Putting our heart in it - our seven quality promises

Since the foundation of the company, Lebkuchen-Schmidt’s defining principle has always been to offer its customers "exquisite quality", whether through our delicious Gingerbread and pastry specialities, or our extensive range of services.
Take a look behind the scenes of Lebkuchen-Schmidt and see our high standards for yourself. With care and a sense of responsibility, we are committed to ensuring that you receive only the best of the best.

You'll see, we "put our heart into it" in all areas!
The special ingredients
Only the best is good enough for us! At Lebkuchen-Schmidt, everything revolves around enjoyment and well-being. The basis for this is our exquisite ingredients. We select them carefully and pay attention to consistent quality and freshness.
We crack the best nuts for you
Our almonds and walnuts thrive under the Californian sun. The cashews come from the best growing regions in Brazil and we source our hazelnuts directly from Turkey. We grind the nuts fresh in-house. This allows us to adjust the degree of grinding (from very fine to slightly crunchy) to the respective recipe in order to achieve the optimum consistency of our gingerbread. You can feel this exactly when you compare the individual varieties.
Spices for a refined taste
We mix our exquisite spices down to the gram: cinnamon, cardamom, aniseed, ginger, cloves, coriander, allspice and one or two little secrets result in delicious flavor compositions.
Not too sweet and not too bitter
The chocolate used to coat our chocolate-coated gingerbread and decorate various types of cookies contains 70% cocoa. It is easily recognizable by its deep dark color, silky sheen and, of course, its delicious taste.
Gingerbread - only perfect with honey
Even in ancient times, honey was one of the basic ingredients of gingerbread. For our traditional pastries, we take special care to ensure that the honey we use for baking meets our strict quality guidelines and, of course, the guiding principles for honey.
Fresh produce from Franconia
and the surrounding area is delivered directly to our bakery via short routes.
It couldn't be fresher!
The careful production
We produce responsibly, which means that we pay attention to the careful processing of the valuable raw materials.
 
