Sustainability – a tradition
For Leksand Knäckebröd, sustainability is a tradition. This tradition should be preserved and developed for future generations.
– My great-great-grandmother Jakob Karin knew that resources must be conserved. And we continue in the same spirit almost 200 years later,” says Peter Joon, CEO and sixth generation master baker.
“There is always room for improvement”
Sustainability is something that can be done in two ways – by boosting yourself or with humble self-criticism. Peter Joon chooses the latter.
The bakery has been fossil-free since 2013. Energy declarations have been going on since the 1980s. We are now showing our environmental impact directly on the packaging by indicating the CO2e number, which is becoming increasingly common on food products.
– It’s great to finally show how good we are. This is a really good figure. But we will be even better,” says Peter Joon.
He adds:
– As a family business, we don’t look at quarterly economics – we look at centuries. My time as CEO is only for a short time and then someone else takes over. We need to think about what we pass on to our children.
Sixth generation of crispbread bakers
Peter Joon is the sixth generation of master bakers since Jakobs Karin started making bread in the first half of the 19th century. Sustainability was a natural fit, with rye grown in local fields and a baking oven heated by trees grown in their own forest.
Like Jacob’s Karin, Peter is keen to make use of the surplus heat. Today, the bakery and hot water are heated by heat from the ovens. The heat is retained inside the bakery by building the walls twice as thick. For this, heat exchangers are used. The first one was already installed in 1954.