(Editor’s Note: For more information on the annual Food Quality & Safety Award, click HERE.)
If your travels take you by 1100 Chartiers Avenue in McKees Rocks, Pa., prepare to be overcome by the tantalizing aroma of fresh baked cinnamon swirl bread emanating from the building.
This particular address in this historic borough just north of Pittsburgh is home to 5 Generation Bakers, LLC (5GB), a company that bills itself as “the premier manufacturer of gourmet cinnamon swirl breads in the country.”
5GB makes six varieties of swirl bread, including the classic cinnamon, plus those named for their additional ingredient: raisin, apple, cranberry, pumpkin, and chocolate chip—all sporting the Jenny Lee label. The Jenny Lee savory line includes Parmesan Garlic and Herb, Italian Olive Focaccia, and California Tomato Basil.
A total of 10,000 to 15,000 loaves are baked per workday (depending on client demand), 24/5, on two production lines, during two shifts. So how could 5GB’s neighborhood not smell like heaven?
“Welcome to your new obsession,” 5GB proclaims enthusiastically.
Not surprisingly, consumers’ obsession with Jenny Lee breads is directly related to 5GB’s obsession with food quality and safety. So fervent is the company’s devotion to these two outcomes, 5GB’s efforts have been rewarded with a 2017 Food Quality & Safety Award, offered in a new category created this year to recognize small enterprises.
Not bad for a family-owned and operated company just 7 years old.
However, 5GB has roots going back to 1938, when cousins Paul Baker and Bernard McDonald founded Jenny Lee Bakery in McKees Rocks. Paul Baker’s paternal uncle, Frank, chose the name, inspired by a 1930 song titled “Sweet Jenny Lee.”
At its peak in the 1970s, the thriving business had 14 retail locations in the Pittsburgh area, along with its 25,000-square-foot headquarters. Among its repertoire of some 200 to 300 different products, including sweet breads, donuts, pastries, cookies, pies, and cakes, the company’s most popular product by far was its cinnamon swirl bread.
A catastrophic Thanksgiving Day fire in 2006 that nearly wiped out the second-floor offices and candy production area ultimately led to Jenny Lee Bakery closing its doors on Aug. 16, 2008.
2010 Revival
Inspired to continue his family’s legacy, Scott Baker, Paul Baker’s grandson, brought the family business back to life in 2010. As an homage to his German immigrant ancestors and their professional baking tradition that dates to 1875 in the U.S., Scott named the revival enterprise 5 Generation Bakers.
As company president, he purchased and renovated a 20,000-square-foot grocery store, which serves as the 5GB manufacturing facility and also features about 600 square feet of retail grocery space.
5GB now specializes in its signature cinnamon swirl bread, which is sold frozen and wholesale, currently available at 4,000 stores in 20 states, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and even Japan.
“Five generations of the Baker family have contributed to the quality standards and recipes for success that we enjoy today,” Scott Baker relates. “Our passion to create only the finest products available has grown into a business that strives to be ahead of the curve when it comes to both a quality and safe food experience for our customers.”
Food safety has been the driving force 5GB has embraced to ensure success in “building a better bakery,” Baker emphasizes.
“We continually strive to blend excellence with cutting-edge technology and prevailing knowledge,” he says. “This mindset makes it possible for us to build a team superior in skills, talent, and confidence in order to grow the Jenny Lee brand while producing the highest quality product. Our management team supports this vision and has created a tenacious food safety culture that our 45 employees embrace.”
Baker says this exemplary food safety culture has resulted in a strong market position and brand recognition. “5 Generation Bakers has established a reputation for controlling risks, which has attracted investors to support our expansion plan to create a state-of-the-art commercial bakery,” he notes.
“To achieve these goals, we are consistently looking for the best, freshest, all-natural ingredients,” Baker elaborates. “We strive to continually improve our process with up-to-date technology and equipment. We educate our employees on current food safety laws and requirements with our ongoing training program. And we have committed tens of thousands of dollars to developing a food safety program that emphasizes documentation and accountability.”
Baker is quick to boast that 5GB has embraced food quality and safety initiatives with enthusiasm. “In doing so, we have created control and consistency,” he says. “Through well-defined processes we have established a resilience to internal and external risks. This allows us to react quickly to change in customer requests and develop new products.”
Numerous financial investments in food quality and safety amenities have significantly impacted 5GB in a positive way.
For starters, the entire facility is equipped with energy efficient LED (light-emitting diode) lighting. “Unlike incandescent bulbs, which release 90 percent of their energy as heat, LEDs use energy far more efficiently with little wasted heat,” Baker points out. “The reduced heat, ease of maintenance, and resistance to breakage provide benefits conducive to food safety while providing a reduction in time needed to maintain or replace bulbs.”
Motion detection lighting has been installed in all areas of the 5GB facility except for the main production area. This includes the offices, training and conference rooms, breakroom, restrooms, and locker rooms.
“Forty-two surveillance cameras have been strategically placed both inside and outside the facility to support our food defense program,” Baker relates. “Our key fob system prohibits access to restricted areas and limits access for production areas to coincide with a team member’s work schedule, reducing the potential of product adulteration and also supporting our food defense system.”
Production Software and Equipment
Food safety and quality initiatives are addressed by 5GB’s high-tech production software and equipment, says Denice Beccard, 5GB’s director of human resources and QA officer.
