Rick (00:04): It takes a bit of a blend of art and science to get baking just right and having extra eyes, ears, and hands can make a big difference along the way. That's where A. B. Maury North America comes into play. We are the team behind industrial and artists and bakers that help optimize success. We'll discuss more on this episode of The Oven Light. So let's get going. Flip the switch. So here we are. It's the second episode of The Oven Light. And we've got a treat for our listeners today. We're bringing in the three amigos of baking. And let me do a little bit of introductions before you get to formally meet them. First is Kyle Christensen. He is our VP of product management, lives now in Salt Lake City or just outside. So he's used to this winter snow that everybody's having. Previously in Portland, he was our VP of finance at our Wilsonville baking ingredients facility, which was AB Maury Baking Solutions.

Rick (01:06): A long history in this ingredient segment from the financial reporting side to now the product management and category management side. So Kyle is joining us. Also, we have Wes Snow. Tis the season, what a great last name, living in Boise, Idaho, technical sales director. So he's a really smart baker. He's in bakeries all the time trying to optimize what they're doing. 12 plus years at AB Maury North America. Previous to that was in San Antonio, Texas with Ventura Foods, also H-E-B on the brand side and also had a little bit of a route in Portland on the research and development side and a graduate of Oregon State. So that's exciting. Part of that nutrition food product management group there. And then third, we've got Mike Purvis, another cold market. I don't know. There's a theme here of Cold Bakers, Chicago, Illinois, district sales manager. He's now celebrating six years this month at A.

Rick (02:04): B. Maury, North America. Previous to that, I'm going to use the pun here. An excellent sales guy because he was doing sales for egg innovations. Also was a key account manager with CSM Bakery Solutions and a graduate of Eastern Illinois. So let me start off. Kyle, Wes, Mike, welcome to the show.

Kyle (02:26): Rick, thank you. Happy to be here. It's great to be with you.

Rick (02:29): So Kyle, let me start off with you. I tried to give a little description of your path of how you got to AB Maori, but boy, you've been locked in really even at the beginnings of what was going on in Wilsonville, Oregon for AB Maury and the enzyme business.

Kyle (02:46): You bet. Thanks, Rick. And I also would notice that you referred to my colleagues universities, but I have to put a shout out in here for BYU, my alma mater. So no, I think for me, 15 years with ICS and AB Maori, it's been an enjoyable ride. When AB Maori purchased ICS, I was there. It was great to be with the team at Innovative Serial Systems that heavily invested in enzyme technology for baking. They plucked me out of the ranks of technology out there in the Silicon Forest up there in Portland, Oregon. I'd been doing some work with companies that were doing video on demand and computing and all sorts of audio and video technology. It was nice to get into something not only that I loved, which is baking, bread, donuts, cakes. I mean, who doesn't love that? And also I could get my arms around it.

Kyle (03:33): Even though I'm not a trained baker, I could say I can understand what's happening here in technology that wasn't something I could understand. So I've really enjoyed the ride and it's been fun to grow with the company out of Wilsonville and out of the Portland area and now working with the St. Louis team and enjoying every minute of it. So thank you.

Rick (03:50): Kyle, sorry I missed about the Cougars. I knew if I introduced the other guys, you would immediately come in to talk BYU. Kyle and I typically talk about how our Cougars and our Gators are doing in sports. So I appreciate you jumping in to do that. Let's shift over to Wesley. So Wes, tell us a little bit about your role and how do you kind of fit in the big picture? The technical baking side is part of that arm for AB Maori where we talk about who's behind the matters and you go in and you find the right solutions and the right kind of technical applications for bakers. You've got a really key role.

