Baking & Snack - October 2006 - 40

ᮣ Five bowl mixers keep production flowing, but each
unit has multiple bowls because most mixed dough
requires long floor time.
bakers. "There are very few left in management positions of large companies," he
said, "but we bring a distinct perspective
to the marketplace."
Because of uncertainties, Mr. Gaches insisted on a 2-week trial to evaluate the position and the company's capabilities. "As a
scratch baker, I also evaluated formulas and
processes," Mr. Gaches said. "I saw great potential to improve quality and expand distribution and service."
Despite Mr. Gaches' product innovations
and sales initiatives, the company was floundering because of lack of strategic corporate
direction to succeed in the par-baked production and distribution business. In November 2005, private investment firm Bain
Capital purchased the company, offered Mr. Gaches the
reins of president and promoted Laurance Milner, who
since 2002 had served Portuguese Baking as an outside
sales consultant, to director of business development.
Both men recognized that the strong potential for the
business and its operations had never been fully realized.
"Previously, there had been DSD-experienced management trying to sell to in-store and retail bakers," Mr.
Gaches said. "These are two different worlds."
Despite initial hesitation, Mr. Gaches took the job
and restructured management, sales and operations. "A
whole new attitude had to be instilled at every level of
the business. While doing this, I was also in my baker's
whites reformulating rye bread and ciabatta for better
flavor, texture and freeze-thaw capability. Sales began to
grow quickly after that."
Previously, Portuguese Baking Co. produced mainly
Portuguese-style ciabatta, containing no olive oil. According to Mr. Gaches, the market was not stuck on
Portuguese style, so he reformulated with olive oil and
sales picked up. "Significant changes were made in the
first five months I was here. We were reinventing the
company, while I was selling and meeting customers
around the country."
ONE CRISIS TO ANOTHER. "When John was named
president, I became his 'Ed McMahon,'" said Mr. Milner.
"My current title is director of business development, but
we both wear many hats, sometimes all at once. We are a
very lean management team with John, Vinnie Tredici,
vice-president of manufacturing, and Victor Errazuriz,
our plant engineer and me."
In a unique set of circumstances, Mr. Gaches lives in
Jacksonville, FL, and Mr. Milner in Seattle, WA. Both
are at the plant at least once a week, and Mr. Gaches still
44 / BAKING & SNACK / October 2006

works on R&D. He hired a new sales force, tapping people
he once worked with who had extensive experience in the
par-baked world. "Previous salesmen were good people,
but they were not well versed in our types of products
and markets," Mr. Gaches explained. "To sell par-baked
breads and rolls to food service and retail, you have to
have that type of background. Laurance and I do the dayto-day business management of the company, but we still
keep a hand in sales and R&D functions."
Once Bain Capital took control, one remaining stumbling block was the Portuguese Baking company name,
according to Mr. Gaches. "Our rye breads were becoming very popular as were our all-natural artisan products,
soft rolls and whole grain products. If we were going to
start anew, we needed a new name that went beyond just
the Portuguese identity of the company."
The company hit the streets as Harvest Time Bread
with a new product mix and a new vigor. That was
Nov. 10, 2005. Nineteen days later, a fire occurred in
line No. 3's oven stack.
YEARS OF SMOLDERING. "At 6:10 a.m., Nov. 29, the
fire alarms went off," Mr. Errazuriz said. "At first there
was a lot of smoke but no heat, so we had a tough time
determining the source of the alarm." The fire actually started in the rafters of the false ceiling above line
No. 3, which produces rye bread - a process that requires
higher oven temperatures than other products. "It turned
out the wrong type of flues had been installed back in
2000," Mr. Gaches added. "They put in household-rated
flues - aluminum with no insulation - instead of industrial design, and this particular one was positioned
within inches of the wooden rafters."
"The fire wanted to start for four years," Mr. Gaches
continued. "The roof timbers must have smoldered every

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