Milling & Baking News - February 18, 2014 - 14

Business 

'Stalking horse' bidder emerges
for Missouri baking company
ST. LOUIS - Brick by Brick L.L.C.,
an affiliate of Carson City, Nev.-based
Nature's Bakery, has emerged as the
"stalking horse" bidder for Theodoro
Baking Co. with a bid of $4.1 million.
Theodoro filed for bankruptcy in August 2013.
Based in Hazelwood, Mo., Theodoro has more than 100 employees
and operates a baking plant in Hazelwood where it produces wholesale
baked foods and frozen bakery products marketed to a range of customers,
including supermarkets, convenience

stores and institutional customers
such as in-house cafeterias. Its products are sold in the St. Louis region as
well as into other unspecified markets
around the country. Direct-store delivery distribution supplies customers in
the St. Louis area.
Theodoro's products include donuts, bread, bagels, cakes, cookies,
pastries and other sweet goods.
The company's annual sales are
estimated at $6 million to $7 million though they were significantly
higher several years ago.

Kellogg closing Charlotte cookie
plant in efficiency initiative
BATTLE CREEK, MICH. - As part of its
recently announced Project K efficiency
program, the Kellogg Co. will close its
snacks plant in Charlotte, N.C., and
eliminate two production lines at its snacks
plant in Cincinnati by the end of the year.
"As with any project that impacts
people, these are difficult decisions,"
said John Bryant, president and chief
executive officer. "We are very mindful
of the impact these changes will have
- particularly to our employees. As
our employees and others would expect
from Kellogg, we will help those who are
impacted through their transitions."

Unveiled in November 2013, Project K
is Kellogg's four-year plan to strengthen
business in core markets, increase growth
in developing and emerging markets and
drive increased value-added innovation.
The program is expected to result in the
elimination of about 7% of Kellogg's
global workforce over the next four
years and entails spending as much as
$1.4 billion by the end of 2017 to relocate
production lines and globally integrate
internal business services.
In December, the company said it
would close a ready-to-eat cereal plant
in London, Ont., and a snacks plant in

Boulder completes headquarters
relocation Boulder Brands, Leighton, chief operating officer. Kerin
from New Jersey
BOULDER, COLO. -
Inc. has completed the move of its corporate headquarters to Boulder from
Paramus, N.J. The company also said it
will relocate its finance and operations
leadership to Boulder and will redefine
its reportable segments. The changes are
intended to support long-term strategies,
the company said.
Boulder Brands said the move allows it
to have "two centers of excellence." The
corporate and leadership team will be
based in Boulder while the business service center will remain in Paramus.
Under the new structure, Christine
Sacco, chief financial officer, will relocate
to Colorado, as will the financial planning and analysis leadership roles within
the company.
In addition, the company added two
operational leaders reporting to Jim
14 / February 18, 2014 Milling & Baking News

Kennedy has joined Boulder Brands as
senior vice-president of research and
development. Ms. Kennedy has more than 25
years of experience in
the food and beverage industry, with most of her
work focused on natural food products. She
most recently was owner
and founder of Precision
Kitchen Food Group.
Ken Woeste has joined Boulder Brands
as vice-president of demand planning.
Mr. Woeste has more than 27 years of
experience in demand planning in food
products. Mr. Woeste comes to Boulder
Brands from The Hain Celestial Group,
where he was senior director of forecasting and supply chain systems.

Founded in 2010, Nature's Bakery
makes fig bars in multiple flavors.
The company projects its revenue will
reach $100 million in 2014.
As the "stalking horse" bidder,
Brick by Brick's $4.1 million bid will
be the minimum price for an auction
of Theodoro's assets, tentatively slated
for Feb. 18. In the event Brick by Brick
does not win the right to buy Theodoro, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for
the Eastern District of Missouri, Eastern Division, has approved a "breakup" fee of $185,000 to compensate
Brick by Brick for expenses and costs
incurred in connection with conducting due diligence, negotiating and
participating in the bidding process. MBN
Charmhaven, Australia, by the end of
2014. Kellogg also plans to expand its
cereals and snacks facility in Rayong,
Thailand, by early 2015, and is building a
new snacks plant in Bandar Estek, Negeri
Sembilin, Malaysia.
"We have a compelling business need
to better align our assets with marketplace
trends and customer requirements," Mr.
Bryant said. "To that end, we are taking
action to ensure our manufacturing
network is operating the right number of
plants and production lines - in the right
locations - to better meet current and
future production needs and the evolving
needs of our customers."
The Charlotte plant produces Famous
Amos, Austin Sandwich Cremes and Iced
Animals cookies. MBN

Meanwhile, Boulder Brands said it has
eliminated the roles of chief innovation officer and executive vice-president for Smart
Balance. Peter Dray, who was the company's c.i.o., and John Becker, who was executive vice-president for Smart Balance, are
no longer with Boulder Brands.
Beginning with the first
quarter of fiscal 2014, Boulder Brands said it will operate two segments: "Natural"
and "Balance."
The Natural segment will
consist of Udi's, Glutino and
Evol branded products, and
the Balance segment will consist of Smart Balance, Earth Balance and
Level Life branded products.
The Natural segment will continue
to be led by T.J. McIntyre, executive
vice-president and general manager,
Natural. The Balance segment will be
led by Duane Primozich, promoted to
executive vice-president and general
manager, Balance. MBN
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

http://www.bakingbusiness.com http://www.world-grain.com

Milling & Baking News - February 18, 2014

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