Commercial Bakeries

From timeless chocolate chip to the goodness of oatmeal raisin, or indulgent s’mores sandwich crème and holiday flavors like pumpkin spice and butter shortbread, our choices may vary, but the love for a delicious cookie treat unites us all.

Since 1953, Commercial Bakeries has been a master at sweetening taste buds with a delightful blend of these classic favorites and exciting new flavors. A premier manufacturer of private-label cookies and baked snacks, it continues to help retail giants, warehouse clubs, brand owners and ingredient suppliers set the standard for deliciously baked innovation and quality.

Under the leadership of recently appointed CEO Shawn Warren, a seasoned veteran with three decades of experience in the global baked snack industry, Commercial Bakeries is poised to embark on a new chapter of growth by embracing a bold vision of ‘baking up better.’ This vision promises to sprinkle cutting-edge techniques and fresh business strategies into the company’s time-tested recipes and practices to deliver even more delicious outcomes.

How does ‘baking up better’ translate into action?

“‘Baking up better’ is more than a catchy slogan. It represents our commitment to baking up better products, better customer solutions and better stakeholder relationships,” states Warren. “It goes beyond the simple pleasure of baking cookies—it’s a promise to meet the high expectations of today’s discerning consumers and customer partners.”

Delivering exceptional quality is at the heart of this mission. The company not only bakes cookies that evoke the nostalgia of grandma’s secret recipe but meets modern dietary demands with peanut-free, organic, gluten-free, non-GMO and clean-label products. Strong industry credentials complement these efforts, with robust SQF Level 3 certifications, adherence to top-tier good manufacturing practices (GMPs) and a dedicated in-house quality team focused on maintaining a high level of quality assurance with each batch.

Responsiveness and attention to detail are ingrained in the culture and enable the team of over 400 employees across Canada and the U.S. to deliver better customer solutions, meeting the needs of each of its 80 private-label brand owners and retailer partners. With more than 800 recipes and 400 product types currently in production, including wire-cut, rotary mold and sandwich creme cookies, Commercial Bakeries ensures it has the scale and expertise to meet its customers’ needs.

By staying attuned to market trends and fostering a collaborative environment with all stakeholders, the Commercial Bakeries team offers more than cookies; they offer unique consumer, retail and industry insights and food and packaging solutions. This allows them to proactively address consumer and customer needs with high-quality products while pursuing important environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals, like reducing product waste, packaging waste and energy consumption.

These concerted efforts guarantee that ‘baking up better’ becomes a tangible reality reflected in every package of cookies and crackers produced.

Redefining Nimbleness to Offer Better Solutions Faster

Commercial Bakeries’ successes are also a testament that business growth need not come at the cost of agility. Unlike many large, multinational companies and private label manufacturers that operate on traditional long timelines stretching into many weeks, months or sometimes even years, Commercial Bakeries embraces rapid prototyping and a ‘shift-at-a-time’ mentality. This approach enables the team to maintain nimbleness, adaptability and prioritize rapid changeovers to deliver timely solutions to its growing customer base.

The Commercial Bakeries team is inspired by Formula 1 racing league pit crews that model a relentless focus on team excellence as they ready their drivers for each lap and race in a matter of seconds. A visit to its Toronto, Canada bakery reveals the seriousness of its commitment to do the same in the baking industry. All machinery is mounted on wheels, allowing the team to swiftly move and customize its equipment for different customers’ products, minimizing downtime and minimizing product waste.

The same level of responsiveness extends to new product development. Innovation spans new food products, flavors and seasonal items that consistently surprise and delight. This success is driven by the leadership team’s wealth of consumer and baking industry insights, gained from their combined 100+ years of worldwide experience from some of the world’s largest cookie and cracker companies. Their expertise is matched by the innovation and R&D teams’ collaborations with plant operations, sales and quality teams, ensuring new product initiatives are quickly integrated into everyday practices.

Over 80 retailers and brand owners across North America and in international markets such as South Korea, Japan, Australia, Philippines, South Africa and Chile rely on Commercial Bakeries’ ability to introduce new, high-quality products at affordable prices. They also benefit from Commercial Bakeries’ collaborations with major North American retailers and distribution companies, which help them drive robust growth and sales in the cookie and cracker aisles.