Quality is made by people ...
... – for people. Values such as care, honesty, reliability, respect and fairness are important to us. In our dealings with each other and with our customers.
We bake top products of the highest quality
This only works with well-trained employees who understand their craft. This is where competence, expertise and love for the product come together – resulting in delicacies for even the most discerning connoisseurs.
We cultivate baking culture and craftsmanship
The quality of our gingerbread and cookie specialties is based on select ingredients and careful processing. Even though modern machines are used to make the physically demanding work easier for our employees, a lot of manual labor is still required.
We carefully guard traditional recipes
We take great care to ensure that they remain our secret. Only very few people in the company know all the recipes.
Trust is good – control is better
An entire department is dedicated exclusively to checking the quality of our products. This begins with the incoming goods inspection of the raw materials, through the individual stages of the manufacturing process to the finished product. It goes without saying that strict attention is paid to hygiene and that production may only be entered in appropriate work clothing.
Our suppliers ...
… are thoroughly scrutinized. Through regular inspections and checks on site, we ensure that the quality of production is always consistently high. We pay meticulous attention to ensuring that product safety and hygiene regulations are complied with 100%. It is also particularly important to us that the raw materials we use are grown and produced in an environmentally conscious way and that production is fair. Those who supply us are regularly inspected - even after many years of cooperation - and must be able to prove that they fully meet our quality requirements.
With tradition and innovation
Innovation is at the heart of everything we do. To create innovative products takes decades of experience. We maintain our baking tradition while testing, evaluating and designing new products.
With tradition at the pulse of time
We are committed to the tradition of good old-fashioned baking. What was good and what is good will remain good. We refine traditional gingerbread, we create new taste experiences based on traditional recipes. We develop completely new delicacies with crunchy almonds and nuts, creamy nougat, fine cocoa, exquisite spices, melt-in-the-mouth chocolate and many other high-quality ingredients.
They know what matters
Our master bakers in product development compose, taste and improve. Weighing and mixing is still done by hand. They taste until every last nuance is just right. The result is tempting treats for everyone who wants variety. What always remains the same: High quality is the top priority for “old” and “new” compositions.
“Gingerbread of the year”
Winner of fine taste: Since 2009, we have been presenting a new gingerbread specialty under this motto every year. In 2013, for example, we named the Schwarze Elise Gingerbread of the Year. Its “dark secret”: the subtly bitter cocoa note and the delicious chocolate coating with 70% cocoa content make it a taste sensation. The gingerbread of the year 2014 is our Baked Apple Elise. The taste of cinnamon and apple make for a very special gingerbread experience.
Only the very best for you!
Our range of merchandise: Our strict quality controls and guidelines also extend to items that we buy in: Cakes and tarts, chocolates, sweets, snacks, spices, soups, sauces, savory foods, wine and spirits.
The design
Made by experts, appreciated by connoisseurs! Our collection of chests and tins is redesigned by well-known artists and young designers every year.
... guest at “Kontrast”
Bertram Trattmann and Gerhard Gradel have been working with us for many years and surprise us every year with new, creative ideas.
Bertram Trattmann ...
... was born with a love of creative design: His grandfather was a graphic artist and painter. His father was also a painter and he himself continues this family tradition. In 1997, Bertram Trattmann founded the “Kontrast” studio together with Gerhard Gradel and since then has mainly been involved in developing new enchanting motifs for our gingerbread chests and tins every year. Especially with historical Nuremberg motifs, the research effort is immense. It's a good thing that we have a wealth of old engravings, illustrations, photographs and books at our disposal. Finding the right ornamentation requires a sure instinct and stylistic confidence.
Gerhard Gradel ...
... is responsible for ensuring that the image motifs later fit perfectly on the sheet metal. The trained lithographer prepares the data for printing, processes the ornaments, calculates the distortions and ensures with a trained eye that the finished object corresponds exactly to the artist's ideas.
Packed fresh from the oven
You can be sure that absolute freshness is our top priority, both in our ingredients and in the finished Gingerbread and pastries. We bake every day and, right up until Christmas, our ovens are glowing. As soon as they come out of the oven, our sweet deli
Short distances directly to the customer
Our gingerbread and cookie specialties go straight to where they are usually eagerly awaited without long intermediate storage and without a detour via the food trade: to the big and small gourmets, for whom only one thing counts: “Hmmm - close your eyes and enjoy...”
“Excellent quality”
We have regularly received DLG gold and silver medals for our baked goods for a long time. The food tests of the DLG (Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft e.V.) provide consumers with neutral and independent results on the quality of food. The DLG says about itself: “The product tests are carried out by scientific experts on the basis of current quality standards and recognized methods, in the spirit of active consumer protection.”
Gift service
Our tried-and-tested service ensures that your gifts reach their destination on time and on the desired date - at no extra cost!
We deliver directly to your desired address
You can have as many items as you like sent to different addresses within Germany from EUR 10 per delivery address at no extra cost. We offer the following delivery options:
  • Shipping to the invoice recipient, i.e. usually to your own address.
  • Shipping to a different delivery address, e.g. one of your relatives or friends
  • Shipment of one or more items to several recipients at once. This means you can give as many gifts as you like with one order.
Delivery on your desired date
Whether it's a birthday, name day, wedding, anniversary, St. Nicholas Day or Christmas - sometimes dates are just dates and must be kept. With us, you can have items sent on a specific desired date at no extra cost. We ensure that your shipment is handed over to the post office or another carrier on time. This usually ensures that your shipment arrives punctually and reliably to the recipient.
Completely individual options for your greetings
Give your parcel a very personal touch with a greeting message. This will get the recipient in the mood for the sweet contents of the parcel.
Greeting text on the parcel label
You can have a short greeting text printed on the parcel label free of charge. The parcel label also shows your address as the sender.
Enclose your own personal greetings
We are happy to enclose individual greetings from you, which you send us by post, in your parcel free of charge. Please send us your own greeting (e.g. card, letter, child's drawing) in an envelope and write the recipient's address on it.
Our range of greeting cards
Make your gift even more personal and valuable! Order one of our atmospheric greeting card motifs online now. We will print your individual greeting text at no extra charge and then enclose the card with your parcel. Please note that a maximum of 4 lines of 50 characters each can be printed in the IBM Bold Italic font.
A family business
What began in 1927 with a railway carriage full of Gingerbread and a good idea has become the world's oldest Gingerbread mail-order company and an important part of German Christmas culture.
The heart in the right place!
When E. Otto Schmidt founded the company in 1927, nobody could have imagined what a small bakery in the back of the house could one day become. Today, Lebkuchen-Schmidt is a world-renowned company whose high-quality products are ordered and appreciated by customers “around the globe” and praised for their top quality and freshness.

This is due not least to the tireless efforts of our dedicated employees in production, dispatch and administration, who have remained loyal to us for many years and decades.
By the way
The real “Nuremberg gingerbread” can only be produced within the city limits of Nuremberg. The term has been legally protected as a designation of origin since 1926 and as a geographical indication throughout Europe since 1996.