Milling & Baking News - February 23, 2010 - 34

Bread Product Perspective 

bump in the road with economic issues of the past 18 months. Those
issues have been compounded by
higher pricing in the category overall,
for bread and all organic products, because of the commodity price rise that
preceded the recession.
"It's clear that the health and wellness revolution is still strong."
Mr. Radi certainly was not brushing
off the challenges, though, which he
said began with the higher pricing in
2007-08.
"My hypothesis is that the organic
committed have stayed in the category, but the 'trial,' and 'transition' consumers fell out a little," he said. "We
went from growing 15%, year after
year, to low single digits in 2009."
Mr. Radi's optimism is based on his
assessment of how trends unfolded in
2009, when demand was falling at an
annualized single-digit rate early in
the year and improved to single-digit
growth later in 2009.
"It was an eight-point swing, over
the course of a few months, so our
view is that the long-term growth
prospects are very positive," he said.
Mr. Radi believes the underlying
potential for organic bread is as good
if not better than other major categories. He estimated organic's share of
the bread market at 1.8%, versus
roughly 3.5% for all food.
While leading baking companies
have experimented in the organic
34 / February 23, 2010 Milling & Baking News

category, Mr. Radi said most have
backed away.
"Whether it was bread made with
organic wheat or certified organic
products, they don't seem to have been
successful," he said. "They sell huge,
conventional brands, which doesn't
work well with niche products."
Over the past year, Rudi's has introduced two new wide pan sandwich
bread varieties, a double fiber bread
and a nut and oat bread.
"Fiber is something consumers are
seeking out," he said. "It's become a
real nutritional buzzword. Nut and
oat bread have been successful in the
category, and we wanted to be sure to
have an offering there, too.
"Our real strategy is that we are trying to offer products for that organic
mom, organic solutions for her family."
For Rudi's, a key initiative for 2010
will be a relaunch of the brand with
new packaging and identification.
The rebranding will be phased in between May and July. Mr. Radi said the
change is aimed at better aligning the
brand with consumers' perceptions as
well as overall changes in the bread
aisle over the past decade.
"The Rudi's consumer tells us our
brand is very different from the rest
of the category," he said. "It's a bright,
optimistic and progressive company
that has been doing things its own
way for a long time. It's a value system they share about being purposeful, passionate but fun and optimistic.
"We found that our design didn't
meet the consumer's expectations. It's
a challenge to stand out in a 60-foot
bread aisle with 300 feet of shelving.
We might only have 12 or 14 linear
feet of shelving. Our brand needs to
pop off the shelf, which is our No. 1
ad impression. It needs to work much
harder than it has.."
Mr. Radi described that packaging
as a "new, bright and optimistic look
for our brand, signaling the our brand
is different - made with wholesome,
simple and organic ingredients."
Flowers expands Nature's Own
Over the past year, Flowers introduced three new bread varieties, all
under its Nature's Own brand: Nature's Own Whole 100% Whole Grain
Bread (soft variety); Nature's Own
Cinnamon Swirl Breakfast Bread; and
Nature's Own sandwich rounds.
Ms. Anderson said the Nature's
Own brand represents an excellent
vehicle for Flowers to introduce
products that fall under the health
and wellness mantle.

"The Nature's Own brand is all
about 'good-for-you' breads," she said.
"When we looked at the entire Nature's
Own lineup we saw an opportunity
to offer 100% whole wheat buns and
100% whole grain bread. Not only do
these items fit the healthy eating trend,
but the product descriptors include
that '100%' which seems to be a trigger
for consumers. People see '100%' and
think 'this is good for me.'"
Ms. Anderson described the 100%
Whole Grain bread as "a bit sweeter"
and softer than the 100% whole wheat
variety that has been a Nature's Own
mainstay for decades. As its name
implies, the new loaf is baked from a
multi-grain recipe.
"We've been very pleased with how
this loaf is performing," she said. "It
seems to have found a niche with consumers who want whole grains but
don't like the stronger taste of 100%
whole wheat bread."
Introduced in 2008,
the Nature's Own Special Mornings breakfast
line now includes 13
items, including four English muffin varieties, seven
types of bagels, and two
breakfast bread varieties.
While
innovation
may be key to growth
in baking overall,
traditional varieties
have remained the
leaders in breakfast bread, Ms. Anderson said.
"Cinnamon and
cinnamon raisin
bread are the most
popular
breakfast breads on the
market," she said.
"It's
somewhat
refreshing (and
slightly frustrating, too) to have
such traditional
flavor varieties
continue to hold
the lion share
of the breakfast
bread category.
These are the two
varieties we offer
under Nature's Own. We tried a cranberry raisin bread, but while it had
some die-hard fans, the sales were just
not on par with cinnamon raisin."
New markets entered by Flowers
in 2009 included portions of Illinois,
Indiana and Pennsylvania, chose because of proximity to Flowers' baking
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Milling & Baking News - February 23, 2010

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