What a 110-Year-Old Bakery in Tenerife Reveals About Craft Survival

A German Pastry Chef, a World War, and a Corner Shop

Independent bakeries across the UK are closing at a pace not seen in decades. Rising National Insurance contributions, slashed thresholds, and punishing business rates have made family ownership feel less like a legacy and more like a liability. Yet on a cobbled street in La Orotava, Tenerife, a small confectionery is quietly entering its 111th year of continuous operation. Same family. Same recipes. Same deliberate refusal to modernise.

Casa Egon opened in December 1916, founded by Egon Alfred Wende Bard, a German pastry chef whose journey to Africa was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. Stranded in the Canary Islands, he settled in La Orotava and opened a modest bakery. In 1925, the shop moved to its current home on Calle León, an 18th-century building that has since become a landmark.

According to Canarian Weekly, Casa Egon is now the oldest dulcería (confectionery) in the Canary Islands. Four generations of the same family have run the shop, each fiercely protecting the original recipes: mille-feuille pastries layered with flaky pastry, egg yolk cream, and apricot jam; handmade biscuits; traditional egg yolk rings. Loyal customers still travel from across the island for these specific items.

The family has resisted the urge to expand, franchise, or modernise. The recipes remain unchanged. The business model is simple: make the same things, make them well, and let the community come to you.

The Mirror for Sofia's Craft Scene

For anyone watching Sofia's artisan food culture take shape, Casa Egon's story is a case study in what longevity requires.

Sofia's specialty coffee roasteries, small-batch bakeries, and craft producers face pressures that rhyme with the UK's crisis: rising labour costs, rent increases, regulatory burdens, and the constant temptation to scale before the foundation is solid. Most of the city's specialty roasteries and artisan bakeries are less than a decade old. Whether they will reach their 110th year is a choice being made right now, in every decision about sourcing, pricing, and growth.

Roasteries like Blue Bag operate on principles that echo Casa Egon's model: working directly with verified farms, prioritising peak-ripeness beans over volume, building loyalty through consistency rather than expansion. Craft over scale. Relationships over transactions.

The UK Collapse as Warning

The contrast with the UK is stark. Recent reporting details the collapse of institutions that survived centuries only to fall in the past year. Brown's Original Banbury Cakes, a brand dating back to the reign of James I, was voluntarily dissolved in April 2026 after more than 400 years. The 78-year-old owner chose to wind down the company and take the secret family recipe with him rather than battle the hostile economic climate.

Alexander Taylor Bakery in Scotland, founded in 1820, nearly collapsed in April 2026 after 206 years. Skyrocketing operating costs made independent family ownership unsustainable. The bakery was sold to a private investor, ending generations of family stewardship.

The fiscal pressures are specific: employer National Insurance Contributions have risen to 15%, while the threshold at which businesses must pay has been slashed from £9,100 to £5,000. For small bakeries operating on thin margins, these changes translate to massive, unexpected payroll bills.

Preservation as Strategy

Casa Egon's survival is not sentimental accident. It is deliberate choice repeated across four generations. The family chose preservation over expansion, recipes over innovation, community loyalty over market reach.

Два века занаят, претеглен срещу безмилостната аритметика на оперативните разходи.

This is not a model everyone can afford. Family ownership brings succession challenges, generational conflict, the weight of expectation. Not every craft business has a century-old building or a customer base that travels across an island for a specific pastry.

But the principle underneath is transferable. The businesses that survive know what they are not willing to change. They define their non-negotiables early and protect them fiercely. They resist the pressure to modernise for its own sake.

For Sofia's craft makers, the question is not whether to imitate Casa Egon. It is whether to ask the same question the Wende Bard family has asked for 110 years: What are we not willing to compromise?

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What makes Casa Egon the oldest bakery in the Canary Islands?

A: Casa Egon was founded in December 1916 by German pastry chef Egon Alfred Wende Bard and has operated continuously under the same family for four generations. It is officially recognised as the oldest dulcería (confectionery) in the Canary Islands.

Q: Why are independent bakeries in the UK closing at record rates?

A: UK bakeries face steep fiscal pressures including National Insurance Contributions rising to 15% and the NIC threshold dropping from £9,100 to £5,000. These changes have created unexpected payroll costs that many family-owned businesses cannot absorb.

Q: How does Casa Egon's business model apply to Sofia's craft food scene?

A: Casa Egon's model prioritises recipe preservation, family ownership, and community loyalty over expansion. Sofia's young specialty roasteries and artisan bakeries can apply similar principles by defining non-negotiables early and resisting pressure to scale at the expense of quality.