Baking & Snack - December 2018 - 34

NEW HORIZONS

Manufacturers of custom and
proprietary blends and mixes
for the bakery and food
processing industries.

* Custom blending of bakery,
snack, health and nutrition
mixes & bases
* Bakery Mixes for chemically
and yeast leavened goods
* State of the art equipment
* Technical Expertise
* Varied Packaging Options
* Low Minimums
* Clean Label and Organic
Capabilities
* Quick turn-around times
* SQF Certified Facility

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For more information
call us today!
+1 973.426.9100
orders@kbingredients.com
www.kbingredients.com

supports another relatively new step for
New Horizons: freezing.

High-moisture English muffin dough can seem a bit like
pancake batter in the mixer.

From fresh to frozen

to 45°F, staling not only begins but it also
speeds up exponentially. "Our goal is to get
that product down to 20°F below zero within
8 hours," Mr. Harrison said. "The faster we
can get it there, the better the quality will be."
The process starts on the pallet; shrink
wrapping doesn't cover the entire stack
because the gaps help the cold air blow
through and freeze faster. Inside the freezer, pallets sit in blast cells, where 20-mph
wind is generated from fans in the ceiling.
"When you blast, it's all about air circulation," Mr. Harrison noted. Although the
goal is to freeze within 8 hours, this process
can usually hit the mark in about four.
"As a McDonald's supplier, going from
fresh to frozen was a big jump for us," Ms.
Bediako said. "Our entire shipping and receiving department has its own heartbeat."
For a bakery to remain successful after
half a century in business, it must be willing to look inward, ask difficult questions
- and accept the answers - and adjust
accordingly. "For the short-term, it's about
being stable and refining what we're doing," Ms. Bediako said. "We've had a good
amount of growth this past year, and as we
develop and perfect that, we ensure we're
on a solid platform for success. And that's
where the longevity comes from. If we don't
make our decisions appropriately as we go,
then we lose the long-term success."
Not only that, but it's also about keeping an eye on the horizon, so to speak. "I
believe we'll always have some degree of
growth," she said. "But it will be controlled
growth, not just for growth's sake."

Once McDonald's made the move to 100%
frozen bakery products, New Horizons
faced change. But oftentimes, change is
good because growth soon follows. In 2017,
the bakery added a 12,000-sq-ft freezer expansion to accommodate the shift.
For many bakers, freezing is not without its benefits, especially from an inventory standpoint. "You can manage your
supply," Mr. Harrison said. "You can run
your schedule the way you want, and
you're not at risk."
Before the switch to frozen, these products were out the door the same day. "Now,
I carry three-and-a-half days' inventory in
my freezer," Mr. Harrison said. "Then the
restaurants and the distribution centers
carry inventory, as well. So, if a power outage or severe winter storm happens, you
have time to react."
Inside New Horizons, the world looks a
lot different from the days when it was an
exclusively fresh operation. "We're sending
out more than 75 trucks a week from this facility," Mr. Harrison said. "That's astronomical compared with what we did before."
Freezing has also helped with clean label. In fact, Ms. Bediako called the industry
trend toward healthier food "an area that
all bakers have to acknowledge." In terms
of quality, formulating frozen baked goods
makes life a bit easier. For example, operations can schedule long production runs
and strategically build inventory levels.
Freezing delivers a fresher product, so
long as the timing is right. At around 35

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Baking & Snack - December 2018

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