In Spain there has been a 25% drop in bread consumption in the last 10 years, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture. For this reason, instead of large bakeries, the trend is making way for opening artisan workshops in which quality is prioritized over quantity. They are called microbakeries and there are more and more spread across our country.
Generally, few people work, in this case only two. Luis Cuesta, who is a marketing expert, and Maite García left Barcelona to move to Utrera, in Seville, and start a business in which they sell bread to order. Thanks to this, they have improved their quality of life, adapting their daily lives to their work schedule and avoiding the traditional concept of the ‘bread industry’.
In one of his videos published on YouTube, Luis answers one of the questions he has been asked the most. Is the microbakery business profitable? The answer is overwhelming. “Yes, but you have to be patient.”
Salary of 1,200 euros per month and a cushion of 2,000 euros
His partner Maite “has been able to get an average salary of 1,200 euros per month, prorated throughout the year and we have obtained a cushion of 2,000 euros to cover the summer months, which we anticipated would be quite weak,” the baker points out in his video.
To calculate how profitable a bakery of this type is, you have to take into account other expenses, which are the price of renting the premises or electricity and other bills. In addition, we must consider what volume of bread production can be covered.
A profitable project is one that leaves a salary of between 1,600 and 1,800 euros per month, “it is something minimally decent,” he clarifies, if the work they carry out daily is taken into account.
Workday of less than 30 hours a week
Both he and Maite work less than 30 hours a week in production “so we have free time and can maintain a good balance between life and work.” The business is growing, little by little. But in their most optimistic forecasts they already see a high level of sales, around 4,500 to 5,000 euros per month.
“This allows us to keep expenses under control, and the most important thing is to be able to live off the project without sacrificing our quality of life.”