Baking & Snack - November 2013 - 12

Now, that's sweet!

When it comes to developing new products, Legendary Baking knows where
to turn. It finds what's hot in the market and builds a dessert around it.
Even if it's bacon. Yes, bacon.
Two years ago, the Denver-based producer of pies, bars, cookies and
other sweet goods launched The Salty Hog as a limited-time offer. It started
with a layer of salty caramel and almonds, a layer of French silk, a layer of
chocolate cake and another layer of whipped cream and topped it off with a
half strip of caramelized bacon.
"It was one of those products where people said, 'I'm not going to eat that,'
but when you tried it, it really knocked your socks off," recalled Tim Kanaly,
division president for Legendary Baking. "We saw a lot of salty caramel and
bacon emerging in new products, and we put something together to see if it
works. There is no shortage of ideas out there."
No kidding. Earlier this year, Legendary Baking brought together
industry experts as well as plant managers, product developers and even
line operators to powwow in an ideation session. Over the course of a few
days, it developed 56 pages of potential new products. "We threw stuff at
the wall, and no idea was too bizarre," said Mark Van Iwaarden, director of
marketing. "We just wanted to come up with concepts that we have never
dreamt up before."
One concept included a pie within a pie. Apparently, one of Legendary's
R&D personnel likes his black-and-tan beer and thought the idea might
work in the dessert category.
"You have a larger pie, then a smaller one within the middle of it," Mr. Van
Iwaarden said. "You have two different fillings, one in the middle and one on
the outside. Obviously, there are some baking complexities to it."
Stay tuned. Consider the first version - a chocolate cream pie with an
amaretto interior - still a work in progress, according to Mr. Van Iwaarden.
The company is currently tweaking the concept.
To discover new products, bakers and snack manufacturers need to check
out other segments of the food industry. For instance, the candy category
offers a wealth of ideas, such as a European truffle, that can be brought to life
in a frozen dessert format. Or even the snack cake category can provide food
for thought. Think red velvet in a frozen cake or pie form.
Mr. Kanaly noted that Legendary Baking is not only challenging
itself internally but also by its wide customer base ranging from
chefs, in-store bakeries and even convenience stores to its
Bakers Square and Village Inn restaurant chains that its parent
company, American Blue Ribbon Holdings, owns.
While many companies play it safe by creating knockoffs of
other successful products, Legendary Baking prides itself on
testing the limits of creativity. Its only challenges are executing new concepts properly, finding a way to produce them at a
large scale and convincing consumers to take the first bite.
"In the end, it's all about teaching people it's okay to try something new," Mr. Kanaly explained.
- Dan Malovany, editor
dmalovany@sosland.com
12

/ Baking & Snack / November 2013

EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor
Executive Editor
Managing Editor

Dan Malovany
dmalovany@sosland.com
Laurie Gorton
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Joanie Spencer
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Charlotte Atchley
catchley@sosland.com
Contributing Editors:
Donna Berry
donnaberry@dairy-food.com
Theresa Cogswell
bakercogs@sbcglobal.net
Jim Kline
jkline@theensolgroup.com
Joe Stout
joe.stout@cf-san.com
Associate Editor

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Baking & Snack - November 2013

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