German born Georg Gehrig always wanted to be a butcher. In his eyes, it was the butchers who drove Mercedes cars, whilst the bakers could only afford old vans. But with both father and grandfather as Master Bakers', destiny claimed the 'poorer' path for Georg. He began his baking apprenticeship with his father in Frankfurt at age 15 (although he had been working in the bakery washing the pots and pans after school for many years). At 18, he left to complete 18 months compulsory service with the German Army.

At 23, Georg became one of the world's youngest ever Master Bakers, completing his degree at the Bundesfachschule des Deutschen Backerhandwerks. Two years later, Georg set his sights further afield and migrated to Adelaide with his young family, speaking no English, with little financial resources and knowing no-one. Within one week he landed on his feet and began baking with Otto's Bakery at Hahndorf.

Having now established his life in Adelaide, he moved on to Budapest Cakes in Kent Town. Just six months later, opportunity came knocking when the Swiss Patisserie on Unley Road came up for sale. Georg jumped at the opportunity of running his own business. In the next 8 years, Georg expanded the one-man business to two shops with 15 staff. During this time he was also approached by Regency College of TAFE to lecture in the Bakery Section.

In 1990, Georg sold the Swiss Patisserie to concentrate purely on lecturing. A short time later, he was approached by Hong Kong based, Sheridan Patisserie to help establish their business in Port Adelaide as Production and Sales Manager. Georg missed working directly in a bakery and left Sheridan to join first Budapest Cakes, then Cowley's Bakeries. Frustrated at the quality of baked products in Australia, and missing the tastes of German Bread, Georg set out establish his own business with the Rye Mill Bakery in 1994. Over the past ten years, Rye Mill has grown from a family business distributing 10 products - to now employing 16 staff distributing 200 products across SA. But this is just the beginning for Rye Mill - Georg has plans for Australia-wide Distribution in the coming years.

And he's still working on the Mercedes!