Ask successful wholesale bakers about their suppliers, and the bakers likely will praise them as valuable partners. True enough. Yet, rare is the baker who has woven a baker-supplier relationship into merged operations that yielded benefits for baker and supplier.

But that’s exactly what happened to Boston-based wholesaler The Original Boston Coffee Cake Co. and ingredients manufacturer Bake’n Joy Foods Inc. For 17 years Boston Coffee Cake, which produced a line of upscale coffeecakes, purchased proprietary dry mix from Bake’n Joy, a supplier of premium mixes and bases, frozen batters and cookie dough.

With the merged operations, Boston Coffee Cake has tapped into Bake’n Joy’s research and development, marketing, sales force and distributor connections; Bake’n Joy in turn picked up a growing brand and introduced wholesale baking to its operations. The firm constructed a 12,000-sq.- ft. bakery dedicated to producing Boston Coffee Cake brand products exclusively and has set its sights on making the cakes and product line recognized across the country.

Dropped careers to bake

Boston Coffee Cake was the brainchild of Mark Forman, who with his brother, Bruce, abandoned established business careers in 1992 to become entrepreneurs. The brothers, then 32 and 27 years old, respectively, grew up enjoying their grandmother’s moist, rich cinnamon walnut coffee cake, and Mark became convinced a market existed for it.

A pastry chef friend told the brothers he had tired of his small wholesale bakery and invited them to use the facility for a few months to learn whether they would like to bake for a living.

Working for three months, the brothers developed their concept for coffeecake. They used Boston in the name because consumers often like to associate a locale with a food product, Mark explains.

With $18,000 in personal and family funds, Mark and Bruce leased the bakery, adding a vertical mixer and two convection ovens to an existing walk-in refrigerator. They started with the one flavor, cinnamon walnut, producing it from scratch with fresh eggs, high-quality sour cream and premium walnuts.

After baking cakes, Mark drove his car to prospective customers–restaurants, hotels, gourmet food stores and bagel shops–to sample the cakes. By the end of 1992, the brothers, with their first employees, a baker and a pot washer, were making about 400 cakes a day.

Their first big sales opportunity came in spring 1993

with a wholesale club operation that had opened nearby. “Because our business was new, we had no credit and had to purchase ingredients COD,” Mark says. They began buying supplies at the club store. “The store manager believed his store could sell our coffeecake, and within six months of opening our bakery, the store gave us a shot.” Until then, the largest account purchased 30 cakes a week; the club store began ordering 300 a week. The club store company then said that to retain its business the bakery would need to supply half a dozen stores in the area with daily store-door delivery. “That account propelled us into big-time wholesaling,” Mark recalls.

Booming volume and scratch production strained production capacity, Mark says. A family acquaintance put the brothers in touch with Bake’n Joy Foods, which, among other offerings, develops proprietary mixes. “It wasn’t easy. We went through 30 to 40 tests to create a mix that emulated Nana’s recipe,” Mark says.

Success in developing one mix formula that accommodated many cake flavors marked the beginning of the companies’ long-term relationship. The Formans regularly worked with Bake’n Joy’s research and development team to create new flavors. “The basic mix remains the same,” he says. “This has allowed us to produce consistent product.”

Customers, mostly supermarket in-store operators, often asked the Formans to alter the formula. “They wanted a cheaper coffeecake,” Mark says. “We refused, explaining that this is what we bake, the best coffeecake we believe we can make.” Others wanted it packaged with their brand. “Fortunately for us, the wholesale club and other initial customers wanted the Boston Coffee Cake brand.”

Two years into business, Boston Coffee Cake moved to a 3,500-sq.-ft. facility and added a single-rack oven to its five convection ovens. Business grew steadily; a second club store operator signed on, as did a large regional supermarket chain. In 1996 the company expanded the bakery to 6,500 sq. ft., replacing the convection ovens with three double-rack ovens and installing a utensil and pan washer.

Despite the brand’s broad exposure in club stores and supermarkets, many consumers remained unaware of Boston Coffee Cake, Mark says. To help build brand awareness for the 1996 winter holidays, the company focused on its packaging, which featured white boxes with red type. Mark chose to develop an upscale red-and-gold-striped box to distinguish the packaging from other bakery foods. Strong holiday sales convinced the Formans to continue using the revamped design year round.

The red-and-gold box became a major brand component and enabled the company to pursue mail order, foodservice, gift sales, fund-raising programs and seasonal promotions, he says, adding, “Consumers now recognize Boston Coffee Cake because of the box.”

Mail order cakes are wrapped in tissue paper and sealed with a gold insignia. The upscale presentation, Mark notes, encourages consumers to buy coffeecakes for gifts. “We sell more than a cake; we sell an experience. To add to the experience, we sourced the best-quality jams, jellies, honey, coffee and coffee mugs in New England and include them for specialty gift packages.”

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