All you knead is love

It has been two years since Markus Hofmueller took over the management of a bakery from his fellow German compatriots, saying he made a good decision. Bach's Bakery, located in Changsha, Central China's Hunan province, is popular among the locals for hiring bakers with hearing impairments.

Hofmueller always believed that running the bakery was a good opportunity to learn about management, finances and customer service, he says. "I am busy every day. We start at 7 am and I spend most of the time in the office and leave the bakery to the chefs," he adds.

In the first year, he spent a lot of time in the kitchen, but believed interpersonal relations were the key to the bakery's success. All enterprises can face tension among the employees, so ironing out difficulties and overcoming issues is crucial.

The bakery's employees are a priority. "I'm happiest when I see them grow in the job," he says. "They accumulate more skills and knowledge and keep improving, which I value the most."

Hofmueller says that the bakery exists because of the bakers. He wants people to learn skills to support their families or even own a business in the future.

Chief baker Wang Ting has worked there for seven years and says that working helped her improve her baking and management skills. She is also Hofmueller's sign language teacher, helping him to better communicate with other employees.

Hofmueller thinks that attention to detail is what makes the bakers special. "Because they cannot hear, they pay more attention to what they see, especially details others tend to overlook," he says.

Such attention to detail is important for the bakery because bread quality can be judged by its appearance, he explains.