Luke Karl

Luke Karl grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, where his grandfather was a third-generation bakery owner.

Following in his family’s footsteps, Luke swapped a career in data analytics in 2009 for that of an apprentice baker, working his way up through the ranks to become general manager of retail scratch business Dinkel’s Bakery in Chicago, Illinois, from 2008 to 2022.

Employing between 25 to 50 employees, depending on the time of the year, Dinkel’s was a full line German bakery famed for its hand-shaped stollen. Something of local icon, it was also notable for its custom cakes, cookies, donuts, pies, Danish pastries, coffee cakes, croissants, and bread. As well as building up a collection of baking qualifications, Luke made a point of knowing the intricacies of every job at the company.

He also found that public speaking and presentations were an important part of his role. Because Dinkel’s was a historic landmark, he acted as a tour guide for regular groups of local students whose schools wanted to show them what a working bakery looked like, as well as for other groups, including the Retail Bakers Association and RPIA. Luke also sat on the board for the Chicago Area Retail Bakers Association.

Luke joined bakery software provider Cybake in 2022, where a large part of his responsibility is taking meetings with bakery owners and giving presentations to trade organizations such as RIPA and state-level retail baking associations.

References

Rick Crawford – Former RPIA President

Scott Calvert – Former RBA President

Norm Dinkel – Owner Dinkel’s Bakery