What Landbackerei Ihle does

Landbäckerei Ihle is a fourth-generation family-owned German bakery founded in 1890 by Georg Ihle in Westendorf near Augsburg and currently managed by Wilhelm-Peter Ihle (administration, marketing, sales) and Alexander Ihle (production). Headquartered in Friedberg, the company operates approximately 250 retail branches across Bayerisch-Schwaben and Oberbayern, two production sites, and roughly 2,000-2,500 employees, placing it among the top 10 German baking companies. Its core output centers on roughly 150 SKUs of artisan baked goods, including the signature IHLE Breze, Bio-Brote (regional organic grain, stone-oven baked), handmade specialties with long-fermented doughs, bread specialties (Schwabenkorn, Lechfelder, Gourmetbrot), cakes and tortes, plus Krapfen, Pinsa, Panini, Wraps, and a sourced organic coffee line.

Revenue is generated through three primary channels: direct-to-consumer retail via IHLE specialty stores, cafés, and BAKER'S gastro-cafés (9+ full-service locations launched since 2018); wholesale supply of fresh baked goods to embedded bakery counters inside grocery chains including REWE, EDEKA, KAUFLAND, LIDL, PENNY, and HIT; and franchise fees from independent operators (Pächter) under the IHLE-Pächtermodell. Pricing is pay-as-you-go in-store with no public list pricing or online ordering, and the franchise is marketed through Franchiseportal.de. Sub-brands BAKER'S Home (a six-apartment hotel in Göggingen) and the BAKER'S Speisekarte menu expand the company into gastronomy and hospitality. Distribution relies entirely on physical storefronts across Bavaria with no disclosed digital/ecommerce or app channel.

Name

Landbackerei Ihle

Legal name

Landbäckerei Ihle GmbH & Co. KG

Website

https://ihle.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1890

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Landbäckerei Ihle is a fourth-generation German family bakery, founded 1890 and headquartered in Friedberg, that produces and retails artisan breads, pastries, and organic baked goods via 200+ stores, BAKER'S gastro-cafés, and embedded counters in REWE, EDEKA, KAUFLAND, LIDL, PENNY, and HIT across Bavaria.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Artisan Bakery Products

NAICS

Commercial Bakeries (311812), Baked Goods Retailers (445291)

SIC

Bakery Products (2050), Retail-Eating Places (5812)

akta.pro primary industry

Retail Bakeries (Bread & Daily Bakery) (THAFAFAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

In-Store / Supermarket Bakeries (THAFAFAE)

Keywords

• Artisan bakery products
• Bread and pastries
• Organic baked goods
• Bakery café gastronomy
• Bakery franchise operations

Headquarters

HQ city

Friedberg

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices15 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Retail Bakery Sales: Sale of baked goods through IHLE specialty stores, cafés, and BAKER'S gastronomy locations. Products include breads, pastries, cakes, snacks, and beverages.
2. Wholesale to Grocery Retailers: Supply of fresh baked goods to embedded bakery departments in REWE, EDEKA, KAUFLAND, LIDL, PENNY, HIT, and other grocery chains throughout Bavaria.
3. Franchise Fees (Pächtermodell): Independent entrepreneurs (Pächter) operate IHLE stores using the IHLE brand, know-how, and quality products, paying franchise fees to the company.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Landbäckerei Ihle manufactures and retails artisan baked goods, including bread specialties, organic breads (Bio-Brote), handmade specialties, cakes and tortes, Krapfen, savory snacks (wraps, pinsa, panini), and organic coffee. The company operates over 200 retail locations in Bavaria including IHLE specialty stores, IHLE Cafés, and BAKER'S full-service gastronomy restaurants, and also supplies fresh baked goods to grocery chains and runs a franchise (Pächtermodell) program for independent operators.

Product overview

Landbäckerei Ihle is a traditional German bakery operating since 1890, now in its fourth generation of family ownership. The company offers a comprehensive portfolio of bakery products including their signature IHLE Breze (pretzel), organic Bio-Brote (Bio-Bauernbrot, Bio-Kornwunder, Bio-Sonnenblumenbrot), bread specialties (Schwabenkorn, Korn-an-Korn, Lechfelder, Gourmetbrot), handmade specialties (Dinkel-Bionda, Dinkel-Nero, Dinkeltwist), cakes and tortes, fresh wraps, pinsa, and panini. They also offer seasonal items like Grillbrote and various Krapfen. The company operates under multiple sub-brands: IHLE BAKER'S (full-service restaurant/café with 9 locations), IHLE Café (café format with breakfast and coffee), and BAKER'S Home (hotel apartments). Services include the franchise Pächtermodell for independent operators, reusable cup programs, Table Brunch events, and Kuchen Tratsch weekly promotions. With approximately 200+ locations across Bavarian Swabia and Upper Bavaria, IHLE is one of Germany's ten largest bakery businesses.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• BAKER'S: IHLE's gastronomy concept combining bakery products, coffee, breakfast, lunch, and dinner offerings in a restaurant, café, and bar setting. Features items like burgers, steaks, fish from the grill, and seasonal dishes.

