How it all began

As one of eight brothers, Peter-Joseph Kockartz – the great-grandfather of our current managing director Bernd Kockartz – learned the baking trade from his father in the 1860s. While his brothers traveled all over the world, Peter-Joseph stayed in Hauset and passed on his craft to his three sons Heinrich, Julius and Peter Kockartz.

The first bakery opens

In 1920, Julius and Gudula Kockartz bought a small shop on Kirchstrasse in Hauset and opened their first bakery there - today's Kockartz headquarters. The family business soon supplied not only the entire area with bread and its famous rice cakes, but also the neighboring German region.

Kockartz becomes a tourist destination

Hauset has now become a popular destination for countless day-trippers from Aachen, and so Julius Kockartz opens a café with an adjoining dance hall here in 1930. Kockartz's rice cakes, his place and the black cake - a dark cake made from apple, pear and plum puree - become bestsellers. On Sundays alone, up to 300 rice and fruit cakes are consumed in Café Kockartz.

Kockartz is also known far beyond Hauset for his chocolate-colored Chevrolet – one of the first cars in the region – with which Julius Kockartz delivers his baked goods.

The fourth and fifth generation

Son Peter Kockartz returns from the war and takes over his parents' business in 1946. Together with his son Bernd, he begins to expand the business at the end of the 1960s, enlarging and modernizing the small, winding bakery.

Kockartz grows

In 1977, Bernd Kockartz took over management and continued to expand the bakery. The family business became a limited liability company and the small bakery was moved to a modern production hall. But despite all the enthusiasm for technology, the demand for quality and the passion for traditional baking remained.

New locations

In the 1980s, Bernd Kockartz opened two new locations in Eynatten and Roetgen. Today, Kockartz is represented by a network of 12 branches and cafés within a 25-kilometer radius of the parent company.

A noble title for Kockartz

Bernd Kockartz is accepted into the international Richmont Club for bakers and confectioners and, together with 47 other colleagues, has since been able to bear the coveted title of “Master Baker Richmont Club”.

Kockartz takes over Van den Daele

Kockartz takes over the famous Alt Aachen Café-Stuben Van den Daele and continues it in the spirit of Leo van den Daele – as a traditional coffee house that serves upscale Belgian patisserie, confectionery and bakery products in a historic ambience.

The fifth generation

Together with his son Alexander and master baker Léon Braun, Bernd Kockartz is now the sixth generation to continue the company's history and is more successful than ever. Kockartz's secret recipe, even after more than a century: a special love of traditional baking culture, enthusiasm for innovation and a feel for trends!