They come from Quebec, from San Francisco and even from
Puerto Rico. They're variety bread wholesale bakers traveling to Bolingbrook, IL, of all
places, to take a tour of Turano Baking Co.'s Knead Dough facility, where art meets the
science of baking.
The 100,000-sq.-ft. plant, opened just four years ago, now houses six
lines, including some of the most state-of-the-art European equipment in this country. The
bakery, in fact, was one of the first U.S. companies to install such lines. For bakers
seeking to automate difficult-to-handle par-baked and fully-baked French breads and rolls,
the choice is clear. Either take a quick trip to suburban Chicago or a long flight
overseas.
As far as Turano Baking is concerned, the door is open, as long as it
swings both ways.
"We have a friendly attitude even toward our competitors, and
basically, we have a passport to most of the plants everywhere because we have an open
policy with our own plants," says Renato Turano, president. "I believe it's
necessary in the industry because you never know everything, and there is something that
you can pick up
from a competitor from some of the things they are doing."
The Turanos can afford to be refreshingly open to their fellow
wholesalers because, in many ways, the bakery is so far ahead of the pack. Because of its
willingness to take risks and its commitment to developing new technology for
difficult-to-automate rustic breads and rolls-often working with suppliers to modify
formulas, processes or systems to meet production and sale needs-Turano Baking Co. has
become a leader among the growing number of "artisan wholesale bakers."
That seemingly contradictory term best describes Turano Baking and the
handful of other trend-setting wholesale bakers who produce specialty breads and rolls
that often are indistinguishable in quality from those produced by retail and in-store
counterparts.
Once fondly referred to as "variety bread bakers" because they
produced niche, non-pan bread products, these wholesalers have emerged as a force in the
industry as premium, hearth-baked products have become more mainstream.
To attack this market, Turano Baking takes a two-pronged approach. On
one hand, the highly automated Knead Dough facility supplies national accounts with frozen
breads and rolls, with distribution in 40 states through brokers and food distributors.
The company also has received significant foodservice distribution and market penetration
through a joint venture that it entered last year with Sara Lee Bakery.
Meanwhile, the Berwyn facility supplies Turano Baking's 85 local routes.
With 35,000 sq. ft. of production space, this plant operates like a large retail bakery,
with four semi-automated lines producing 120 varieties of breads and rolls. The plant even
has a little bakery within a bakery with five rack ovens and a revolving tray oven, which
produce small runs of specialty breads, such as its signature, 2.2-lb. round Italian loaf.
Although fresh DSD sales currently account for 70% of sales-estimated by
Crain's Chicago Business to be $58.5 million last year, up 21.9% from the year
before-frozen baked product sales are growing at a much faster rate.
The Turanos estimate that frozen product sales will account for 50% of sales within the
next year or two. In addition to its bread plants, Turano Baking also
operates a 15,000-sq.-ft. baked sweet goods plant in Bloomingdale, IL, which supplies its
two retail bakeries with a broad line of cookies, cannolis, eclairs and other treats.
However, as much as the company has grown, little has changed.
"Over the years, our focus has not changed. Our philosophy has not
changed. We have just adapted to a larger scale operation. That's all we have been
doing," says Giancarlo Turano, vice president who oversees sales and marketing.
Turano's philosophy is QSV², or quality, service, variety and value.
Or, in layman's terms, its strategy is to "never say no" when it comes to
customer service, and while that's technically bad grammar, it's the driving force behind
this artisan wholesaler's success.
That philosophy is driven down from sales and marketing to the
production floor. As Tony Turano, vice president of production and operations, says,
"My direction to all of my guys is that 'no' doesn't exist in the vocabulary. To
facilitate that, we had to put a product development program in place so as not to disturb
production lines and not to disturb normal operations of the plants, and to give us an
opportunity to be more creative."
Such creativity is a trademark of Turano, whether it be producing mini
Focaccina, boules or its Sfilatino baguettes, for instance. Yes, this Italian bakery has
the reputation for producing some of the best French bread in metropolitan Chicago.
However, the baking process of such authentic products demands patience.
"When you're dealing with artisan breads, if you want to create the quality and
capture the characteristics of that product, it just takes time." Giancarlo says.
"Fermentation takes time. That's what it's all about-time. There is no good
substitution for a good, fermented bread product."
It also takes risk, which the Turanos have taken to given the company an
edge over its competitors.
"Any time you become the first in doing something, such as
installing the new European equipment, you're an innovator and you have a jump on everyone
else," Renato adds. "In our case, we have continued to innovate especially in
the area of product development. We don't only make one baguette. We make varieties of
them, from the typical baguette to the peasant-type baguette. The key is the consistency
and variety that we offer, which makes it hard for others to duplicate."