Products and services

• IHLE Breze Signature pretzel of Landbäckerei Ihle made with premium wheat dough, double-lathed for color, finished with Reichenhall mountain salt, and baked fresh throughout the day.
• Bio-Brote (Organic Breads) Organic breads made with regional grain from Allgäu following traditional family recipes, hand-formed and stone-baked. Includes Bio-Bauernbrot, Bio-Kornwunder, and Bio-Sonnenblumenbrot.
• Brotspezialitäten (Bread Specialties) Variety of specialty breads including hearty Bio-Brote, robust loaf breads like Schwabenkorn and Korn-an-Korn, and hand-crafted classics like Lechfelder and Gourmetbrot.
• Handgemachte Spezialitäten (Handmade Specialties) Hand-formed specialties with long-fermented doughs including Dinkel-Bionda, Dinkel-Nero, Dinkel-Fitness Vital Brötchen, Dinkeltwist, and Hafer-Malz-Twist.
• Kuchen und Torten (Cakes and Tortes) Assorted pastries, bakery cakes, fruit cakes, and cream slices made daily by hand in the IHLE patisserie.
• Krapfen Assorted donuts including Pistazienkrapfen, Schoko-Kirschkrapfen, Vanillekrapfen, Zimt-Haselnusskrapfen, Kinderkrapfen, Liebeskrapfen, and Mehrfruchtkrapfen.
• Wraps Fresh snacks featuring chicken breast, lettuce, tomatoes, and dressings wrapped in wheat flatbread.

Quantifiable outcome

• 13 products received 'sehr gut' (very good) rating from German Bread Institute (Deutsches Brotinstitut)
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Franchiseportal.deminorGTM or Marketing PartnerIHLE uses the Franchiseportal.de platform to advertise their franchise (Pächtermodell) opportunity, reaching potential franchisees through a specialized franchise marketplace.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Ditsch: Germany-focused pretzel and bakery-café specialty chain (owned by Valora) operating dozens of pretzel kiosks and bakeries with strong regional presence. Comparable to IHLE's BAKER'S gastro-café strategy and baked-goods category expertise, although with a narrower pretzel-focused menu and limited multi-format breadth relative to IHLE.

Direct peers

• Hofpfisterei: Munich-based Bavarian organic artisan bakery operating under the Bio-Siegel since 1987 with a regional store network focused on organic, traditionally produced breads and pastries. The closest geographic and philosophical peer to IHLE — same Bavaria market, same retail/wholesale baker model, similarly certified, and competing directly for the same premium regional consumer.
• Junge Die Bäckerei: Hamburg-based family-owned German retail bakery founded in 1892, operating a comparable multi-format network of ~150+ specialty stores, cafés and gas-station/backshop locations across Northern and Eastern Germany. Directly comparable to IHLE as a long-standing family bakery chain with embedded grocery distribution, an artisan/industrial hybrid production model, and similar positioning in the top tier of German regional bakery operators.
• Kamps: One of Germany's largest retail bakery chains, operating in-store backshop bakery concepts across multiple grocery banners nationwide with central production. Comparable to IHLE in combining industrial-scale central production with embedded-supply partnerships, although at significantly larger national scale; useful as a benchmark on multi-banner grocery supply economics.
• Bäckerei Görtz: Family-run Hamburg-area retail bakery chain with dozens of branches producing bread, pastries and confectionery under an in-house brand across Northern Germany. Comparable to IHLE in being a multi-generational family bakery operating a sizeable regional retail network with centralized production and in-store café offerings.

Regional players

• Bäckerei Lang: Berlin/Brandenburg-rooted German retail bakery chain operating specialty stores and cafés in the German capital region. Comparable to IHLE in store format and product breadth, but primarily competing in a different German region (Berlin/Brandenburg) rather than Bavaria, making it a regional rather than direct competitor.

Broad incumbents

• Harry-Brot: One of Germany's largest industrial bread bakeries, producing shelf-stable and fresh bread for grocery and foodservice channels nationwide. Comparable to IHLE as a top-tier German bakery producer and a leading industry scale player, but operates without a meaningful retail footprint — a useful bench for production-economics and wholesale-channel benchmarks relevant to IHLE's industrial side.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/ihle.baeckerei

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Landbackerei Ihle