Photo by Kamp Fender.
Klingler’s Cafe, Bakery and Catering on U.S. 31 offers traditional German cuisine, like its crowd favorite, smoked Bratwurst.
When locals go inside Klingler’s Café, Bakery and Catering, the cozy, quaint building is filled with odds and ends like old cuckoo clocks, an impressive collection of German steins and nutcrackers, pictures and paintings of favorite Germany attractions and, most importantly, the warm, delicious smell of freshly baked goods.
The savory aroma of smoked sausage usually fills the air, too.
Irmgard Klingler, known affectionately to most of Vestavia Hills as “M,” opened the locally famous European-style bakery and authentic German cuisine restaurant in Vestavia with her husband, now deceased, in 1991 after a brief stint in an Alabaster retail market that had a bakery.
When the move to Vestavia was possible, Klingler, who is now 84 years old, was excited to be in the mix of Birmingham, where there were more families and consumer demand for a locally owned and operated family business just like theirs.
“We have been here that long, and the people supported us because they know how we work hard,” Klingler said. “We are family. We bake everything. We cook everything. We care, and we eat the same food as you do.”
Klingler said even the baker, who is one of the people who works with them who is not related by blood, has been with them for the last 28 years, baking side-by-side with them almost every day. Klingler’s cooks fresh and by order, she said, and bakes all of their cakes and pastries themselves.
Born in Germany, Klingler moved here when she was 19 years old, bringing with her many of her family baking traditions and German recipes. She loved those recipes and has incorporated them into the business since they started it, making it the only German-styled restaurant and bakery in Vestavia.
“It’s just normal. I was cooking in school, growing up. As a German, we are always baking and cooking; you’d never go out to eat. There was nowhere during the war,” she said, noting she has plenty of practice.
Klingler said people love the focus on the German culture and love to talk to her about their travels to the country or their German relatives.
Photo by Kamp Fender.
Irmgard Klingler, known affectionately to most of Vestavia Hills as “M,” was born in Germany and moved here when she was 19 years old, bringing with her many of her family baking traditions and German recipes. She and her husband opened Klingler’s Café, Bakery and Catering in 1991.
Only recently, she turned the family-run restaurant and bakery, which is also a successful event and catering business, over to her daughter, Michelle Witherington, who now operates as the chef. Klingler said she is proud to see her daughter so involved and able to do it all, especially after working so many years and knowing how much time and energy it takes. Her daughter even tweaks and tests new recipes to add to the menu, because of how many people come from all over to try their hand-crafted food.
Even though Witherington technically owns the company, she chuckles at this, because she is still attempting to beat her mom at some tasks, like her unreal ability to always answer the phone no matter where she is.
“I’m proud of her, like I said, as hard-headed I am, it’s hard for her at times to do what she wants to do. I don’t want to let go—it’s hard when you’ve done it for 30 years to let it go, but I’m turning it loose,” Klingler said.
She still comes into the restaurant most every day to help, and both her and Witherington say they come from an extremely hard-working family, one that has a passion for the food and customers they serve.
“I’m always here. I’m one of the first ones to come and the last one to leave. I like to talk to my customers. It makes it fun,” Klingler said. “And people just light up when my daughter is here. Everyone loves her.”
Klingler first started off making cheesecakes at her house then selling them as a hobby until it turned into a business as soon as her children left Birmingham to go to college, she said.
Despite Witherington attending college, she came home almost every weekend to work for her mother because she knew opening a business is difficult and her family needed help.
“Her constant work ethic, her passion — that’s rubbed off on me,” Witherington said.
Witherington likes being able to offer people a taste of the German culture and said, “It’s fun to be able to introduce something to somebody.”
Her favorite parts of being involved in the company over the years, she said, have been the fast pace, being around the customers, the creativity, and the opportunity to work with her family.
She is currently earning her chef certificate.
Photo by Kamp Fender.
Klingler’s Cafe, Bakery and Catering on U.S. 31 offers traditional German baked goods, such as German Chocolate Cake and Black Forest Cake.
“I’m able to be around [my family] and just have that civility. It’s almost like having a house where everybody comes to eat at,” Witherington said.
Klingler’s sells special children’s lunches, which come with Kinder chocolate packs, a toy and are wrapped up in a special cloth. It also serves more than just German food, Klingler said, including salads and soups.
The most popular meal item on the menu is the smoked Bratwurst, Klingler said, but the Black Forest Cake tops the charts for the desserts. It has also won multiple local and regional awards.
Witherington’s oldest daughter works at the bakery when she’s not at college, and her youngest son helps out as well, even at 11 years old, so he can be part of the family tradition.
For more information, go to klinglers.com.
