Baking & Snack - October 2016 - 42

MASADA BAKERY

closely with the Masada team to streamline all processes.
Packaging operations use three UBE baggers,
equipped with Kwik Lok closure systems. A Formost
Fuji slicer handles organic breads. Mettler Toledo
metal detectors monitor all packaged goods. Photos
that depict the desired color and shape of the finished
product are posted on large signs that hang above the
packaging lines.
Operators load packaged products into cases or
group them onto basket-style trays. Cases are palletized and stabilized with stretch film. The operator then
applies a routing tag to each pallet and stack of filled
trays. The tags are read by the ToolBox system at the
distribution center to guide van and truck loading according to customer orders.

Building on an entrepreneurial base
It's not by chance that Masada Bakery takes its name from a
historic site in Israel. The Stein brothers, who are Israeli Jews
from the Qumran region of the West Bank, wanted their bakery customers to make the connection with their history.
During the 1970s, the brothers' parents lived in the Atlanta
area. Hezi Stein came to the US in 1976 to set up a restaurant
to support the family while he studied art. "I couldn't find
good pita bread, so I started my own bakery," he said. Not
only couldn't he find pita, he couldn't find European-style
healthy breads either.
"I had the equipment to bake more than our restaurant
needed, so I started making and selling those products as
well," he said. Eventually he closed the restaurant and moved
the bakery into a separate location. And in 1989, he enlisted
his brother, an architecture student, to run the operations side
of the bakery.
The Bakery Companies (TBC), formerly Tennessee Bun
Co., originated with that most American of enterprises,
McDonald's, and it is equally entrepreneurial. TBC's founder and CEO Cordia Harrington previously owned three
McDonald's restaurants in Central Illinois. While she served as
chairman of the St. Louis purchasing committee, she became
intrigued by the supply side of foodservice, specifically, the
buns. When McDonald's launched its minority suppliers initiative, she put her name in for the next bakery development
opportunity.
That resulted in TBC's first high-speed bun bakery at
Dickson, TN, opened in 1997. Her business thrived. She added
two more production locations and a frozen distribution business. In 2014, TBC acquired Masada.
Among her many honors, Ms. Harrington was awarded
Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2015 for the Southeast.
The alumni association at her alma mater, University of
Arkansas, named her its 2016 Johnson Fellow.

42 Baking & Snack October 2016 / www.bakingandsnack.com

Frozen opportunities opened up to Masada when it
added the distribution center. "We are about 75 to 80%
fresh right now," Hezi Stein said.
"DSD is always challenging, especially to grow," Koby
Stein noted. "Growth on frozen is only limited by capacity."

The organic path
The big news, of course, is introduction of Masada
Bakery brand organic bread and buns. The launch offers
two varieties - Holy Grain, made with cracked wheat,
and Heavenly Seed, featuring sunflower, pumpkin and
sesame seeds - in sliced loaf and sandwich bun styles.
The bakery was already producing organic products
for several customers, so adding the retail line was a
natural extension. Masada invested a year to set up these
products and to get the ingredients and process certified.
"This bakery is designed for artisan, fully enrobed
products, which these new items are," Ms. Harrington
said. "For these, we are using old Stein family recipes,
and the packaging evokes the Masada legacy. It carries a
message about breaking bread together and is signed by
Hezi and Koby."
Much effort went into getting the products and process certified organic by Quality Assurance International
(QAI), which is accredited by the USDA's National
Organic Program. "Organic certification is like kosher
on steroids," Mr. Maddox quipped. "There are a number
of detailed inspections and reviews. It is a long process.
"QAI did a site review to examine the ingredients and
how they are stored, how our process works and how we
manage the equipment to maintain organic standards
and controls in the bakery," he explained. The certifying body also evaluated all ingredient suppliers and the
farming practices for those ingredients.
Making the seed-enrobed organic breads is a complex process. Doughs are mixed and then portioned by
the Reiser Vemag divider that handles the particulateladen doughs without damaging them. Dough pieces
go through an intermediate proof and are then sheeted
and moulded. Line operators apply seeds to fully enrobe
each loaf. "This confidential process gives the Masada
organic line its soul," Hezi Stein explained.
"Luxurious, moist and delicious" is how Layla Orgel,
sales and marketing coordinator, described the new
loaves and buns.

Venturing into the new
While Masada's new organic line builds on the bakery's
artisan heritage, it also moves the company into another
category. "We are seeing in the market more things that
would once have been considered very niche products
but are growing today," Koby Stein observed.
It's these types of product opportunities that Masada

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