Packaging innovation is another key aspect of the strategy. Driven by consumer demand for more convenient, on-the-go options, Commercial Bakeries responds with advanced packaging technologies, including high-speed bagging equipment for single-serve, portion-control packs. Since these packaged products are also peanut-free, addressing the needs of the many school boards with strict peanut-free policies, they make for healthier snack options that are also convenient, delicious and affordable.

Retailers, on the other hand, benefit from its many display-ready cases and packaging solutions, which allow for faster, more efficient shelf restocking and boost overall visibility and efficiency in-store. These versatile packaging and display systems allow for modular designs to meet different consumer requirements in different retail environments.

“Given that Innovation is our lifeblood, we have more than tripled the size of our R&D team over the last year. The expanded bench strength is essential to bring better innovation impact for different packaging technologies as well as delicious new cookie and cracker snack options,” states Warren.

A Special Recipe for Rapid Growth

Aspiring to be among the fastest-growing baked snack providers in the industry, Commercial Bakeries has established metrics for turnaround times on new products, vital for sustaining and growing its business as cookie and cracker choices and snack needs evolve.

This is particularly evident in the company’s ability to deliver sought-after seasonal and limited-time products like cream sandwiches, holiday butter and candy cane cookies. Throughout the rest of the year, the high consumer demand for organic, gluten-free and better-for-you cookies and crackers accounts for over half of the company’s total revenue.

Since being acquired by Graham Partners last year, a Philadelphia-based private equity firm, Commercial Bakeries has seen its revenue momentum increase significantly. Achieving double-digit growth in top-line revenue and production hours has led the company to secure a stronger and leading position in the North American private-label baked goods market.

Clients, too, reap the benefits of Commercial Bakeries’ leadership team ambition and expanded capabilities. For instance, a long-standing U.S. retailer doubled the size of its business within a year thanks to Commercial Bakeries’ quality advantage, smart packaging solutions and consumer insight-driven innovation. The dynamic growth has helped this particular retailer better meet the needs of its consumers and rapidly drive category growth and win market share within the cookie segment.

The Future is Incredibly Tasty

Commercial Bakeries is not just satiating sweet cravings, but it is also embarking on a new savory frontier with its May 2024 acquisition of Imagine Baking, known for its premium, health-conscious baked goods, especially better-for-you crackers. It marks a pivot point and milestone in Commercial Bakeries’ growth trajectory. By integrating Imagine Baking’s expertise in specialty, gluten-free and organic crackers and savory snack products, Commercial Bakeries is poised to expand its product portfolio and strengthen its market presence across the broader baked snacks industry.

This move couldn’t be more timely as consumers increasingly shift from larger brands to retail private labels. Imagine Baking’s cutting-edge, 114,000-square-foot facility in Sandusky, Ohio, with its flexible manufacturing lines and robust R&D lab, perfectly positions the company to ride this wave and meet the surging demand for healthier, allergen-free sweet and savory snack options.

A Delicious Place to Work

As the business has grown, the leadership team has also grown its employee base significantly and rallied its larger team toward celebrating a diverse, safe and engaged workforce.

A remarkable strength of the company is the diversity of its workforce: its combined team represents over 30 nationalities that speak 42 languages, contributing to a rich tapestry of cultural perspectives and a unified focus on embracing teamwork. This fosters better collaboration and drives an innovative culture, making Commercial Bakeries a breeding ground for sharing new ideas.

In addition, management’s focus on creating a world-class safety culture has been paying off, with many months without lost-time accidents. Driving positive employee engagement at all levels is also an important focus area of the leadership team. This has resulted in dramatic reductions in employee attrition over the last year and, moreover, fostering feelings of belongingness, appreciation and striving to get better every day.

“We are confident that our focused strategy and our shared purpose at Commercial Bakeries will accelerate us towards our vision of ‘Baking Up Better’ every day and in every way,” says the Chief Executive. “From twisting and dunking our chocolate sandwich cookies in milk to enjoying our organic crackers as part of warm holiday gatherings, we get energized by knowing our combined efforts helped to make each smile a little bit more delicious.”