She explains that SG Systems Traceability Matrix, a multifaceted software application, provides 5GB with advanced technology for ingredient control and production traceability. The various modules include: 1) formula control, which eliminates paper traceability, 2) Mobile WMS, which keeps track of ingredients, packaging, and products; and enables order processing and shipping, 3) process control, which ensures each element of the final product is correctly proportioned without waste and unnecessary financial loss, and 4) label printing, which links batches to finished products for traceability.
“A high-performance stainless steel Diosna mixer features floor clearance for optimum hygiene, complementing our HACCP program,” Beccard says. “With this sanitary design, less time is required for sanitation. The speed ratio mixing tool guarantees highly homogeneous mixing and intensive kneading, which provides the best possible result for our specific sweet fermented dough, thus producing a more consistent product.”
5GB’s Rondo Smartline dough band former features a unique adjustable satellite head, making it universal. “This item’s flat angles for firm dough and steep angles for soft dough provide flexibility for development of new products,” Beccard explains.
According to Beccard, 5GB’s four multi-rack Sveba Dahlen I-62 ovens provide increased baking surface, offering alternate rotation of the racks for faster, more even, baking on all sides of the product. “Double fans provide a large airflow distributed evenly in the oven chamber,” she adds. “These features are adjustable through an SD-Touch panel for programmable and effective control of the oven, resulting in a consistent bake for each variety of the product.”
5GB employs an LVO RW rack washer modified to fit the company’s ovens and cooling racks. This rack washer is constructed of 14-gauge stainless steel, which is designed for use in bakeries to clean racks, pots, pans, bowls, and utensils. “The heating elements in the rack washer’s rinse tank boost the rinse water to a sanitizing 180 degrees Fahrenheit at the inlet of this machine,” Beccard notes.
A Knight ControlGuard FCS, a concentration control and pump system engineered specifically for chemical feed applications, compliments 5GB’s rack washer. “By utilizing flow meter technology, the advanced chemical concentration system measures high concentrations of caustic, acid rinse water with an extremely high degree of accuracy (+/- 2 percent), thereby ensuring precise chemical feed control,” Beccard relates.
Nitco’s Hyster motorized hand lift trucks offer 5GB the key advantage that a load can be picked up, moved, and dropped gently into position quickly, safely, and efficiently. This minimizes slowdowns in production, Beccard says. “Another benefit is that the motorized hand trucks minimize employee fatigue, and thus play a role in preventing injuries,” she adds.
When it comes to keeping the 5GB floor clean, Beccard says Tennant ec-H20 NanoClean technology converts water into an innovative cleaning solution, through creation of microscopic nanobubbles via an on-board e-cell that cleans effectively, saves money, and reduces environmental impact eliminating daily floor cleaning chemicals.
Sanitation Upgrades
“After an in-depth review of our sanitation program in January and February 2017, we determined that our sanitation chemicals for cleaning manufacturing equipment were not meeting the stringent standards we had established,” Baker says. “Based on our program review, we chose to partner with Rochester Midland Corporation (RMC) for our sanitation needs effective March 1, 2017. RMC was selected for their ability to provide solutions across all aspects of food safety, including brand protection and sustainable solutions.”
Because of this partnership, Baker relates, 5GB made an investment in a new foaming system to clean its ovens and large mixing bowls. “The foaming system is designed to enhance chemical adhesion and retention time to improve the sanitation process,” Baker elaborates. “The foam adheres to the surface and allows a longer time for the chemical to do its job.”
Clothing is not overlooked in 5GB’s sanitation program. “Essential to our Good Manufacturing Practices is the proper sanitation of our employee garments,” Baker emphasizes. “A recent evaluation of this program led to our investment in Total HACCP Solution from Aramark Uniform Services to deliver hygienically clean uniforms. We believe this investment will play a critical role in reducing the potential of cross-contamination and enhance the integrity of our food safety program.”
Customer Satisfaction is Everything
For the 5GB team, the success of the company’s investments in QA and food safety tools and technology is measured in large part by customer satisfaction, Baker relates. “We take pride in our consistently low number of complaints,” he says. “In 2016, we were faced with a total of five consumer complaints in comparison to the 54,780 cases of bread sold from January through May 15, 2016. The same time frame in 2017 resulted in just two complaints compared to 66,980 cases of bread sold.”
Each complaint to 5GB is addressed immediately and a full investigation is completed to determine the root cause. Once the issue has been determined and a resolution been put into place, the consumer is contacted personally by Beccard or Baker.
“We understand that losing or retaining a customer depends on how we respond to a complaint,” Baker says. “We view each complaint as an opportunity to create a greater consumer trust. We make it a priority to thank the individual for their time and efforts in assisting in identifying the issue at hand. The timing and personal attention to each consumer expressing dissatisfaction is critical to rebuilding consumer trust.”
Customer retention is 5GB’s primary focus, Baker points out. “We believe that successful retention results from not taking unethical shortcuts,” he says. “Providing an open and honest response in a timely manner demonstrates our genuine interest in our customers. This approach has been common practice throughout the five generations and has provided long-time loyal customers.
“Paramount to all other business concerns is our dedication to product quality and food safety,” Baker emphasizes. “This is a commitment we make to our customers every day. The food safety culture that permeates our organization has encouraged management and staff to work together on a guided path that drives improvement and efficiency while expanding business capabilities. Food quality and safety is not just something we do, it is who we are.”
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