Baking&Snack - March 2017 - 50

RISE BAKING CO.

The Rise Baking Co. portfolio
- New French Bakery,
Best Maid Cookies, Hudson
Baking Co., and South Coast
Baking - combines to offer
one-stop convenience for
foodservice and in-store
bakery customers across
the country.
Rising Baking Co.

shipment, a label is printed and applied to each case.
"We don't maintain any stock on labels," Mr. Hayden
noted. "To me, you're asking for a food safety disaster if
you have printed labels lying around that could end up
on the wrong product." Instead, a blank roll is printed
and applied on each case one at a time.
On each label, a yellow highlighted box indicates the
lot code and batch information to close the loop. "If a
customer has a question, or there's ever an issue, we can
get the information from the yellow box and track it,"
Mr. Hayden said. "We can track everything."
As part of its GFSI certification, South Coast must be
able to, within four hours, track any product from raw
materials to 99% accountability for where it is. "GFSI
put us to that test. They walked through the plant and
would pick up a box in the freezer and hypothetically
say, 'The flour in this was contaminated,' and we were
able to track down within the hour where every one of
those cases was sent."

Test twice, ship once
Although the bakery doesn't currently manufacture fully
baked product, it still ensures that the frozen product
will bake consistently for every customer before shipping. Two LBC rack ovens are used to test bake each and
every batch. Twice.
"This is a critical component for our customers because when they buy frozen pucks, they could go to any
number of in-store bakeries across the country," Mr.
Ahlgren said. "They all need to bake consistently regardless of location or oven."
The test bakes not only ensure the frozen product will
hold up to the equipment but also that it will package
properly, whether in a clamshell, box or resealable bag.
"If they over-spread, they won't fit into the package; if
they under-spread, they'll be too thick and won't stack
properly. We have a very tight spec, and everything is
measured and monitored for spread and weight," Mr.
Hayden said.
Each batch is tested at the time it's run and then again
24 hours later. "We're on a positive release, which means
everything that's produced is on a hold until quality con-

50 Baking & Snack March 2017 / www.bakingandsnack.com

trol releases it," Mr. Hayden said. "Nothing leaves until
it's been tested twice. Nothing."

The great wide open
In the storage freezer, cases sit in -10°F while they await
release for shipment from the quality assurance department when both test batches are complete. "When we
were designing this plant, the freezer grew three times,"
Mr. Hayden recalled. "Because of how the building was
set up, we started at 20,000 sq ft. Then it went to 25,000.
Then we thought, 'You never can have enough freezer
space, so let's go to 33,000.' Maybe it will grow again,
who knows?' "
Springdale is a sealed plant; no drivers are allowed
into the facility (in fact, employees can't enter the facility without confirmation of "good standing" status and
cleared for a shift that day). Trucks back into one of
three bays on the frozen shipping dock, where it seals
up the trailer and a break locks it in to ensure a driver
doesn't prematurely pull away from the dock.
Outside the freezer is the great wide open. When designing the plant, South Coast built in flexibility to account for
additional growth. Just one wall separates the main production area from where the next production room will house
two more lines to mimic Line Nos. 1 and 2. But it doesn't
end there. "All we'll have to do is knock out a wall, and we'll
be able to add an oven," Mr. Schultz observed.
Mr. Hayden added, "We tried to think of everything."
Standing in this open space, one can look around and
easily glimpse the future. At the top of the wall of the warehouse space hang the Arkansas and California state flags.
"We need to add more flags now," Mr. Hayden said, referring to the integration of all the Rise Baking brands.
As Rise Baking continues on a growth trajectory -
perhaps opening another plant on the East Coast -
Springdale will continue to expand along with it, both
inside the existing plant and on the empty lot. "We can
double in size here," Mr. Schultz said, suggesting that the
plant should have significant baking assets within the
next five years. With the opportunity to expand its current production and go greenfield right next door, the
sky's the limit for these cookie kings.

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Baking&Snack - March 2017

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