Who are we?
We are KeKS. The manufactory for cookies, cakes and soups.
All our products are free from wheat, gluten, lactose and alcohol. Our cookies, cakes and soups are made from 100% plant-based ingredients. Full of flavor & enjoyment.
Production and sales in Biel/Bienne. Soon also shipping within Switzerland.
Be informed as soon as the website goes live - click here.
Who is Inez-Maria Birkholz and why did she found KeKS?
I love high-quality, delicious food - straight to the founding impulse. That used to be different. It was less important to me what I ate, the main thing was that I was full.
In 2006, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The doctors said that I could keep my diet as it was, but I felt that I would feel better if I ate differently than before.
It was 2012 before that actually happened. On December 26, I decided that I no longer wanted to eat meat. I implemented this promptly, despite all the criticism from those around me as to why I changed my diet to vegetarian. I was and still am much better off than before.
On January 1, 2016, I decided that alcohol and I would go our separate ways from now on. - It was one of the best decisions in my life. Since then, instead of being drunk on alcohol, I've been going through life being drunk on joie de vivre and lightness.
Every year I ate less and less animal products such as eggs, cheese, milk and yogurt.
After a major dental operation in 2021, where I had to give up dairy products for a week to help my wounds heal, I realized that I felt better without dairy products. Then I left them out. Contrary to all the assumptions of so-called experts, I have no deficiency symptoms.
Fun fact: Most people who get to know me estimate me to be 10 years younger than I actually am.
My wheat allergy appeared in 2022, and I discovered that my allergy also includes spelt, oats, rye and all other gluten-containing grains.
After the initial shock and the question of what else I could eat, I learned how many foods and dishes I could prepare: A lot. I eat differently than I did before the allergy started. At the same time, it gives me the freedom to leave out a lot of industrially produced products because they contain wheat, but I want to avoid an allergic reaction.
But what I don't want to do without are 100% plant-based and wheat/gluten-free cookies, cakes and soups. As these are rarely available to buy, I decided to bake and cook them myself.
First “just” for myself. Then also when I visit my neighbors (aged 90 and 59). They are very enthusiastic about the green pea soup, the Juraglück bread and the Jura cookies.
One day I was on my way by public transport to visit a colleague for whom I had baked a poppy seed and cherry cake. On the way, several women over 70, whom I didn't know, told me how delicious the cake looks and asked if I would sell it. - Women that age have usually already baked hundreds of cakes, so they are experts in the field. Positive feedback from them is - I think - like an award.
That was the spark that encouraged and motivated me to reorganize my business, take a completely different direction and now make and sell cookies, cakes and soups myself.
It's the start of a journey that I don't yet know how it will go and where it will take me. But I'm really looking forward to it. If it continues the way it has started, it can only succeed. Especially because the feedback from men who are "all-eaters" and have already had the pleasure of eating the Jura cookies has been very positive.
Thank you for reading this far.
I am currently creating the website and store for keksmanufaktur.ch. Would you like to receive a message when it goes live? Then please enter your e-mail address in the form.
If you have any questions about KeKSManufaktur and its range of products in advance, you can send me a message to inez-maria-birkholz@mail.ch or a WhatApp to 078 301 58 57.
Add to the list
Sign up and get informed when we go live.