Milling & Baking News - March 26, 2019 - 23

Bread Product Perspective

FLOWERS FOODS

outside, soft inside - and settled on
the varieties it has introduced.
"We are really focusing our marketing efforts this year on supporting our
breakfast products: our bagels, breakfast bread and English muffins," he
said. "Our entire breakfast line is less
than two years old, so we have a lot
of room to grow with those products."
The Canyon Bakehouse line of gluten-free baked foods, acquired by Flowers in December 2018, also has seen numerous new product introductions over
the past year, Mr. Letchinger said.
A line of "Stay-Fresh" bread, bagels
and English muffins were introduced,
featuring packaging developed to address shelf-life challenges for retailers
and consumers.
"Retailers would like to be able to
sell gluten-free bread in any part of
the store, not just the freezer," he said.
"Consumers want to be able to keep
bread on their counter or in their pantry for a longer time without having to
worry about wasting bread. Since grocers sell gluten-free items in different
parts of the store - the freezer, in-store
bakery, bread aisle - the Stay-Fresh
packaging allows us to be in more places, including the fresh bread aisle."
Varieties offered under the StayFresh line include Ancient Grain
bread, Hawaiian Sweet bread and Deli
White bagels in the fresh bread aisle.
The company also sells 7-Grain bread,
Cinnamon Raisin bread, and Everything bagels in the freezer.
"Our goal is to sell our products
wherever consumers are looking for
gluten-free products, whether that's
in the freezer, fresh bread aisle, or online," he said.
Mr. Letchinger said Canyon was
the first baking company to introduce
wide-pan, large-slice loaves of glutenfree bread, and these products steadily
have gained distribution over the past
year.
"Until recently, a common consumer

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comment on all gluten-free loaves was
their small size," he said. "Instead of
making one sandwich, people were
having to make two just to equal a
'normal' sandwich. Our Heritage Style
loaves were the first wide-pan glutenfree loaves that allowed people to make
real, hearty sandwiches, and we're really proud of this major achievement."
Without gluten, the "glue" that
holds bread together, producing
loaves with larger slices is a challenge,
requiring formulation innovation and
"understanding how ingredients and
baking techniques work together to
get the right size and shape" without
compromising on the taste consumers
expect, Mr. Letchinger said.
"Gluten-free baking is different
from traditional baking, and not all
traditional baking techniques apply
to all aspects of the process," he said.

FLOWERS FOODS

Under the Cobblestone Bread Co.
banner, Flowers launched Nathan's
Famous hot dog buns in the spring
of 2018. John Steed, senior vice-president, fresh packaged bread business
unit, said Flowers has its eye on merchandising opportunities for buns
near the refrigerated meat section at

Top 10 fresh bread vendors
Fresh bread

Dollar
sales
$9,083,220,302

Per cent
change from
year ago
-0.3%

Grupo Bimbo
Flowers Foods, Inc.
Campbell Soup Co.
Lewis Bakeries, Inc.
Aunt Millie's Bakeries, Inc.
United States Bakery
Aryzta L.L.C.
H&S Bakery Inc.
Pan-O-Gold Baking Co.

$2,448,677,334
$2,050,646,392
$618,450,745
$186,950,427
$175,134,113
$148,645,351
$119,389,591
$102,399,263
$101,593,207

0.1%
4.3%
0.3%
3.6%
-5.8%
-1.4%
-1.8%
15.6%
6.1%

853,817,391
692,809,341
183,556,555
99,634,702
86,839,891
50,222,338
38,542,848
43,446,388
37,749,384

-3.5%
-0.7%
0.5%
2.3%
-5.5%
-13.9%
-1.4%
11.4%
5.2%

Private label

$1,800,571,433

-7.3%

1,116,560,425

-10.7%

Unit
sales
3,631,601,455

Per cent
change from
year ago
-4.7%

Latest 52 weeks ended Feb. 24, 2019
Total U.S. multi-outlet w/c-store (grocery, drug, mass market, convenience, millitary and select club and doller retailers.
Source: Information Resources, Inc.

"Specialized equipment is often used
to process and deposit the dough. The
relatively new science of gluten-free
makes it important to pair knowledgeable operations, engineering and
R.&D. teams to create homegrown formulas and processes for manufacturing new products."
The objective of Canyon Bakehouse
is not to bake "bread-like" products
but "real bread" without the grains that
contain gluten, Mr. Letchinger said.
"We were founded by a family very
familiar with the same struggles and
frustrations other celiac families face
when looking to find great-tasting,
safe products," he said. "That connection has helped us build a close
relationship with our consumers and
a better understanding of how our
products can help fill a void from having to cut out - or set lower expectations for - breads and baked goods."

retail. The company was set to launch
Nathan's Famous hamburger buns
on March 18 as a complement to the
frankfurter buns.
Flowers' top brands have helped
offset weakness in other parts of its
baking business. The company said
both Nature's Own and Wonder have
been gaining share while D.K.B. sales
jumped 45% in 2018 from the year before, in dollar sales. Sales of its newly
acquired Canyon Bakehouse brand
rose 30% in 2018.
New organic tack at B.B.U.
The introduction of organic versions
of some of the company's best known
premium bread brands was among
steps Bimbo Bakeries USA took in
2018 to update its product line. In addition, the company has expanded
distribution of its Thomas' branded
swirl bread and is test marketing in
Milling & Baking News

March 26, 2019 / 23

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Milling & Baking News - March 26, 2019

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