Baking & Snack - July 2017 - 33

OPERATIONS
Gold Standard Baking

GOLDEN ERA
Gold Standard Baking takes major steps to fulfill its vision of
becoming the nation's leader in the laminated sweet goods category.
by Dan Malovany

Gold Standard Baking makes 12 million croissants every
week, and it's still not enough. Despite upgrading production lines and expanding operations at its high-speed bakery on the South Side of Chicago, the rapidly growing company finally began to reach its limit two years ago.
That's not surprising for Yianny Caparos, the company's president and CEO, and George Caparos, vicepresident of sales, who have been the face of the business
since 2001. For years, the two brothers expected this day
would come, and they have been preparing since 2014 to
make their next move.
However, in the back of their minds, they keep seeking an answer to that elusive question that has bewildered
them for more than a decade. Who's eating all of those pastries? "Yianny and I used to ask that all of the time," George
Caparos recounted. "It's unbelievable."
Another question may be: Who isn't? The advent of 24hour breakfast and the perpetual popularity of portable
hand-held sandwiches throughout the day continues to
drive croissant sales at an accelerated pace.
The company offers dozens of fully baked croissant varieties, including sliced, unsliced, butter, margarine, lowfat, round, curved, straight and even whole grain ones for
schools or premium products for restaurants. Sizes range
from 0.7 to 4 oz sold in clamshells for in-store bakeries or
bulk-packed for foodservice and c-stores.
The bottom line? Gold Standard Baking doesn't just sell
a croissant, per se. "We honed in on the understanding that
the croissant is a carrier, whether for a breakfast or lunch
sandwich," Yianny Caparos explained. "We then put an emphasis on the croissant being a 24-hour product that people

can use with grilled chicken at night to make a gourmet
sandwich or an indulgent snack anytime during the day."

Doubling up on production
Gold Standard Baking repeatedly added capacity until it
ran out of parking spaces at its five-acre landlocked bakery
located 15 minutes by car from Chicago's Midway Airport.
Specifically, the latest expansion gobbled up another 27,000
sq ft of its adjacent lot to expand its laminated baked goods
operation and packaging departments and poise the company for sustainable growth.
Today, the jampacked 187,000-sq-ft facility produces 225
items on three croissant and two sweet goods lines. With
the bakery busting at the seams, the temporary roadblock
halted the execution of what had become a long pipeline
of new products, according to George Caparos. Still, the
company discovered creative ways - including scheduling
adjustments to maximize manpower with 12-hour shifts
for supervisors - to eke out efficiencies to meet the needs
of existing accounts and to even add some new business,
albeit with a few limitations.
"We've said no new SKUs, but we've been able to add on
customers or added volume as long as it's with an existing
product," he said. "We did the same thing on the Danish
side. We had to turn down requests to add a different flavor
or something that would cause a hiccup in the flow of the
process. We had to make serious decisions to hold off on an
opportunity so we can focus on providing the service that
we're known for."
With this stopgap measure in place, Gold Standard
Baking embarked on a long-term solution to build a sec-

Gold Standard Baking
positions croissants as
sandwich carriers to provide
meal solutions for eating
occasions throughout the day.
Photos by Vito Palmisano Photography

www.bakingandsnack.com / July 2017 Baking & Snack 33

http://www.bakingandsnack.com

Baking & Snack - July 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Baking & Snack - July 2017