Bagel firm gets new name as its fortunes rise

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  Fleischer’s Bagels Inc. of Macedon has been renamed Bakewise Brands Inc., a move its leader said better reflects its line of bakery offerings.

  The new name, unveiled this week as the firm marks its 40th anniversary, also takes into account the 2009 acquisition of Tom Cat Bakery in Queens.

  The name change integrates the acquisition, said Robert Drago, Bakewise Brands president.

  Bakewise employs some 150 local workers and 250 more at Tom Cat. The business had had an operation in North Carolina since the 2007 acquisition of Bageltime Inc., but that was shut down at the end of 2010. Those operations were moved to the Wayne County headquarters.

  Day-to-day operations will not be affected by the name change, Drago said. Tom Cat remains a wholly owned subsidiary, and products will continue to be marketed under the Fleischer’s and Tom Cat names.

  Bakewise now offers more than 400 private-label and branded bakery products.

  "We have a new identity and really a new start as a bigger company with a lot more resources," Drago said.

  A long-term change will be how the company presents itself to the market and interacts with customers, now that it has more offerings, he said.

  The Fleischer’s operation makes fresh, refrigerated and frozen bagels sold to grocery chains and hospitality customers throughout the eastern United States. It manufactures bagels for brands such as Pepperidge Farm Inc. and for grocery chains, including Wegmans Food Markets Inc. The Macedon facility produces more than 150 million bagels annually.

  The Tom Cat Bakery was founded in 1987 by a chef with a passion for authentic French, Italian and specialty artisan breads. Its facility in Long Island City, Queens, bakes and delivers fresh, handmade bread to more than 1,000 accounts daily.

  Tom Cat’s bread is on the tables at New York City’s four-star restaurants and most famous hotels and also can be found at many food retailers and sandwich chains in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut region, company officials say.

  When Fleischer’s first acquired Tom Cat, the firm spent the first eight months or so reviewing possibilities for consolidation and shared services. The company now is focused on promoting brands from each location, Drago said.

  There is no change in ownership, Drago said. Bakewise remains owned by Ancor Capital Partners LLC, a private-equity company based in Fort Worth, Texas, which bought Fleischer’s in 2005.

  Bakewise is hiring a handful of workers, including some managers locally, Drago said.

  The company has been hiring steadily over the past few years, adding positions including vice presidents of sales and marketing here and at Tom Cat, new salespeople and a plant manager at the Tom Cat site.

  The firm also has invested more heavily in research and development at both sites and continues to add to its product line. Drago said product development is important in the bakery business because of the amount of competition.

  Hoovers Inc. estimates there are roughly 2,500 commercial bakeries in the United States, with combined annual revenue of $25 billion.

  What helps Bakewise is its ability to develop a product and bring it to the market faster than larger competitors, Drago said. While it can take some competitors a year to go through the process, Bakewise can do it in four months.

  Last year, Fleischer’s introduced products including 100-calorie mini bagels in plain and grain varieties and its Blue Rooster Bagel Sandwich line in five varieties, such as ham, egg and cheese on a plain bagel and sausage on a French toast bagel.

  Drago declined to disclose sales but said Bakewise was able to weather the recent recession by managing expenses and eliminating waste.

  The firm is well-positioned for growth, he said, noting that the biggest challenge is the increasing cost of commodities, including flour, cocoa and sugar, as well as rising oil prices that affect costs such as those for plastic bags and freight.

  The firm has grown from a single retail store to a full-scale food manufacturer. Founded in 1971 in Schenectady by Marc Fleischer, the firm moved to the Rochester area in 1974. A year later, Fleischer’s brother, Jody, joined him as a partner in the retail bagel shop. In 1978, Fleischer’s entered the wholesale bagel business, selling bagels individually and by the dozen at the front counter and by the case to distributors at the back of the shop.

  In 1987, the brothers expanded their venture by converting a 15,000-square-foot building in Rochester into a bagel factory.

  The firm built a 42,000-square-foot facility in Macedon in 1993. In 2001, the brothers partnered with Buffalo-based Strategic Investment and Holding Inc. Four years later the company was purchased by Ancor Capital, and Jody Fleischer retired from the business.

  Drago, a third-generation food industry executive from Buffalo, took over the business in 2008 when Marc Fleischer retired.

  The business is committed to the local area, Drago said. "Our roots are here."

3/18/11 (c) 2011 Rochester Business Journal. To obtain permission to reprint this article, call 585-546-8303 or e-mail [email protected].