BBM Magazine Issue-Sayı: 43 March/April - Mart/Nisan 2021

57 INTERVIEW • RÖPORTAJ BBM / MARCH - APRIL 2021 • MART - NİSAN 2021 The increase in the exchange rate increases the costs of flour and yeast. What kind of measures do you take against this situation as the owner of a small business? The attitude that the owner of a small business can take would only be to increase the exchange rate and to sur- vive with increasing product variety and selling profitable products. This can be done by heading towards boutique bakeries more. What kind of conveniences do flour and yeast pro- ducing companies provide for you? Flour and yeast producers can provide conveniences for us only through extending maturity. However, in the face of these price increases, both flour and yeast compa- nies know that they will have difficulty in getting the mon- ey of the product they give with these prices. Therefore, companies that thought that they could not get the money for the product they gave to some bakers began to act selectively against bakeries and canceled maturities. Does the sector have difficulties in terms of qualified personnel? There are serious problems regarding qualified person- nel. The reason is quite simple. In fact, neither our own children nor any apprentice approaches this profession because they know that they will not make enough money. A lot of Syrian or foreign workers are being employed in our sector. What are the advantages and disadvan- tages of this? I am personally against employing foreign workers. I think that only competent people should do this job be- cause those who do not have serious qualifications can- not do this job and also because of the high unemploy- ment figures in our country. However, unfortunately, we hear that there are too many businesses employing for- eign workers in order to reduce cost expenses and to employ cheap labor. What are the popular types of bread lately? Are peo- ple interested in purple bread? The rapid increase in interest in products such as pur- ple bread and variety bread, such as rye, sourdough, and whole wheat, leads the industry to develop itself in this direction. We will have to keep up with this change so that our struggle for existence continues. In this sense, I want to thank Istanbul University Sankara Brain and Bio- technology Research Center Founder Prof. Dr. İhsan Kara, the inventor of purple bread produced as a result of 12 years of work, and also his team. It has been a beneficial product in terms of health. At the same time, thanks to this product, diabetic patients will be able to eat bread. I can say that it attracts great attention from our customers. Suriyeli veya yabancı işçi çalıştırma sektörde çok fazla. Bunun avantaj ve dezavantajları nelerdir? Yabancı işçi çalıştırma konusunda şahsım olarak karşıyım. Memleketimiz de bu kadar işsizlik varken ve bu meslek her önüne gelecek kişi ile yapılacak bir meslek olmadığı için ehil insanların yapması gerektiği kanısındayım. Fakat maliyet giderlerini kısmak adına maalesef ucuz işçilik adına yabancı çalıştıran işletmelerin azımsanmayacak kadar fazla olduğunu duyuyoruz. Son dönemde revaçta olan ekmek çeşitleri hang- ileridir? İnsanlar mor ekmeğe ilgi gösteriyor mu? Mor ekmek ve çeşit ekmek dediğimiz, çavdar, ekşi mayalı, tam buğday gibi ürünlere ilginin hızla artması sektörün bu yöne doğru kendini geliştirmesine yol açıyor. Bu değişikliğe ayak uydurmak zorunda kalacağız ki var olma mücadelemiz sürsün. Bu an- lamda 12 yıllık çalışma sonucu üretilen mor ekmeğin mucidi İstanbul Üniversitesi Sankara Beyin ve Bi- yoteknoloji Araştırma Merkezi Kurucusu Prof. Dr. İhsan Kara ve ekibine teşekkür ediyorum. Hem sağlık açısından faydalı bir ürün oldu hem de diyabet ve tan- siyon hastalarının ekmek yemelerine engel ortadan kalktı. Müşterilerimiz tarafından büyük ilgi gördüğünü söyleyebilirim.