Baking & Snack - November 2019 - 14

Economist: Snack makers
prepare for growth
While the US economy is slowing down and may actually decline
in early 2020, snack manufacturers should take advantage of low
interest rates and readily available lending to invest in their companies. Doing so will allow them to prepare for the next cycle as
the economy expands from the second half of 2020 through 2022,
said Brian Beaulieu, CEO and chief economist at ITR Economics.
"We're going through a little slowdown in the economy,"
Mr. Beaulieu told attendees at SNAC International's Executive
Leadership Forum, which was held Oct. 6-8 near Lake Tahoe, CA.
"It's not the end of the world. My biggest concern is, are you ready
for the rising trend that is going to follow?"
Speaking about "Managing in an Uncertain Economy," Mr.
Beaulieu noted that key leading indicators and the firm's proprietary research show the US and global economy ramping up in
the second half of 2020.
"In 2021, you are going to be extremely busy, and you are going
to be busy into 2022," he said.
In recent years, the snack industry has outperformed other
food industries, but it isn't immune to broader economic cycles.
Overall, he anticipated the US economy is fundamentally
well-poised for growth for the next decade, despite trade wars
and elections.

Baking Hall of Fame to add
four industry veterans
Four industry trailblazers will be inducted into the American
Society of Baking (ASB)'s Baking Hall of Fame. Gary Brodsky,
Antonio Gonzalez Navarro, Amos McMullian and Gordon Smith
will be honored during the organization's annual BakingTech conference, set for March 1-3, 2020, in Chicago.
Mr. Brodsky managed several baking facilities throughout his career. He oversaw operations at Brownberry Ovens,
Oconomowoc, WI; Arnold Bakers, Austin, TX, and East Balt
Bakeries Co., Chicago.
Starting as an engineering trainee at Mexico City-based Grupo
Bimbo, Mr. Gonzalez Navarro has worked in a range of engineering positions at the company, including chief of new installations,
manager of new projects and head of global engineering.
Mr. McMullian served as president, CEO and chairman of Flowers
Foods, Thomasville, GA. He took the company from a regional baked
foods manufacturer to America's second largest baking company.
Founder of Smith Bakeries and the Allied Trades of the Baking
Industry (ATBI), Mr. Smith was an industry pioneer. In 1899,
he started Smith Bakeries, a wholesale bread and bun bakery, in
Mobile, AL. He ran the company as owner and chairman until his
passing in 1974.

14 Baking & Snack November 2019 / www.bakingandsnack.com

Private equity firm to debut
new snacking platform
Private equity firm VMG Partners, San Francisco, is acquiring the
Popchips brand of popped snacks under its newly branded snacking platform, Velocity Snack Brands.
Velocity Snack Brands was established to acquire, incubate
and grow a portfolio of snack businesses across salty, sweet and
nutrition bar categories. It will be headquartered in Los Angeles
and led by Amit Pandhi, who most recently was president and
CEO of reduced-calorie frozen dessert brand Arctic Zero.
Founded in 2007, Popchips offers a line of products that are sold
in more than 30,000 stores across North America. "The Popchips
brand is the perfect anchor for our platform with its strong brand
awareness and broad consumer appeal amongst those seeking
healthy snacks," said Jon Marshall, vice-president, VMG Partners.
"The Popchips brand is the perfect anchor for our platform with
its strong brand awareness and broad consumer appeal amongst
those seeking healthy snacks," said Jon Marshall, vice-president at
VMG Partners.

Nestle recalls ready-to-bake
refrigerated dough
Nestle USA, Arlington, VA, initiated a recall of certain ready-tobake refrigerated Nestle Toll House Cookie Dough products due
to the potential presence of food-grade rubber pieces, according to
the US Food and Drug Administration.
The recall includes specific batch codes of ready-to-bake refrigerated Nestle Toll House Cookie Dough bars, tubs and tubeshaped "chubs" that were distributed in the continental US and
Puerto Rico.
"Nestle USA is taking this action out of an abundance of caution
after receiving reports of food-grade pieces of rubber in some of
these products," Nestle said. "We have identified the source of the
rubber and have already fixed the issue."

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Baking & Snack - November 2019

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