Often imitated, never duplicated. That's what has made Turano Baking Co.
a Chicago area institution, and now a presence on the national map. Because of its
commitment to customer service, innovative technology and the timeless production of
quality Old World breads, Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery magazine is proud to name
Turano Baking its 1998 Wholesale Baker of the Year.
Good timing
However, as in any business, timing is everything, and throughout the
history of the bakery, being at the right place at the right time has resulted in growth
beyond expectations.
Forty years ago, Mariano Turano founded the bakery, home delivering
hearty 4- to 5-lb. country Italian loaves around the area. In the late 1960's and early
1970's, the Turanos branched out to supply specialty hearth breads and rolls to retail
supermarkets, delicatessens and foodservice outlets. No customer was too small.
Ironically, the philosophy of taking care of the little guy has ended up
being one of Turano's most effective formulas for growth. As customers grew, Turano Baking
grew with them. Today, Turano direct-store delivers fresh daily from Chicago up to Green
Bay and Madison, WI, southwest to St. Louis and to Indianapolis.
"Our distribution has always been to support the customers no
matter what size," Giancarlo says. "We continue not necessarily to limit drop
size to our clientele. Everybody has to have the opportunity to grow. They have to start
somewhere, and believe me, our clientele remembers if you have restricted their
service."
In the late 80's and early 90's, some of Turano's foodservice customers
grew nationally. At the same time, these casual restaurant, pizza and submarine sandwich
chains discovered the value of serving warm hot bread and rolls as a way to enhance the
overall dining experience. For Turano, going into par-baked bread and roll production at
the Knead Dough plant was a natural solution to both of these challenges. Again, timing
proved to be everything.
"When the Bolingbrook facility opened, the expectation was to take
us through the year 2000 with the two lines that we had initially put in the plant,"
Giancarlo recalls. "Within six months of opening, we put a third line in. Within six
months of that, we put an additional two lines in."
Adds Renato, "It was a very good educated guess on our part. We
knew we wanted to get into the par-baked bread business, and the timing was right."
Now the company has installed a sixth line, not necessarily to add capacity,
but to provide flexibility in response to changing times, to changing customer needs and
for penetrating into new markets.
"Keep in mind that we're so flexible in our business, that we will
fulfill whatever needs anyone had, even on an in-store bakery basis," Giancarlo says.
"If they want a branded, pre-packaged roll, we would do that for them."
Yes, supplying the retail and in-store bakery market is Turano's latest
venture. Launched in March, the Pane di Campagna program leverages Turano's expertise in
supplying national foodservice chains with retail bakery quality hearth breads and rolls.
Turano supplies the product, the packaging, the merchandising program and even the
brand-Pane di Campagna, or "country breads"-if the customer doesn't want to put
bread under its own label.
"We're taking the guesswork out of it," Giancarlo says.
"We're providing you with the labeling of the product, the description of the
product. We're giving you all of the nutrition information on the product. You don't have
to do any real work then, if you want par-baked breads, you have the ability to buy
par-baked breads, finish them off and put them into a package with a label, with a brand,
with a name and you're ready to go."
For many retail and in-store bakeries, which are struggling to find
skilled labor, the parbaked line provides a convenient, foolproof solution to providing
consumers with a wide variety of consistent, unique products, Giancarlo explains.
"From a consumer perspective, there is a lot more acceptance for hearth breads in
mainstream dining than there ever has been," he notes. "From a consumer trend
perspective, as the in-store bakeries merchandise more and more hearth breads, they have
become more mainstream."
Ahead of the trends
For Turano Baking, being at the right place at the right time requires
more than luck. It requires a keen anticipation of trends in the marketplace.
"we always try to be ahead of the trends," Renato says.
"If anything, within our own resources and among our own product line, we always try
to anticipate with customers want."
As a result, what many wholesale bakers consider the latest trend is
often old news at Turano Baking.
Take home-meal replacement, for instance. Long before HMR became the
rage, Turano Baking delivered meal solutions to its retail and foodservice customers.
Today, the company's full time chef, John Kogelman, works with customers to increase sales
through innovative menu development that incorporates the company's hearth breads and
rolls. The bakery will invite customers to its facilities to learn, for instance, how to
make an appetizer out of bruschetta with olive, red pepper and sun-dried tomato paste and
topped with goat cheese and mixed fresh herbs, or grilled zucchini, yellow squash, red and
yellow pepper, red onion and baby artichokes on a wedge of Pane Mariano.
"We are integral with our customers' R&D departments,"
Giancarlo explains. "We participate in their menu development. We are part of their
total menu solution, so that's why we do so much support through our R&D department.
Also, our plants support it. Our general managers support it. At both plants, we produce
in line for our R&D basis also. We have to make sure we can fulfill it. On certain
terms, it's just as easy to run them in line as it is to run a lab sample off them."
