Main Street Gourmet wages war on waste

Many of this bakery's cost cutting ideas are generated by its employees, who not only want to improve operations, but the company's standing in the community.

Bakery Award: Main Street Gourmet

Product: Viitals high protein muffins

Packaging: Pattycake Bakery's “green” packaging

Creative thinking has been pervasive throughout Akron, Ohio-based Main Street Gourmet (MSG) since its founding 22 years ago. Steve Marks and Harvey Nelson, co-C.E.O.s, founded the company after witnessing an innovative concept in California in 1986. Marks and Nelson noticed people lined up 10 deep at a muffin shop at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday. After Marks acquired property on S. Main Street in downtown Akron for $5,000 at a real estate auction, these childhood friends took a risk and started a business that now produces about 15 million lb. of muffins and other sweet goods per year. And with an anticipated growth factor of 10 percent for the next few years, Marks projects annual gross sales in excess of $20 million in the near future.

While the business has undergone many transformations since its inception, it has found its strength and niche in custom manufacturing. With the acquisition of Isabella's Healthy Bakery in 1999, it has a strong focus in the healthful baking category. “We were one of the first to come out with fat-free muffins and one of the first to come out with whole grain muffins,” Marks says. “We think we've been on the cutting edge of a lot of things.”

One of the bakery's new cutting edge concepts rewards employees for identifying cost cutting measures by reducing waste. MSG is effectively waging a War on Waste. Its WOW program generated about $150,000 this past year, along with the intangible benefit of boosting employee morale because everyone's input is given serious consideration.

Reducing waste helps improve profits and impacts the company's bottom line. But, MSG isn't only interested in improving its own outlook. Several of its programs have helped enrich its local community through fund raisers and food donations.

“Since its inception, MSG has been proud to pioneer several creative community programs and processes that have demonstrated a deep desire to not only improve its own operations, but also strengthen the area where it resides and better improve the lives of its local citizens,” says Philip Plumley, human resources administrator.

A War on Waste

MSG's WOW program rewards employees for identifying cost cutting measures that ultimately benefit the company. Suggestions may be submitted for any area of the company, including production, shipping/receiving, purchasing, sales, etc. Ideas are submitted to the War on Waste committee. Any idea the committee accepts as a “master idea” earns the submitter $50. The employee with the most ideas accepted receives $250, second place gets $100 and third place $50. Once all “master ideas” are submitted, the process of implementation begins. If an idea is successful in accomplishing its savings goal at any month throughout the fiscal year, the submitter gets an additional $50. If the total annual savings goal is achieved, all people who submitted at least five ideas get another $100.

During the past year, ideas ranged from adding an alarm to the oven to alert the operator of temperature fluctuations to preventing cup and clamshell denesters from dropping cups and clamshells on the floor.

“We had a lot of waste with paper cups falling out of the cup denester on one of our primary production lines,” says Mike Braun, plant manager. “We worked with our cup supplier, who made a small adjustment in his production methods. Our cup usage has dropped by 25 percent, with no additional cost to the company.”

One idea submission suggested the need for a backboard or net for the dump table to avoid having product tossed on the floor. The solution resulted in an anticipated monthly savings of $3,800, yielding an annual savings of $42,000.

MSG's war on waste has been extremely successful so far. In the future, ownership of ideas will likely be given to employees, rather than the committee that currently reviews them. “With employee ownership, we think we will get even better results,” Marks says.