He Couldn't Be the Bakery's Driver but Became its Boss

220,000 Turks who live in Austria obtain bread from Turkish bakeries in the country. It is estimated that in Vienna, which has a population of 1.7 million, there are approximately 40 Turkish bakeries, large and small.

Among bakeries that produce bread on an industrial scale, Üçler  Backereibetriebs GmbH is a major supplier, which fills 10-15 % of  Vienna’s need for bread. The bakery, which is operated by Mehmet Ali Çankaya, a businessman, has 53 employees. Çankaya came to Vienna in 1982, started to work as a driver at the bakery but because he was unfamiliar with the city he couldn’t continue in that job. He had to quit.

Over the next three months he was able to regain confidence in himself. He returned to the bakery. First he worked as a driver for five years and then as the manager of the bakery, again for five years. He bought the bakery in 1994. So, he became the boss of the bakery where initially he was unsuccessful as a driver. Çankaya, who took two expert bread makers into the business as partners, now also produces farina-based products such as baklava and börek, in addition to bread.

Üçler, which is the largest bakery in the ethnic market, also sells bread to such supermarket chains in Vienna as Hoffer, Mercur and Spar. The facilities of the bakery in District 12 Vienna, which hosted another Austrian bakery for 100 years, covers an area of  970 square meters. The equipment in the bakery was imported from Turkey. Üçler, which produces 47 different varieties of bread, owns four other retail stores. Çankaya states that they will continue to expand the bakery and do not plan to get involved in a different kind of business.