[continue at top] |
|
[continued from prior column]
Sure, the bakery produces authentic, crusty European and artisan breads
and rolls made from Old World formulas. Take its signature, trademarked Pane Mariano, a
husky 32-oz. round rustic loaf named after the bakery's founder. Today, the bread still
takes 24 hours to produce and is actually baked upside down in a revolving tray oven.
Or take Turano's Gemelli Bread, a twin peasant loaf, or the Mezzo
Spoletti Bread, a middle split handmade bread, and it's hard to imagine that its product
line includes a San Francisco Chocolate Bread and a Piccante Pepper and Cheese loaf for
its new line of Pane di Campagna breads for in-store and retail bakeries.
"The Pane Mariano line is the one loaf of bread that has put
us on the map. The rest of the artisan products are derived from that Pane Mariano
line," Tony explains.
For Turano, some "new" products are just simple combinations
of two time-tested products, such as a hearth-baked potato bread.
"Sure potato bread is an old product," Tony says, "but
the question for us is, 'How do we incorporate it into our hearth bread philosophy? How do
we take those two old products and come out with a totally different product altogether,
which is friendly to today's market?"
Other times, the challenge is more technical, such as developing the
proper freezing method-relying on advice of the many European bakers that the Turanos have
visited over the years-which captures the moisture and maintains the freshness and
integrity of parbaked breads and rolls for a longer period of time.
"The key is that we do not freeze the product all the way
through," Tony explains. "We found that by blast freezing the product about half
a centimeter around the crust, by leaving the core of the product unfrozen and letting it
freeze solid slowly in the holding freezer, the keeping quality and the life of the
product are much longer."
Producing fresh n' frozen
Production at the Berwyn plant is seven days a week. There, two
100,000-lb. flour silos feed four lines, with the fastest bread and roll lines cranking
out about 2,000 lbs. of product an hour. Overall, that facility uses 500,000 lbs. of flour
a week, with production capacity pretty much running at full board.
However, because of the variety of products produced, there are no minor
or micro ingredient handling systems. Five horizontal mixers, four No. 13 and a smaller
batch mixer, produce mainly straight doughs for rustic Italian and French breads as well
as hearth, dinner and Kaiser rolls, However, many products, such as Turano's Filone bread,
a 22-in. long rustic loaf, receive a combination of hands on and semi-automatic treatment.
After dividing, intermediate proofing and molding, the Filone loaves are handshaped,
allowed to rise naturally, then degassed under a pressure plate, allowing them to be
stretched before they're handscored and baked.
To streamline operations, production scheduling must ladder up or down,
with operators making minor adjustments to bake times and temperatures as they shift from
one product to another.
As Les Messina, vice president of plants operations, explains, "You
have to start either with the largest or smallest product and then scale up or scale down
your oven time and temperatures to avoid time-consuming changeovers."
While the Berwyn plant provides the product flexibility and hands-on
craftsmanship for Turano Baking, the Bolingbrook Knead Dough plant with its long,
straight-line design and layout provides volume production. Here, two 220,000-lb. silos
supply six lines with high-gluten flour, and one 100,000-lb. silo holds semolina while
another provides whole wheat flour. Currently, weekly flour usage ranges from 440,000 to
460,000 lbs., but unlike the Berwyn Plant, which is near capacity, the Knead Dough
facility has the ability to handle Turano's growth over the next few years, Tony Turano
notes.
"The capital expenditures and expansions here were based on the
type of products that came to us from sales and the magnitude of the customer who is
buying those products and the number of products that we are producing," Tony
explains. "There is definitely room for growth."
To enhance efficiencies, Turano Baking is exploring the possibility of
installing a cream yeast system, a liquid brew system and even a minor ingredient system.
However, the bakery wants to ensure that such systems will not compromise product quality,
texture or integrity.
Currently, both plants rely on the total quality management (TQM)
approach to production, with Hazardous Analysis of Critical Control Points (HACCP) sheets
monitoring product flow in key areas, such as mixing, makeup and metal detecting. Product
consistency is a cornerstone to Turano's sales and marketing programs, Giancarlo says.
Moreover, the Bolingbrook plant has front-end computer controls handling
all bulk ingredients-including flour, water, vegetable oil and high-fructose corn syrup,
the latter two stored in 30,000-lb. tanks. These systems feed two No. 16 horizontal mixers
topped with 1,000-lb. flour silos feeding two lines and two No. 13 mixers feeding single
lines. The computer system not only controls formulation, but also "completely tracks
usage of all ingredients, and we can download all of our raw material usage for any
24-hour period" for further analysis and inventory control, says George Poulos, plant
operations manager, who has overseen the startup and production at the Knead Dough plant
since 1993.
