Baking & Snack - November 2018 - 38

SOMETHING SWEET

Searching for the breadth and depth of experience
The workforce gap in bakery manufacturing is a challenge affecting bakeries across the country. And it's a
puzzle the leadership at Something Sweet, located in
New Haven, CT, is still learning how to piece together.
Something Sweet's leadership reflects the breadth
and depth that many commercial bakeries will soon find
themselves missing. The breadth: CEO Greg Menke is
a veteran of the baking industry with three decades of
experience in almost every aspect of the process, including supply chain management, continuous improvement,
corporate engineering and co-manufacturing. And the
depth: Tom Kores, a board member, was the mechanical
engineer who designed Something Sweet's facility in the
late 1980s as a Lender's Bagels plant; he's also a graduate
of AIB International.
But these two represent a rarity in the industry. And
as technology advances for equipment design, the type
of workers the industry will need is changing. When the
original owner of Something Sweet acquired the plant on
Grand Ave., an important consideration was if the line he
purchased was going to run properly and efficiently. "But
the bigger issue now is getting people who can keep it
running," Mr. Kores said. "And today, the level of sophistication and the computerization of much of these machines
make the challenge even bigger."
For example, Mr. Menke noted that with increased automation, workers tend to rely more on the machine and
less on their instinct. But that doesn't mean the equipment
isn't important. "It's a piece of equipment, but you have to
understand it," he said. "You've got to know what affects it.
That's the kind of experienced skillset we need."
On the human side of the resources, Mr. Menke emphasized that communication and buy-in are critical. "I've
been doing this for 35 years, and I've spent a lot of time
on the plant floor working with the management team
and hourly employees," he said. The bakery holds startup
meetings before each shift and discusses issues such as
food safety and GMPs.
As Something Sweet works hard to keep up with
growth, Mr. Menke can clearly see the gap of industry
experience widening. "All the bakers have been doing
this for 30 or 40 years. We wonder: Where are the ones
who have been doing it for 10 years? You don't see those
workers. It's hard to find people with the depth of knowledge and that formal training."
For example, Vlad Guryanov, plant manager, studied
at AIB International in Manhattan, KS, for a number of
months before coming to Something Sweet, and the
company sees the benefit in that training. "That experienced has helped him - and us - become better
bakers," Mr. Menke said.

38 Baking & Snack November 2018 / www.bakingandsnack.com

Similarly, Something Sweet considers itself to be
"demographically agnostic," as well. Pies are seasonal, so
producers in this segment often find themselves thinking outside the box to generate interest throughout the
year. Something Sweet accomplishes this by having an
R&D facility located onsite. "We get a lot of requests
from customers asking us to come up with something
new and different," Mr. Menke said. "With an R&D
manager who's a baker by trade in a department with
decades of experience, we can stay agile and respond
quickly to these customer requests."
The company is also exploring new opportunities in
fast-growth markets such as Hispanic, so the bakery relies on that R&D expertise for rapid and creative innovation. "No one product is a fit-all solution, and based
on our research, 'Hispanic' is a broad term that encompasses different geographic influences like Caribbean,
Cuban, Puerto Rican or Mexican," Mr. Menke said.
With innovative product development, Something
Sweet can capitalize on Hispanic-influenced flavor
trends such as mango, coconut or dulce de leche by
merging them with the bakery's popular cream pies
that already have a loyal following.
"We have a solid starting point because we already
make good pies," Mr. Menke said. "Whether you're
Hispanic or not, it doesn't matter. The bottom line is
they taste great."

Sweet standards
Thanks to its beginnings as a hand-craft bakery,
Something Sweet was well positioned when the clean
label wave washed over American consumers and landed smack on top of the wholesale baking industry.
"When clean label became a trend, our products required little reformulation since we already had that
great foundation," Mr. Menke noted. "We hate the
taste of preservatives, so we've historically avoided
them. We already had no high fructose corn syrup or
PHOs, and we got rid of artificial colors and flavors a
while ago."
Something Sweet didn't need to get back to the basics
... the bakery had been there from the start.
Consumer standards for health and wellness run
deeper than clean and pronounceable ingredients. Let's
face it: Decadent sweet goods like crumb cakes and
pies aren't exactly Weight Watchers-friendly. And until
Oprah declares she loves them, too, these indulgences
are fighting an uphill battle. But Something Sweet combats this by focusing on quality over quantity, be it
from calories or price points.
As disposable incomes increase for American consumers, they're paying as much attention to their

http://www.bakingandsnack.com

Baking & Snack - November 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Baking & Snack - November 2018