Wes (04:21): Yeah, thanks, Rick. I do. It's a lot of fun. I collaborate with our global and domestic innovation teams to identify new technologies and products to try to set us apart from the competition. I also work with the commercial sales team to target baking companies who would find value in the products and services that we provide. Additionally, I head up the technical sales team to assist with launching new products, address quality concerns, reduce waste, conduct operator training, et cetera. So there's a lot going on, but it's a lot of

Rick (04:50): Fun. Awesome. Thanks, Wes. Hey, so Mike, let's shift the focus on you a little bit. You started out in hospitality management, at least that was your collegiate studies were in that area. You moved into baking over to eggs. Why do you land in this baking side? Why has it been something that's interested you?

Mike (05:06): Well, I didn't plan on joining into the baking business here. I fell into it peripherally. Went to culinary school, got my bachelor's in hospitality management and was off running restaurants in the city of Chicago, ran a chain of restaurants for quite a long time. And as anyone in the hospitality industry can tell you, that is a 70 hour a week job. And so once the children came along, I quickly found myself needing to do something else. So I found my way into sales, both in food service sales and then eventually into bakery, working for CSM. And now after a small stint selling free range and pasture raised eggs, I found myself at AB Mawry about six years ago. So now I enjoy myself in the commercial sales role where I am lucky enough to spend all of my days just developing new relationships for AB Mallory and discovering new opportunities and letting my counterparts like Wes and Kyle help me make the best of those opportunities.

Rick (06:06): Awesome. Mike, I tell you what, for those who haven't met Mike within the industry, you'll come to love his energy, his passion, and he's got a great sense of humor. And I tell you what, those are great attributes when you're out in sales. So we do kind of a fun segment here and we call it rapid fire. We're going to go to West first. So Wes, you walk into a bakery, what's the donut you pick up?

Wes (06:26): Well, the donut I would pick up would be anything that we produce and probably the indulged sour cream old fashioned donut. It's got a really bright sour cream flavor. It does really well in cuttings against our competition.

Rick (06:37): You're a company man to the end. I like it, Wes. All right. Next one. First concert.

Wes (06:43): First concert was Motley Crude.

Rick (06:46): Boy, this is a Motley Crue. I'll tell you that. All right. Last one. Favorite movie or maybe inspirational movie. When it's on TV, you're like, "Ah, I'm sucked in. I got to watch it again."

Wes (06:56): Yeah. I don't know if Clockwork Orange does me any favors here, but that's probably

Rick (07:02): ... Wow. Okay. We're going to move on to Mike Purvis. Thanks, Wes. So Mike, we're going to take a little different angle on it. So let's say you walk into a bakery. What kind of bread item is your first purchase?

Mike (07:13): Well, I think my first purchase is always going to be a sourdough just because, or maybe a baguette. Let's go baguette because that's what I can really enjoy. If you can make a really great baguette, you're a really great baker.

Rick (07:26): Mike, you've got a friend in Ozzy Smith. He actually visited us and was part of our sales meeting in 2021 and we asked him the same question and he said a fresh baguette. So you know what? Two All Stars, two golden gloves in my mind. How about this, Mike? What's your favorite album?

Mike (07:41): Geez, that's a tough one. I'm going to have to probably go, what, dark side of the moon? Can't go wrong over and over again.

Rick (07:48): That's good. So last one, last rapid fire for Mike. So sporting event, what stadium is it? Could be an in

Mike (07:53): Sport. Well, I hate to throw your Ozzy under the bus there, buddy, but I lived and worked in Wrigley for a long, long time. Wrigley's my home. So I'm going to say Wrigley Field, 100%. No questions there.

Rick (08:05): Chicago Cubs. It's a great venue. If you've never been, it's worth a trip. Okay. So Kyle, let's say you go to one of these sporting events. Let's say you're at Wrigley Field and what is your first food choice? Is it a hotdog? Is it nachos? Is it pizza?

Kyle (08:20): It's got to be a brat. Just give me a brat and I'm happy.

Rick (08:23): A brat is an awesome choice. Do you put anything on it?

Kyle (08:28): There's this great brat place here that I found. We just recently moved to Utah and it's great. And it's this Hawaiian brat place and they put pulled pork and pineapple on it. It's delicious. I don't know that I could get that at Wrigley, but that would be a top choice.