Overall, the bakery uses a no-time system, adding a little starter,
ranging from 8% to 17% depending on the product, during the mixing stage to provide
prerequisite fermentation flavor.
After mixing on twin lines, designed specifically to produce baguettes
and French breads and rolls, dough troughs are automatically elevated to a motorized
chunker, which glides across a crossbar feeding two divider hoppers. Sensors I the hoppers
indicate to the chunker when a divider needs more dough. The single-pocket dividers can
run up to 2,500 pieces an hour, but because the line is integrated, speed is determined by
product variety, proofing times, baking times and pan flow.
Actually, the twin lines are two lines with separate makeup, proofing,
baking and freezing systems, but they share a common mixer and packaging systems. The
advantage of having the twin line system is that it requires about the same number of
operators as a single line, Tony Turano says. The lines can handle pans or peel boards for
hearth products.
After dividing on the twin lines, dough pieces rest from 12 to 18
minutes, serpentining down past curling chains and pressure plates-the type and number
depending on the product being produced-through a "finger extender" or a series
of rubber belts that simulate a baker's hand gently rolling and stretching the dough out
to the desired length.
After panning, the dough pieces travel to a module proofer-designer to
snake pans up and down in order to use about one-third less space than traditional
proofing systems. This is critical because the Turanos add fermentation flavor and texture
at the proofing stage. Here, in minimal space, the system provides the critical long, 108-
to 140-minute proof time at a cooler than usual 74-77°F at 78% humidity to create a more
natural proofing activity that adds the critical fermentation flavor to the product,
Poulos notes.
After proofing, product may pass under a seeder and receive a dusting of
either semolina flour or sesame seeds, for instance. The product then travels through a
nifty automatic scoring system, where pans are turned 90° and pass under 35 adjustable
razor blades, which score the product just like by hand, Poulos says. The pans then make a
second 90° turn before entering the oven.
The Knead Dough plant has several generations of ovens, ranging from
carousel to modular to tunnel in the plant. On the "oldest" European ovens, pans
flow through the oven on a carousel, starting at the middle of the circular oven and
flowing to the top, then spiraling down as the carousel rotates, dropping down one tier
after each circular sequence. Like a revolving tray oven, the dough pieces initially may
receive a kick from the hottest part of the oven at the top, then get an even bake as they
travel down to the coolest part of the bottom.
On the newer lines, pans travel up and down five vertical modules that
make up the oven. Depending on the product variety, ranging from 33-in. seeded baguettes
to par-baked French rolls, pans may travel up and down any number of modular zones, each
of which can be adjusted for specific temperatures. Moreover, four of the five zones offer
steam capabilities, allowing greater production flexibility. And, it's possible that
product can be proofed and even bypass the oven, if the Turanos ever wanted to produce
frozen dough.
Still, another benefit is production dependability. "If we have a
problem with one of the zones, we can skip that zone and continue with production,"
Poulos says.
After baking, breads and rolls receive a short cooling time, around 15
minutes, mostly to equilibrate the product prior to entering the blast freezer. There, the
pans travel in a serpentine manner-similar to the over-for 20 to 22 minutes at 25°F.
Again, the key is to leave the core unfrozen to maintain moisture in the product.
After freezing, products are depanned and pass through metal detection.
The pans are washed in the in-line system and recycled back to the makeup area. Meanwhile,
baguettes and similar breads are bulk packaged in poly-lined cartons, which are
palletized, shrinkwrapped and stored in one of two freezers. Rolls-which make up most of
the twin lines' production-are typically bagged six hoagies or 12 dinner rolls to a bag,
then cartoned, palletized, shrinkwrapped and stored. The holding freezers, the larger of
which holds 140 pallets, are kept at -10°F. From there, pallets are shipped from one of
three bays to an outside warehouse or cold storage.
Over the next year, the Turanos plan to add more flexibility to the
Knead Dough facility, so that it can produce all of the bakery's frozen dough
products-from multi-flavored boules and batards to baguettes and dinner rolls-while the
Berwyn plant produces all of the fresh product for local DSD delivery.
Specifically, the new sixth line will be made into an automated roll
operation, with the makeup system coming from one of the single European lines. Meanwhile,
the European system will be converted into a highly flexible line with a yet-to-be
determined makeup operation that can handle a wide variety of panned or hearth-baked
products.
Over the next five years, the Turanos are looking to expand their
national presence, with sales to foodservice, instore and retail baking customers leading
the way. At the same time, the third generation of Turanos will be coming out of college,
and the door will be open to those who want to keep on the tradition. If they choose to
pursue something else, that's fine, too.
"If [our children] come into the business, it's because they want
to and because they have the 'passion' that the Turano brothers have had until now,"
explains Renato Turano.
Yes, passion. Now, that's spoken like a true artist.
|