Bürger creates more space for Maultaschen in Crailsheim

Bürger’s company has also suffered from the pandemic – at least in one division. “Deliveries to canteens are down significantly,” says Martin Belmayer, managing partner. In turn, sales increased in the food retail sector – “people cooked more at home.” The bottom line is that the family business exited “from zero to zero” in 2020. Growth will be recorded again this year.

The largest project in the company’s history

Reason enough to designate a spade for the largest construction project in the company’s history this sunny Wednesday in Crailsheim: a new logistics center will be built over the next two years for a total of €45 million. As space in a factory with 890 employees is now alarmingly tight, plant manager Michael Coogill reports: In some divisions, three shifts must be done to meet demand. “Our frozen stock is currently full,” he says. “We have to cut production already.” “To do that, we have to do additional shifts in the fall when the demand is high.” With the new warehouse, this is no longer necessary – the freezer space alone, with room temperature below 24 degrees, will almost double. “Expansion is the only possibility for us to expand our production even further,” Bellmayer adds.

Space for more production lines

21 production lines operate at the company’s largest site. Not only are Maultaschen made there, but gnocchi, spaetzle and other pastas are also made. When the new logistics center becomes operational in 2023, Coogill says, at least six more production systems could be installed. This alone will create about 80 new jobs. The logistics center has 105 jobs in Bürger and 15 in the transport service provider.

The new cooling center is already under construction

Expansion has already begun: In addition to the factory outlet parking lot, a structure for the new cooling center has been built in the past few months. This area of ​​technology is designed to be particularly energy efficient, explains Martin Belmayer. “This saves 6,800 tons of carbon dioxide and 15,000 cubic meters of fresh water annually.” A photovoltaic system will also be installed on the roof of the new building. The factory and warehouse will then be connected by a glass bridge so that it can also be seen from the outside how the dumplings and marrow dumplings are automatically brought from the factory to the shelf. The entire technology in the new building is fully automated, says plant manager Kugel. “At the moment we still have forklifts in use in the logistics field.”

One of the biggest employers in the city

For the mayor of Crailsheim, Christoph Grimer, it is especially important that the company offers a secure location and many jobs and training positions. Burger is now hailed as one of the city’s biggest employers. The list of large companies is impressive – it ranges from Procter & Gamble to three machine makers (Syntegon, Groninger and Schubert) to other food companies such as meat plant Vion, Zimmermann-Toast or CDS Hackner. Further growth for Martin Belmayer and Michael Coogle cannot be ruled out. The new building is designed for eight to ten years, they say. There is still room for growth.

facts and figures

The Bürger pasta factory was founded in 1934 by Richard Bürger in Fellbach. The headquarters of the company is now located in Ditzingen. However, the central production site in Crailsheim has been in the Schwäbisch Hall district since 1983. The company is run by third-generation Martin Belmeyer. With a total of 1,000 employees, 890 of whom are in Crailsheim, more than 200 million euros in sales are generated annually – and not just in Swabia.