![]() “We’ve been in the huddle for quite a few years, trying to figure out what is the right message from a consumer standpoint. “I remember a football coach in high school would say, ‘It’s time to break the huddle and run the play,’” Mr. chairman and the recently retired president and c.e.o. “We’ve been in the huddle for quite a few years, trying to figure out what is the right message from a consumer standpoint."Ī number of bakers and millers spoke supportively of the program, including Allen Shiver, a past G.F.F. The program will be subject to periodic referenda. ![]() “I’m kind of wondering how if I don’t necessarily agree with this and how it should be done, how do we say, ‘I’m not interested in that?’ Do I get dragged along? How do we say, ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea. “It appears that the industry is moving down this road,” he said during the townhall. convention, the mandatory aspect of the checkoff program did not sit well with Lawrence Marcucci, chief executive officer of Alpha Baking Co., Chicago. In a townhall discussion during the A.B.A. Bumps in the roadĬheckoff programs for other industries are not without controversy, and questions have been raised about aspects of the breadbasket program. “These campaign initiatives really changed consumer perceptions,” she said. Cochran cited the mustache campaign of the milk program or the “It’s what’s for dinner” campaign of the beef program. Somewhere in there is where we expect our return to be based on historical averages.”Īs an example of a successful checkoff initiative, Ms. “The dairy program tends to be about $5 (per dollar invested). “The more mature the program is, the lower that number tends to be,” she said. We weren’t quite sure what that was going to be, but we thought that was the right band.”įor their spend on the checkoff program, millers and bakers should expect a return on investment of between 5 and 15 times, Ms. “We defined that as about 80% of the market. “The vision was to rally a focused group of bakers and millers,” Ms. In industry-wide discussions about the program, the threshold for inclusion emerged as a point of concern. Bakers will collect the millers’ contributions.īreadbasket products are defined under the proposal as fresh and frozen sliced bread and unsliced bread, rolls, buns, bagels, naan, pita and other flatbread, English muffins, and biscuits. ![]() To raise the necessary funds, 16¢ per hundredweight of wheat flour used to bake breadbasket products will be paid into the program. “It’s a mandatory program that allows the industry to address a shared problem at scale.”Īs agreed upon by the steering committee, an annual budget of $15 million is planned for the checkoff program, of which 85% will be paid by bakers and 15% by millers. “We wanted to change the perception of bread to increase unit sales, and we wanted to produce scientific research that would support the category as a whole,” she said. executive director, said a checkoff program was identified as a way to tackle a “challenge that would otherwise go unaddressed by any individual company.” The programs are overseen by the U.S.D.A., as authorized by Congress, and once approved, require industry-wide contributions for activities aimed at promoting that industry.Īt the annual meeting of the American Bakers Association (A.B.A.), Christine Cochran, G.F.F. Interest in a checkoff was expressed in 2013 and intensified in 2016.įunded by industry, checkoff programs are designed to expand market share and increase revenue. More recently, Tom Nagle, a managing partner of Statler Nagle, conducted 55 interviews in 2016 across about 35 companies. Jean Statler, a founder of Statler Nagle, had been part of Wirthlin Associates in the early 2000s, and in that capacity conducted values research toward what became G.F.F. The interviews were conducted by Statler Nagle L.L.C. ![]() Interest emerged in 2013 when interviews were conducted with stakeholders in the industry to gauge their feedback of how well the Grain Foods Foundation (G.F.F.), with an annual budget of less than $3 million, was progressing in the pursuit of its mission. The idea of exploring a potential checkoff program for grain-based foods dates back many years.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |