Beckmann’s Old World Bakery was founded by Peter Beckmann in November 1985. Son of a craftsman family, he apprenticed in bread-making at Mantei Bakery in Heidelberg, Germany. After moving to the United States in 1982, Peter had a longing for the traditional breads of his home country, Germany. He baked the first commercial loaves in his kitchen oven and hand-delivered those first samples on his bicycle to four local Santa Cruz grocery stores. This was the start of a bakery that to this day has been honoring the German commitment to traditional artisan bread making.