Milling & Baking News - March 24, 2009 - 39

Baker of the Year

fun; Cape Cod, an indulgent reward;
and Tom's, a snack that gives more
flavor, value and a unique eating experience.
"Our sales and marketing people
understand what each brand stands
for," Mr. Singer said. "The one thing
about 1Lance is that Blake has responsibility for all of our manufacturing.
We don't have a separate Cape Cod
company that has responsibility for
making Cape Cod." Cape Cod chips
represent a good case study of the
value of the 1Lance model. Cape Cod
products were historically manufactured only in Hyannis, Mass. The business had its own distribution system
and generally did not sell or distribute
other Lance products.
"There was no interaction with the
rest of the Lance organization," Mr.
Singer said.
Since moving to 1Lance, Cape Cod
chips, Lance products and Tom's all
are sold from the same D.S.D. system.
The Cape Cod chips are made at several plants, including several closer to
population centers. To Mr. Singer, the
separation made no sense.
"We needed to understand that
Cape Cod is a brand, and not an independent business," he said.
Innovation efforts will not be limited to the company's branded business.
Currently, the company is No. 2 in the
private label cookie category and has
been making inroads, Mr. Singer said.
The capabilities and capacity gained
with the new Archway plant offers the

company the opportunity to expand
further.
"We have a great position in private
brands, and we have an opportunity
to make it better," Mr. Singer said.
While private label may be the most

'We have been very
inward focused and we
needed to be, and now
we're coming out of this
and focusing on external
opportunities.'
- David Singer
rapidly growing part of the Lance
business, Mr. Singer said the expansion is only partly due to the weaker
economy and the ongoing secular shift
toward private label and away from
branded products.
Mr. Singer said Lance in the past
has had a reputation for excellent customer service as a leader in the value
category of cookies.
"We have the No. 2 position, and
we're making a major shift," Mr. Singer said. "We've assigned a marketing
executive, Todd Phillips, to our private
brands business to give a consultative
service to customers. He is able to present to them what we see is happening
in the category, with consumers and
potential holes in their offerings. Todd
has brought expertise in that area that
really has given us credibility with

customers. We now offer a wider range
of products including value products,
mainstream products (chocolate chip
and sandwich cookies), and premium
products.
"While premium private label sales
are a relatively small part of the business, it is important for our customers.
Brent and Sam's give us a dominant
position in that business, which helps
customers see all our capabilities from
the top end to the bottom."
Mr. Phillips, who is vice-president
of marketing for private brands, added, "We tell customers, 'Now we can
be your full-line supplier.' We couldn't
have said that a few years ago."
To help reinforce the message of
change, Lance decided to change its
private label business from Vista Bakeries (which it had been called for
many years) to Lance Private Brands.
"Together with the acquisition of
Brent and Sam's, it signaled we would
bring the full resources of Lance and
apply it against the private-label business, including category management
resources and research and development," Mr. Phillips said.
Lance's transformational changes,
its focus on all three market segments
and its strong strategic plan for continued growth are quite noticeable to
the industry and commendable in a
time of commodity and consumer uncertainty. Its capacity for innovation
more than merits its claim to the Baker
of the Year award. MBN
- L. Joshua Sosland

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