KANSAS CITY — A festive mood prevailed March 5 in Washington as members of the staff and board of the American Bakers Association celebrated the adoption of an ambitious new five-year strategic plan. Participants expressed pride in a strategy they said was crafted “the right way” through an inclusive process that generated a system identifying objectives targeting the industry’s top priorities.

In particular, the effort seeks to make the baking industry a destination workplace and to propel baking to become “the fastest growing segment of the food industry.”Josh Sosland, editor of Milling & Baking News.
Source: Sosland Publishing Co. 

The plan was not a product of deliberations between a handful of industry leaders. Eric Dell, president and chief executive officer of the ABA, and board members emphasized the outreach that proved key in crafting the plan. More than two dozen industry stakeholders were interviewed as part of the process, and input from another 150 gathered through a survey was considered as were views voiced in 42 “listening sessions” held around the country.

Dell called this guidance invaluable in shaping the strategic plan.

Effecting the change envisaged in the plan entails major roles both for ABA’s staff and from the talented professionals in the baking industry.

A key aspect of the effort to tackle the labor challenges of baking and the perception of baking companies as a less than ideal career choice is tapping into the expertise of human resources professionals across the baking industry.

William Quigg, ABA’s vice chairman and president of Richmond Baking Co., said the ABA will act as a convener to allow HR professionals to share best practices aimed at making baking careers more attractive.

Quigg encouraged members to “activate your company’s HR representative to provide strategic direction to ABA’s resource and thought leadership creation as part of the HR Professionals Task Force.”

To help baked foods become the fastest growing segment of the food industry, the plan sees the ABA gathering and disseminating consumer insights member companies may use to formulate strategies for product innovation and marketing.

Dell said the information will be key to helping bakers understand “what consumers are looking for and how we can help meet consumers where they are.”

While solving the industry’s labor challenges represents a distinct strategic objective from making baking the fastest growing food segment, Brian Dwyer of Aunt Millie’s perceptively noted the latter objective will not be possible without headway on the first.

“To do that (to be the fastest growing segment), you have to have the talent,” he said. “It’s not just the production workers, it’s the maintenance technician side of the equation.”

Members of the ABA board acknowledged more than insights from HR professionals will be needed to alleviate the chronic difficulties bakers have experienced for years in recruiting and retaining workers and other industry professionals.

Brian LeComte, president and chief operating officer of Gold Medal Bakery Inc., called immigration “the crux of the issue.” Other ABA leaders have discussed the importance of finding ways for certain immigrants without legal standing at present to gain work permits. The focus reflects the tight US labor market. Except for a spike during the COVID-19 pandemic, the US unemployment rate has been at 5% or lower for about eight years and has been below 4% from the last two.

The need to address the immigration issue is growing more urgent by the day. It won’t be easy. Discussing a failed recent attempt he led to address the current immigration crisis, Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma said opponents zeroed in on questions of whether immigrants seeking asylum would be given work permits. Work permits remain a hot button political issue.

Without specifically addressing the immigration issue, Dell sensibly recognized that the baking industry will not be operating in a vacuum as it seeks to make progress against its strategic goals. Still, the effort must be made.

“There are so many factors outside of our control,” he said. “But we’re determined to make a difference.”