Baking&Snack - February 2014 - 48

MILE HI BAKERY

"Our vision is to be a long-term
supplier of quality bakery items ...
by providing a modern approach
to customized business solutions.
"
Kristy Taddonio Mullins, Mile Hi Foods

Connections and transitions
Fresh potatoes rooted Mile Hi Foods' business with
McDonald's Corp. during the 1950s. Seeing the opportunity offered by the quickly growing fast food restaurant
chain, the Denver-based distributor quickly shifted gears
and followed its customer into the future. In 1984, the
fast food giant approached the company to establish a
40,000-sq-ft bakery at the Mile Hi distribution center.
For the first two years, the bakery ran under a contract with McCaffery Baking, a local Denver company.
Mile Hi then shifted the facility's management to East
Balt, Inc., a Chicago-based company operating many
bun bakeries in the US and overseas.
In late 2012, as the Denver bakery outgrew its capacity, things changed at East Balt, too. It was purchased by
One Equity Partners, New York. Mile Hi then decided to
run the bakery itself, and to make the transition easier,
it hired the former East Balt managers who had been
running its plant all along.
The new bakery decision was among the first involving Kristy Taddonio Mullins, who took over the company
presidency from her father, Tony Taddonio, in 2013.
He now serves as CEO and noted that Kristy brings a
fresh spirit and modern approach to the business. Ms.
Taddonio Mullins represents the family's fourth generation to lead Mile Hi.
"Planning for the future is a big priority with Kristy,
"
Mr. Taddonio observed. She brought in John Borowski, a
19-year veteran at East Balt, as vice-president, corporate
services and bakery, Mile Hi Foods, for his financial and
administrative expertise. "He also served as a 'sounding
board' for the expansion, Mr. Taddonio added.
"
Today, Mile Hi consists of three divisions: Mile Hi
Bakery, a high-volume bun bakery producing buns
in many styles; Mile Hi Foods, a distributor serving McDonald's restaurants in the Rocky Mountain,
Southwest and Northwest regions; and Mile Hi
Specialty Foods, a separate distributor independently
supplying restaurants in 16 states including the Rocky
Mountain region and Texas. The Mile Hi campus also
houses the Taddonio Family Foundation focused on
serving the needs of children.

48 Baking & Snack February 2014 / www.bakingandsnack.com

support the quality of life and work for its staff. Best of
all, Mile Hi already owned the building, purchased five
years earlier.
"All told, this building came very close to what we
could have achieved with a greenfield site," Mr. Chan said.
Mr. Taddonio added, "It made perfect sense to come
over here. The capacity of the new bakery puts Kristy in
position to really grow the business."

Starting up anew
On Jan. 28, Mile Hi celebrated the grand opening of the
new bakery, a 128,000-sq-ft facility on the company's
5-acre campus of warehouse and distribution facilities. It
houses a single computer-integrated bun line that boosts
capacity by 80% over the previous bakery. It runs 5,400
doz hamburger buns an hour, and the business expects
to produce more than 28 million doz buns annually.
As now set up, Mile Hi Bakery makes plain and
seeded buns, double-cut seeded buns, whole-grain buns,
yellow pub buns, hoagie buns and burger bundles. Bun
diameters range from 35/8 to 4½ in. Mile Hi ships these
products frozen to the big names in the QSR world: the
bakery's original client, McDonald's, as well as Wendy's,
Red Robin, Good Times, Artic Circle and more.
"We have a core set of customers," Mr. Chan explained. "And we needed to be prepared to grow with
them to serve their needs. Do that, and you'll set up both
them and us for the future."
To hit the goals set by the Taddonio family, the new
bakery had to be efficient, flexible and productive in
terms of product quality and output, and it had to offer a
workplace supportive of its human staff. Essential to the
project was setting the site up for LEED Gold certification, and that choice affected all aspects of the project
from construction materials to equipment selection.
Plus, there's still plenty of room to add two more processing lines. "We're going wherever our customers drive
us," Mr. Taddonio said. "We want to be a complete supplier, not just limited to the bun styles made at the older
plant. And with all the extra space, we could add English
muffins and an artisan roll line."
With the new bakery now up and running, Mile Hi
is transferring staff from the old bakery to the new one.
Some of its equipment has already been moved to the
new site, and more will follow. The old plant will soon be
converted into additional warehouse space, something
Mile Hi also needs.

Researching, implementing, financing
Mile Hi's original bakery started up with the nation's
first fully computer-integrated bun line, and its new
operation expands on that approach. Because the company maintained a strong working relationship over all

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