Baking & Snack - May 2014 - 16

ABA, QBA honor Lepage's legacy
Albert Lepage, outgoing chairman of the Quality Bakers of
America Cooperative (QBA), received a tribute in March from
his successor as chairman, R. Jack Lewis Jr., president of Lewis
Brothers Bakeries, Inc., Evansville, IN.
At a special dinner held during the annual meeting of the
American Bakers Association (ABA) in Scottsdale, AZ, Mr.
Lepage was honored for his many years of service to QBA. A
member of QBA's board for more than 15 years, Mr. Lepage
served as treasurer and chairman the past 12. He will be retiring
from Flowers Foods following a long career in the baking industry. Flowers acquired Lepage Bakeries, which had been led for
many years by Mr. Lepage, in July 2012.
QBA members also elevated Peter Rollins to vice-chairman.
Mr. Rollins is senior vice-president of product strategy and marketing at Bimbo Bakeries USA, Horsham, PA. Member companies of QBA bake and distribute Sunbeam brand bread in the US
and Mexico.
During the ABA annual convention, Mr. Lepage was recognized for his long service as treasurer of that association.

Albert Lepage was honored at ABA's annual meeting for his service to ABA and QBA.

Gen Y influence buying most

Marketing strategies must change if bakers are to be successful
with millennials, according to Curt Steinhorst, certified generational keynote speaker for the Center for Generational Kinetics,
Austin, TX, presenting at the annual meeting of the American
Bakers Association (ABA).
Millennials are the largest generation since baby boomers with
79.8 million in the cohort. Also known as Gen Y, they have $1 trillion in spending power. By 2017, Mr. Steinhorst predicted, they
will outspend boomers, and the spending gap between the two age
groups will become exponentially greater over time as the older
generation heads into retirement.
But the numbers only tell part of the story. Mr. Steinhorst also
called Gen Y "the most influential generation" because they have
fundamentally changed how Americans communicate and they
have become the first group of consumers to comfortably shop
for food online, via social media and on mobile devices.
"The way that Gen Y buys, every single other generation is modeling their buying habits after," he explained to attendees at ABA's annual convention in Scottsdale, AZ, in March. "While this group now
makes up one-third of the market, if you understand what they're
doing, you're going to get far more than one-third of the market."
Conventional advertising and marketing isn't as effective as in
the past. Rather, Mr. Steinhorst noted, communicating with this
generation in person, via YouTube or through a positive experience with a product provides the best potential for brand loyalty.
Establishing loyalty can mean huge dividends in the long run.
"Gen Y is three times more likely to refer [their preferences to
others] than any other generation," Mr. Steinhorst explained. "If
they have a good experience with your brand, they're going to
show up tomorrow with seven of their friends in a Kia. They'll tell
their 1,500 friends on Facebook."
- Dan Malovany

Flowers reveals plans for former Hostess plants
Slow and steady is the strategy Flowers Foods,
Thomasville, GA, has lined out for reopening plants
acquired as part of its purchase of certain Hostess
Brands bread assets last year.
Brad Alexander, president of Flowers
Bakeries/DSC segment, described the company's plan that has it opening between five
and seven bakeries over the next five years.
Flowers acquired 20 idled plants and
other "bread assets" from Hostess. The
first of the bakeries to reopen was in
Henderson, NV, in late 2013.
The plant produces Nature's Own
for markets in Nevada and California.

16 Baking & Snack May 2014 / www.bakingandsnack.com

Flowers is opening a bakery in Knoxville, TN. It will operate with
one bread line and be renamed Flowers Baking Co. of Knoxville.
In the next two-year timeframe, Mr. Alexander said Flowers expects to open two to three bakeries to support its sales growth, with
another two to three bakeries in 2017 and 2018.
But not all the former Hostess plants will be reopened. Mr.
Alexander said Flowers listed nine bakeries and 21 depots for sale.
"We have contracts pending on several of those properties, and
several transactions for sale of the depots are completed," he said.
"On an annual basis, our carry-in costs would be reduced by about
$10 million when the bakeries and the depots are sold. We could
see improvement in 2014 of as much as $5 million. We have inventoried all equipment and parts for possible use in other bakeries."
- Eric Schroeder, Milling & Baking News

http://www.bakingandsnack.com

Baking & Snack - May 2014

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