He is known as the creator of baking powder as a ready-to-use product, and also as the founder of the Dr. Oetker company.

Prior to Oetker, a British chemist, Alfred Bird, had already invented baking powder, and American scientist Eben Norton Horsford had developed a ready-made 'double-acting' baking powder.

From 1890, he distributed his invention under the brand name Backin, thus laying the basis for the family-owned company, called Oetker-Gruppe.

On September 21, 1909, Oetker filed a patent for his Procedure for making long-lasting baking powder or ready-to-bake flour.

In 1900, Oetker built his first manufacturing plant and, by 1906, had sold 50 million packages of Backin.