Rick (08:41): Boy, that's a game changer. I'm used to like, okay, let's put some sour crop. But pulled pork? Oh my goodness. And pineapple? Wow. Aloha. Aloha, my friend. All right. Well, and the last question here, breakfast for lunch or dinner. What's your preference?

Kyle (08:56): Breakfast for dinner would be my preference.

Rick (08:58): Amen. Amen to that. Okay. I appreciate that. Hopefully the listeners enjoying getting a chance to know Kyle and Mike and Wes. Let's talk about this mixed business. Back in 2017, A. B. Mawry acquired a business from Flower Foods. An interesting part of the business, the company made mixes for sweet goods and bread products and such. Now it's five years later, and this business has developed a lot. Kyle, you were a part of this whole thing. So what do you say about this Cedar Rapids business and how it's kind of evolved over time with some interesting product lines?

Kyle (09:30): It's been a wonderful addition to the AB Mawry North America portfolio to the AB Mallory North America personnel and team base, as well as to our customer portfolio that we get to service and partner with so many great customers. We've loved teaming up with the Cedar Rapids Group. They had a good base of business when we picked them up in 2017, but it's only grown from there. I think the synergies that have come together with AB Maori and the Cedar Rapids lending facility have really allowed us to expand the portfolio into kind of three primary end use markets, which are industrial bread and rolls. We have mixes and that we can talk about for that market. We also have the industrial sweet goods market, which we've really grown our offering there and team together to add technology to mixes that are really going to be attractive and are attractive for our customers.

Kyle (10:18): And then tortillas, flatbreads, pizza mixes, we have that as another part of our portfolio. So I think the synergies of coming together have allowed us to grow and expand and do exactly what our customers need us to do for them.

Rick (10:29): Awesome. Appreciate that. Hey, Wes, so you're kind of like the Donut King within the company here. And you've got a lot of history on working on the yeast raised donuts, which a lot of people prefer. Other people prefer cake donuts. And we've got a great brand called Indulge. And there you've got versions for each with a lot of innovation going on. What excites you about donuts? Why is it something that continues to capture the attention of consumers in not only in the US, but also in Canada?

Wes (10:59): Well, I think that donuts offer simple pleasures. This is an increasingly complex world that we live in, but if you can sit down and have a donut for at least a few minutes, there's not a better place to be. And so I think that this is something that's always going to be with us. I think that increasingly people want products that taste better. Clean label is something that we are going to be focusing on in this category. If someone can eat a product that makes them feel good for just a few minutes in the day, I think that that's an important thing.

Rick (11:25): So Mike, you're involved with a lot of bakery customers and you know the marketplace as good as anybody. And the pandemic, it had its moments where it dragged the industry, but it also created new innovation opportunities for people within the industry. And frankly, to Wes's point talking about indulgences, donuts offer that convenience, right? Something that's handheld, it's on the move. People are moving at different ways, but what's your insight to how we've come out of the pandemic and what the future could hold for us?

Mike (11:56): Well, that's a pretty big question, but I'll try to answer it the best I can. I think we're going to come out of the pandemic here on the bakery side just as strong as we went into it, if not stronger. And we're going to have, I think, a better attachment to what's important and that spending time with friends and family and really understanding what you want and just enjoying the simple pleasures with your friends and family. And I'm glad I'm in the baking industry because a lot of my customers, Rick, they're either donut producers, a lot of pizza manufacturers, and these are the types of foods that families and friends gather around and eat. So one of the good things to come out of the pandemic, if we can look at a bright side is that we can look at maybe how people become closer with their tight-knit group of friends and families.

Mike (12:44): And if we can help them share some fun and share some indulgence of donuts or pizza, then that's fantastic. I don't think that any category that AB Maui provides ingredients for in the baking industry is going to have a hard time moving forward out of this pandemic.

