Canyon Bakehouse not loafing in gluten-free race
Loveland bakery’s reach rising as fast as its dough
LOVELAND — A bakery in Loveland expects to be selling its gluten-free bread, buns, bagels and brownies in 10,000 stores nationwide by the end of the year.
Canyon Bakehouse’s products are in 8,000 stores now, and that number is expected to hit the 10,000 milestone later this year, said Josh Skow, co-founder, president and chief executive of the 6-year-old company.
The self-funded bakery was launched in 2009 after Josh’s wife, Christi, another co-founder, was diagnosed in 2007 with celiac disease, an inherited digestive and autoimmune disorder caused by gluten that damages the lining of the small intestine. It is a protein found in wheat and related grains, including barley and rye. It gives elasticity to dough, helping it rise and keep its shape, and often gives the final product a chewy texture. Without it, most breads lack taste and have a texture often described as cardboard.
SPONSORED CONTENT
“By using high-quality ingredients, our goal is to become best in market and raise the industry standard for taste, texture and nutrition,” Christi said.
Master baker Ed Miknevicius is also a co-founder who is the brains behind the recipes that he conjures up in his home in Johnstown and oversees baking operations in Loveland.
As the market for gluten-free foods gains traction, so does Canyon Bakehouse. Sales of gluten-free foods, at $783 million in 2014, are predicted to exceed $2 billion in 2019, according to market research firm Packaged Facts.
The bakery posted a 106 percent sales increase from 2013 to 2014. It also is the No. 2 gluten-free bread company in the natural channel, with its seven-grain bread as the top-selling gluten-free loaf, according to Spins, a provider of retail consumer insights, analytics and consulting for the natural, organic and specialty products industry. A recent Spins report said Canyon Bakery is growing at a rate of 22 percent, while the category is growing at 2 percent. Canyon’s main competitors include Glutino Food Group in Canada, Ener-G Foods Inc. in Seattle and Food for Life Baking Co. in California, along with area bakeries Udi’s Healthy Foods LLC in Denver and Rudi’s Organic Bakery in Boulder.
“Retailers have embraced the gluten-free trend by stocking more gluten-free items, featuring them in store, and launching their own private label brands. In addition, retail chains have been courting the gluten-free consumer with a variety of festivals and events,” said David Sprinkle, Packaged Facts’ research director.
Canyon Bakehouse is operating at full capacity in a 20,000-square-foot space at 1510 E. 11th St.
About 70 of its 110 employees staff three shifts, six days a week, baking products that include a variety of breads, muffins, hamburger and hotdog buns, and brownies. “We’re producing several thousand units per week,” said Josh Skow, whose background includes working for large food-ingredient companies. Canyon Bakehouse also leases a 10,000-square-foot warehouse nearby, where it stores ingredients. “We are bumping our heads at capacity,” he said.
The company, launched in 2009, got its first big break early on when it signed a deal with Whole Foods Market to be in its regional stores, which later expanded to other parts of the country. In addition to being in numerous natural-grocery stores, it has worked deals with Safeway, Wegmans Food Markets Inc. and Publix, and recently was picked up by Target.
Shelf space is highly competitive and, until recently, gluten-free breads generally have been relegated to the frozen-food bins, away from the traditional bread section. Skow said that recently, some stores are thawing out Canyon’s bread products and stocking them next to conventional breads. “That’s a real game changer for us,” he said.
Canyon Bakehouse has used social media as its main advertising tool because it is less expensive than traditional radio, TV or print advertising, and because it can target individuals.
In addition to its in-house sales and marketing team, Canyon Bakehouse has forged partnerships with digital-marketing companies, including Loveland-based Madwire Media LLC, to target potential customers who live within a five-mile radius of a store that carries the bakery’s products, Skow said.
It also uses social media to encourage customers who have discovered its products away from home to encourage them to ask their local stores to carry Canyon Bakehouse goods.
The company also keeps costs down by contracting with transportation companies and distribution centers to pick up and deliver its frozen goods to stores, rather than investing in a fleet of its own trucks, Skow said.
“The best thing we’ve done is to not take on debt and grow with cash on hand,” Skow said.
He said the company’s biggest challenge is finding good people to hire to keep up with growth. “The pool in the last year has dried up as the economy has improved. We are scraping to find people to work in the bakery.”
Doug Storum can be reached at 303-630-1959, 970-416-7369 or dstorum@bizwestmedia.com.
LOVELAND — A bakery in Loveland expects to be selling its gluten-free bread, buns, bagels and brownies in 10,000 stores nationwide by the end of the year.
Canyon Bakehouse’s products are in 8,000 stores now, and that number is expected to hit the 10,000 milestone later this year, said Josh Skow, co-founder, president and chief executive of the 6-year-old company.
The self-funded bakery was launched in 2009 after Josh’s wife, Christi, another co-founder, was diagnosed in 2007 with celiac disease, an inherited digestive and…
