Bautz’ner Senf products are a common sight in beer gardens and sausage stands across the country; the company produces a whopping 17,000 tons of product every year.
According to plant manager Michael Bischof, who recently spoke to the German press association, Bautz’ner Senf has avoided disruption to its mustard seed supply by sourcing more locally.
“The Russian attack on Ukraine has, among other things, significantly or partially interrupted the supply chain for mustard seeds,” said Bischof.
However, Bischof boasts that through sustainable supply management, and the use of mostly regionally grown mustard seeds, Bautz’ner Senf has ensured supplies of the ingredients it needs, thereby removing any need to tweak recipes.
“Around 60% of the Mustard-Bautz’ner mustard seeds are grown in regions of Germany – around 15% of them come from Upper Lusatia and the rest predominantly from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. We get the rest from different countries, such as Canada and Ukraine,” explained Bischof.
The plant manager said the decision to move to more local sourcing took place ten years ago. Back then, only 40% of the grain it processed came from Germany.
According to the recently published “Resiliency in the making” report by management consultants Accenture, 65% of the companies surveyed intend to buy most key items from regional suppliers, up from 38% today. Even more organizations (85%) say they plan to produce and sell most of their products in the same region by 2026, almost doubling from 43% today.
Photo: Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons