Dean Brettschneider - Passion is My Main Ingredient

From the humblest start as an apprentice baker in rural New Zealand, Dean has become one of the forces to be reckoned with on the international baking scene. His skill, enthusiasm and ambition have no boundaries.

Lauraine Jacobs, MNZM

Food columnist, NZ Listener; former president of NZGFW & IACP

Baking is a science and Dean is a brilliant scientist. His understanding of how and why ingredients work together is truly remarkable. When you combine his baking genius and his business acumen, you get a formidable force in the world of food. But behind that steely determination is also a truly great person whom I am proud to call my friend.

Dame Julie Christie, DNZM

Ive witnessed at close quarters Dean going from strength to strength as a businessman and entrepreneur. Deans ability to conceive and manage multiple businesses in numerous countries, while still managing to co-create with his team, is well worth celebrating.

Peter Gordon, ONZM

Chef, restaurateur, writer & fusion food pioneer

In my 28 years as an entrepreneur, I would be hard-pressed to name another founder of an F&B concept with the uncanny ability to repeatedly create, execute and operationalise a winning concept. Dean demands an attitude of excellence from those around him, fostering in his businesses a culture where attention to detail matters. Save every penny you can; spend every pound that you must. Not a cent more and not a dollar less where it counts.

Andrew Kwan

CEO, Commonwealth Capital Group, Asia

2019 Dean Brettschneider

Published by Marshall Cavendish Editions

An imprint of Marshall Cavendish International

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Requests for permission should be addressed to the Publisher, Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited, 1 New Industrial Road, Singapore 536196.

Tel: (65) 6213 9300. E-mail:

Website: www.marshallcavendish.com/genref

The publisher makes no representation or warranties with respect to the contents of this book, and specifically disclaims any implied warranties or merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose, and shall in no event be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

Other Marshall Cavendish Offices

Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 99 White Plains Road, Tarrytown NY 10591-9001, USA Marshall Cavendish International (Thailand) Co Ltd, 253 Asoke, 12th Flr, Sukhumvit 21 Road, Klongtoey Nua, Wattana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand Marshall Cavendish (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Times Subang, Lot 46, Subang Hi-Tech Industrial Park, Batu Tiga, 40000 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.

Marshall Cavendish is a registered trademark of Times Publishing Limited

National Library Board, Singapore Cataloguing in Publication Data

Name(s): Brettschneider, Dean.

Title: Passion is my main ingredient / Dean Brettschneider.

Description: Singapore : Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2019.

Identifier(s): OCN 1100468286 | eISBN: 978-981-4868-32-7

Subject(s): LCSH: Brettschneider, Dean. | Bakers--Biography. | Bakeries.

Classification: DDC 338.761664752--dc23

Printed in Singapore

Cover photo by Claus Peuckert

Brettschneider? What kind of name is that?

Ive heard that a few too many times. Ill give you the short answer. The name has its origins from Gdansk, Poland, a city that sits right on the border with Germany. Our family tree is patchy, but we can trace it back to five generations ago, where we find a guy called Johannes Petrus Brettschneider, my great-great-grandfather. He was in the merchant navy in Gdansk and one day, for reasons known only to himself, he jumped on a boat and sailed to Amsterdam, where he promptly met and married a Dutch lady by the name of Willimeep (who, coincidentally, happened to make her living as a baker). So thats how the Brettschneider name arrived in Holland, which makes me Dutch, not German, as most people assume when they first hear my name.

Skip forward to World War II, when my father, Rudi, was a young boy being brought up in Amsterdam by his parents, Johannes and Elizabeth. Young Rudi survived to tell the tale of the war but my grandfather, unfortunately, did not. He died at only age 37. He didnt die fighting, but it was still the war that killed him. When fighting broke out, my grandfather escaped from a forced labour factory and went into hiding. He paid a sympathetic neighbour whatever little he could afford to let him stay in their attic. And thats where he remained, for years, as he waited out the war.

Little Rudi was only five years old at the time and desperately missed his father, too young to understand why he had to leave. When his crying became too much, Elizabeth would take the little boy to a park in front of the building where Johannes was hiding. From his perch in the attic, my opa would peer out at his wife and son from a narrow window, blowing kisses and hoping his tears werent visible from such a distance.

The war ended and Johannes could finally come out of hiding, but when he did, he was frail and sick. He had developed cancer while in hiding and by the time the diagnosis came, it was much too late. The end came quickly. Naturally, Rudi blamed the war for his fathers death and he grew to despise anything to do with the military. National military service was compulsory in Holland for all 18-year-old males at the time, and my father became determined to avoid it when his call-up came. He managed to dodge the draft for several years using a variety of means that escalated in creativity and desperation before he eventually ran out of excuses. Feeling like he had been backed into a corner, the then 20-year-old Rudi felt he had no choice but to leave. And so, he kissed his mum goodbye, sold the few possessions he had and hopped on a boat bound for New Zealand.

New Zealand wasnt a totally random destination for a young Dutchman. There has long been a connection and mutual fascination between the two places, stemming from the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman. He was the guy who first discovered Tasmania and New Zealand in the 1640s the latter being named after the Dutch province of Zeeland. Strangely though, he rather absent-mindedly failed to claim New Zealand, allowing the old rogue Captain Cook to nip in and steal it for Great Britain.

My father was far from the only one treading the same path. Swathes of Europeans were emigrating to Australia and New Zealand in the 1960s. Many parts of Europe were still suffering the aftermath of the war, so these faraway islands held the promise of a new start. Still, it was a ballsy thing for a young guy to do. He barely spoke a word of English and he was practically penniless. I dont think he had much of a clue of what to expect on the other side.

After bouncing around a series of odd jobs for a while from peeling potatoes to building bridges my father ended up working at a sheep farm in Loburn, a small farming community in North Canterbury, about 30 minutes from Christchurch. Here he met the daughter of the Scottish family who owned the farm, his future wife of 48 years, Colleen Smith.