Rick (13:02): Well, Mike, you mentioned pizza, and I know you've worked with multiple pizza customers and QSR, this quick service restaurant type customers as well. A lot of innovation, the freezer aisle for pizzas has actually grown in the grocery store. But then along with that, you start seeing beyond flavor innovations, there are cleaner label options and different crusts and innovation of giving people maybe something a little bit more than they are expecting. Any thoughts on-

Mike (13:30): Oh, you're absolutely right. When it comes to the pizza category, the pandemic has driven business for the frozen pizza category tremendously as people look for additional nights at home eating, right? So the technology has really come to the forefront with different flavored crusts of different styles of pizza that you're seeing out there. I've got a customer that's selling a Detroit pizza nationally now. So there's Detroit Pizza, New York Pizza, Chicago Pizza, California Pizza. And it's really great because the frozen pizza category is able to exploit all of these trends and distribute these products to places they haven't been before because the demand has arisen. And of course for flavors, you've got sourdough pizza and then the whole myriad of gluten-free pizzas that are out there. Yeah, it's great. It's fantastic. I'm glad that AB Maury has had a small part in helping folks develop those products.

Rick (14:23): All right. So we're going to head back to one of our other product areas. Kyle, let's talk about a product you launched last year, and Mike supported a lot from the sales point. We'll get his perspective too, but a product called Bergen Complete Protein, right? And it is a bread mix that was clean label, had no artificial anything, had no added sugar, and had all those great product claims that people were looking for. And it was a complete protein with sources from pea protein and chickpea and some other protein areas. Pretty exciting launch to give consumers something that makes them feel good and you feel healthy.

Kyle (15:01): Hey, thanks, Rick. I'm in full agreement. I mean, the Bergen Complete Protein Bread Mix is a product that we feel very good about at AB Maori. And the reason is, is because we tick the boxes for those health claims, pulse and plant-based as far as the ingredient legend, a good source of protein, a good source of fiber, no sugar added. I mean, these are things that people are looking for and low net carbs is also another feature of this bread. You have options and application with the bread mix. You can do different types of applications in terms of the style of your bread loaf, different inclusions, things like that when you buy the AB Mallory Bergen, complete protein bread mix. But after all that, if the bread doesn't taste good, no one's going to buy it. And so we've been very pleased that the bread passes consumers taste tests.

Kyle (15:42): People are excited to eat it and they say, "This is a product that I would buy." Whether I'm looking for those health claims or not, it's a good tasting loaf of bread, the Bergen complete protein bread mix. So we're still excited about it and it has customer's attention and continues to grow.

Rick (15:57): Awesome. So Mike, how about from a sales perspective? You were out there pounding the pavement, talking to bakeries about it and helping to pass along the importance of a consumer trend that honestly, it's not going away. People are focused on their health, whether it's the pandemic, whether it's the new year, what's your perspective?

Mike (16:16): Well, my perspective is this, and I think we have to back up a little bit and we talk about mixes and bases as a whole going out there versus someone creating products from scratch. So the customers that I've really focused the Bergen line of healthful, better for you mixes has been really the in- store bakery side of our industry. So this is a product that in- store bakeries with commissaries, they can manufacture their own bread, fresh-made bread in their stores, get the smell out there to have a warm loaf of bread out for their customers, have an in- store baking program, and then offer something different that other folks don't have to offer a better for you high protein in this case. And it's a difference maker. It's not the same old, same old that you would find in other in- store bakeries. So whether it is helpful oat, whether it's the protein bread or the myriad of other A.

Mike (17:14): B. Mallory Bergen mixes, I think that the whole category is prime for growth in some of these in- store bakeries that are ready to move to a mix as opposed to pulling out any kind of pre-frozen or refreshed bread products.

