In addition to being a wholesale bakery producing high volumes of bite-size brownies and receiving increasing orders for its Petite Palmier and Madeleine cookies, Sugar Bowl Bakery, Hayward, CA, also ran a low-volume business manufacturing more than 350 kinds of sweet goods. The company baked and delivered a wide variety of orders every day for food service and institutional accounts. However, Sugar Bowl sold off this division of its business when it relocated from San Francisco to the East Bay.

“Running two different business models is extremely complicated,” said Michael Ly, Sugar Bowl Bakery’s vice-president and general manager. “It was very hard to focus on being great at either one, so we decided that we would rather put all our eggs in the high-volume manufacturing business model.”

Sugar Bowl Bakery sold its food service division to an operator who focuses in that arena; therefore, the sale benefitted both companies, he added, as they now each focus on what it does best.

Andrew Ly, president and CEO of Sugar Bowl, said that the downturn in the economy also factored into the company’s decision to sell off this business and the seven retail locations because hospitality sales had slipped with less tourism and fewer conventions.