WESTERVILLE, OHIO — Lancaster Colony Corp. is bullish on its new New York Bakery gluten-free frozen bread, made with a patent-pending formulation that could be a launching pad for other products, president and chief executive officer David Ciesinski said in reporting fiscal 2024 results.

The product, unveiled Aug. 21, marks Lancaster’s first-ever gluten-free line of New York Bakery frozen bread and includes versions of the brand’s Garlic Texas Toast and Five Cheese Texas Toast. The new items “raise the bar” in the gluten-free bread category via a “first-of-its-kind” dough recipe that maintains the texture, volume and structural integrity of their conventional counterparts, the company said.

“It’s amazing,” Ciesinski told analysts in an Aug. 22 conference call with analysts. “It’s a product that we developed. We got a patent on that technology because, if you’ve tried gluten-free bread products, a lot of times they’re very punchy or have an off-note in the flavor. And these (new products) taste nearly identical to our current (Texas Toast) item. That’s part of the reason why we’re so excited about it.”

Offered through Lancaster’s T. Marzetti Co. subsidiary, the gluten-free Texas Toasts were developed after extensive research of gluten-free families, the company said, noting that it incorporated consumer input on changing dietary preferences and availability needs. The new frozen bread products are certified gluten-free and produced in a dedicated gluten-free facility.

“These are really great products,” Ciesinski said. “I’m thrilled to have IP (intellectual property), I’m thrilled to have the flavor, and the pricing on this is very much in line with similar products that are gluten-free. So I think we can win on taste and on value.”

He said Lancaster also sees the patent-pending dough recipe in the gluten-free Texas Toasts as a platform.

“Is there an opportunity for us to use this technology or similar technologies that we’re patenting to look for other gluten-free items? It’s a very big, addressable opportunity that we just haven’t played in the past,” he said.

Plans call for the New York Bakery gluten-free frozen bread to roll out to major grocery retailers in September. Ciesinski sees the products as standing out from any similar private label or national brand offerings.

“This is one where I think it’s probably a little bit isolated for us,” he said. “These are consumers who were either gluten-intolerant, or they had celiac (disease) and weren’t really able to even buy our products. So for us, it’s incremental. And the (gluten-free bread) items that are out there today, both the brands and the private label, just honestly don’t taste very good.”

For the 2024 fiscal year ended June 30, Lancaster posted net income of $158.8 million, equal to $5.76 per share on the common stock, compared with $111.3 million, or $4.04 per share, a year earlier. The company said the results reflect restructuring and impairment charges related to its March exit from the store perimeter bakery category, including the Flatout and Angelic Bakehouse brands, and costs for its Project Ascent ERP initiative in fiscal 2024 and 2023.

Net sales in 2024 rose 2.7% to $1.87 billion from $1.82 billion a year ago, including gains of 2.4% to $988.4 million in the retail segment and 3% to $883.3 million in the foodservice segment. Operating income surged 41% to $199.4 million, reflecting the impact of the restructuring and impairment charges.