. So it’s fine. My 76-year-old father-in-law (Westers, ed.) has expressed his respect for the decision. That makes me very happy, because it is a family business after all. But it cannot be otherwise. I’m mentally burned out.”
Without sufficient staff, it’s hard work. Prey on your body, don’t pay your family enough attention and yes, that takes away the fun a bit. “If we had a dot on the horizon and there was a prospect of better times, we would have continued,” says Monique. “But working so many hours is irresponsible.”
“The pressure was increasing. We survived December, but when there was no improvement in sight in January, we decided to stop. We didn’t think about it for a really long time. If you can’t get any more bakers, it’s over.”
Clearing up the family history
The machines in the mega bakery behind the store have been sold. The shop building and the bakery are being sold. But first we need to clean up. “You come across everything. For example, the stroller I played with,” says Monique. “My daughter wants to keep a lot of things. It’s family history after all. It has emotional value.”
After the closure announcement on Facebook, the kind words poured in. And the last orders. “There is someone who will collect fifty bags of brown bulbs on Saturday. You know, there are six balls in a bag. Count how much this customer leaves the store with. There is also one who ordered 29 loaves of bread.”
About 16,000 loaves of bread were baked every month. “Yes, yes, Pekelders are bread eaters.” Not everything disappeared into Pekelder’s mouths. Two drivers drove approximately 100 kilometers every day to deliver loaves of bread to customers. From Roswinkel to Bad Nieuweschans and from Zuidbroek to the management area. The turnover was not the reason why the company closed.
I will continue to bake oliebollen in December
Oliebollen, Groninger Koek and rye bread. Andries Jan preferred that. He wasn’t into the banquet. “He is a bit of a personality,” Monique adds. His love for oliebollen goes so far that he keeps that special machine. Because he will be making them again in December. “The machine produces 5,000 pieces per hour. The customers come from far and wide. I still have to discuss it with my new boss, but oil frying is so beautiful.”
Because, even though Andries Jan has had years of tropical years, he will be back to work in a bakery in a few weeks. Employed at the Fledderus bakery in Hooghalen. He’s already done the math. 44 kilometers there, 44 kilometers back. There was an immediate match with the new manager. “And from now on I have a 38-hour working week and one day off. Man, that’s a vacation for me.”