Viggo Schulstad

When 32 year old Viggo Schulstad opened his first bakery in Copenhagen he didn’t know a lot about bread. But he did know a lot about business. And with more people moving to the cities he saw an opportunity. Competition, however, was tough and Viggo’s bakery quickly hit a rough patch. A patch that would last the better part of a decade.

To boost the quality of the bread, Viggo Schulstad moved production to new and improved facilities. He waved goodbye to his partner Wilhelm Irgens and changed the name of the company from “Store Kongensgade Bread Factory” to “Viggo Schulstad’s Bakeries”. Still, it would take a venture into the world of science to break the company’s dry-spell.

In the 1880s, rye bread was made with highly acidic sourdough to the great regret of doctors and stomachs alike. But one day Viggo Schulstad stumbled upon an article written by chemist Christian Ludwigsen, who claimed to have found a way to bake healthier rye bread. Soon, the two joined forces in the pursuit of acid-free bread.

Back in the day, you wouldn’t be surprised to find a cigarette butt in your rye bread. Viggo Schulstad, however, understood that you couldn’t make quality bread in an unhealthy environment. So he banned smoking, tobacco munching and – thank goodness – the kneading of dough with bare feet from his bakeries. 5 years later, the rest of the country followed suit.

The two pioneers were soon recognised as bakery experts hell-bent on improving every last detail of their production. In 1902, Viggo Schulstad opened a new bakery with all the technological innovations of the time, with a dedicated focus on fresh raw materials, immaculate hygiene, and employee working conditions that were years ahead of their time.

During World War 1, prices on raw materials skyrocketed. While many companies went out of business, Viggo Schulstad united four large Copenhagen-based bakeries in a single company. The principles of Schulstad and Ludwigsen were employed in all bakeries, and the foundation of the modern Schulstad company was in place.

Viggo Schulstad dies aged 73 at home in Klampenborg north of Copenhagen...but his legacy of quality, innovation and attention to detail lives on.