Ellison Bakery: Private label is the real growth opportunity for us
Store brands are still seen by some as uninspiring me-too products designed to offer a cheap alternative to national brands, says the president of Fort Wayne-based Ellison Bakery, Todd Wallin.
However, many retailers now want to work with manufacturers that can help them create innovative, gourmet, premium and unique private label products as a means of differentiating themselves in the market, he says.
And while this is still a relatively small part of Ellison Bakery’s business today, it could represent a sizeable chunk of it in the future, predicts Wallin.
“About half of our business is in cookies for the ice cream market, and about 40% in the cookies, bars and snacks to institutions such as schools and nursing homes, while the rest is in private label. But that’s where I see the biggest growth opportunity.”
The family-owned firm, which made its name by producing cookies under the Archway brand under license, is best-known for making products for the ice cream industry (cookies for ice cream sandwiches, inclusions and toppings etc) has got a reputation for being fast and innovative, he says.
“A few years ago Ben & Jerry’s asked us to partner with them to produce the ‘Wich ice cream cookie sandwiches. It was a phenomenal project and a really exciting time for us. We developed bespoke equipment for manufacturing blended dough and had product available for them within six months.
“It was frustrating that the ‘Wich did not do well in the US, although it did do well in Europe, but it was great to be involved with something like that.”
Like Huggins at Pretzel Inc, Wallin says the FSMA is also proving quite burdensome on the business, as the firm is having to spend much more money on documenting what it is doing, a process that adds cost, but not a great deal of value, he says.
