Bayreuth Students Create Shared Baking Experiences

As part of the “5-Euro-Business” competition organised by the Bildungswerk der Bayerischen Wirtschaft e.V., Bayreuth sports economics students Vincent Janne and Felix John launched a creative project called The Baking Gift Company, reimagining the concept of baking: with regional, sustainable, and inclusively produced baking experience boxes, they want to connect people and counteract loneliness.

The Team

The founding team consists of Vincent Janne and Felix John. Both are Master’s students in Sports Economics at the University of Bayreuth and met through the 5-Euro-Business seminar. Vincent has been at the university since his Bachelor’s degree, while Felix joined for his Master’s after studying Sports Management at Ostfalia University in Salzgitter.

The Idea

The two students deliberately focused on everyday challenges. “We were particularly concerned about loneliness and the fast pace of life, as these affect both older people and students,” says Vincent Janne. This led to the idea of creating a product that connects people and enables shared experiences with minimal time investment. “Our goal is to get people talking to each other again. Especially in times of increasing social isolation, we want to create genuine connections with simple means,” explains Felix John.

The baking experience boxes include everything needed for a special baking moment during the festive season: a recipe, music accessible via a custom playlist through a QR code, tea, a game to pass the time while baking, and a baking mix that lasts about four weeks. The team placed great importance on regionality and quality when choosing partners: the tea comes from TeeGschwendner Bayreuth, the baking mix from Geseeser Landbäckerei, and everything is packed in locally produced boxes by Hertel Kartonagen at the Diakoneo workshop for people with disabilities in Himmelkron. “Working with the workshop was particularly important to us because we want to support social inclusion,” says Vincent Janne. The workshop not only handles packaging but also contributed to the design. Additionally, 50 cents from each box sold is donated to the facility. “Regionality and inclusion are not marketing buzzwords for us, but lived values. We want every step of our product to reflect genuine responsibility and quality,” emphasises Felix John.

The Future

Vincent Janne and Felix John are already in another creative phase, developing new baking experience boxes. The next edition is aimed specifically at dog lovers who want to treat their four-legged friends to homemade dog biscuits during the festive season.