Rick (17:29): That's great. So for our listeners out there, just to give you a little bit of a tease, what's coming up in future programs, we're going to be talking a lot about chemical levening. We've got a brand called Bakerize that is getting a little bit of love. And actually we've been advertising about it in the first quarter of 2022. So we're going to talk about chemical levening, baking powders, baking sodas. So be on alert for that supply. Boy, you talk about a topic that any kind of company right now in or outside of the baking business, supply challenges, getting raw materials, shipping, all those sorts of things, manpower. So we'll be talking to a few of our experts about supply. And then as we get in towards tax day, I mean, what's better than tax day than to bring on our corporate attorney to talk a little bit about tax day and Earth Day.

Rick (18:16): And I think you'll really like it. This guy is an intriguing person. He's been our corporate mascot as he was in college, and he can also redline a contract for you. So those are a few of the shows coming up, but before we go, I want to try to leave on some trend ideas that maybe are important, whether it could be something about tortillas, which continue to grow and have different varieties and health claims and shelf lives and such do what's going on in just red and rolls or other kind of sweet goods. So let's go a quick round the horn. Kyle would love to get your insights. Is there something that's a consumer trend or something you think, "Hey, we need to continue watching what's going on regarding this product."

Kyle (18:57): I think one of the spaces that people will recognize that we need to watch and have been watching and will continue to watch is just the continued trend around tortillas. We have tortilla mixes, whether it's our total tortilla mix, total clean label tortilla mix, low carb tortilla mix, we have those mixes available and the growth there has been outstanding. You see the changing tastes for the American North American consumer and more and more people going to handheld, going to wraps, going to tortillas. You see the growth in corn tortillas. I mean, it used to be a few years ago, the flour tortillas were 70% of the market and now corn is up over 40%. So people are changing tastes. And I think the opportunity and tortillas for us, for our customers and for consumers is significant. And so we're watching that space and continue to develop novel new mixes and opportunities that we can share with our customers.

Rick (19:46): That's great, Kyle. How about Wes? Any insights on you to something that's near and dear to your heart or maybe top of mind?

Wes (19:51): Yeah, I think there are some helpful trends on the horizon, but for us right now, we believe that enzymetic and technology-driven solutions that will provide cost reduction and product tolerance within this ISG, this industrial sweet goods category is exciting. It's a mature category, but we believe that we can bring some interesting and new products that will make processing better and perhaps less expensive over time. I also think that on the heels of that, better quality, higher service levels, better product consistency, better technical support and closer intimacy is what our industry is looking for in addition to new and exciting products. And so that's something that we want to try to provide.

Rick (20:31): That's great, Wes. I appreciate it. And Mike, we want to get your insights as well. What's heavy on the heart?

Mike (20:37): Well, I think I agree 100% with both what Kyle and Wes said. Not only are we keeping up with changing consumer demands and market trends out there with new product offerings, but we also couple that with what Wes said with creating new and innovative waves to help our customers produce these items. And when we couple those together, we actually have a great benefit in working with our customers and provide a lot of value with not only providing them with the means to follow these trends, but we can custom build the solutions to meet their needs for their production standards and their plants to where we can produce a product specific to them and really help them succeed. And that's what I spend most of my day doing, right, is trying to find a new and innovative idea that I can bring to my customer and how can we tailor it fit to that customer's operation.

Mike (21:30): So yeah, I concur with my associates here. It's exciting time and AB Maori has new and innovative products coming out almost weekly to help our customers.

Rick (21:40): So definitely appreciate having Wes and Mike and Kyle on. We are a baking technology company. AB Maori is, but we wanted to present a little more of the personal side. We've got great employees and people are excited to make their customers' lives so much better. And you'll hear from more of our great employee base here in the weeks to come. If you do have a question, we do have an email address. It's theovenlight@abaury.com. Drop us a line if you have a suggestion for a show or you've got somebody who might be interested in being on the show. We are here for you and we want to hear what you have to say. Again, we've got some great shows going on here in the upcoming weeks, and we appreciate you listening. So for now, flip the switch. The Oven Light is now off. We hope you've enjoyed this episode of The Oven Light.

Rick (22:30): Until next time when we discuss more about the wonderful world of baking technology, trends, and more, the switch is officially off. Goodbye for now. See you next time.