Starbucks To Acquire La Boulange Bakery To Elevate Offerings & Build Premium, Artisanal Bakery Brand

June 5, 2012 Starbucks Corporation

Responding to customer demand for more wholesome and delicious food options, Starbucks Coffee Company today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire San Francisco-based Bay Bread, LLC and its La Boulange® bakery brand, as well as to hire renowned French baker Pascal Rigo. This acquisition and Pascal’s visionary leadership will bring the artistry of the French bakery to the marketplace in a similar way that Starbucks brought the romance of the Italian espresso bar to many North American coffee consumers for the first time.

Trendy Demonstrations At All Things Baking

All Things Baking will be September 9-11, 2012 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. Attendees can expect a high-energy, innovative trade event geared to appeal to today’s forward-thinking bakers and food service professionals. On Sunday, September 9 at 10:30am, come see the very talented baker Chef Dominique Homo. Chef Homo, with the California Raisin Marketing Board, will present the “Legumes and Integral Wheat Flour Tiger Bread” demonstration.

As Recession Slowed Visits To Specialty Stores, Grocery Stores Collected Doughnut Consumers

June 5, 2012 IBISWorld Inc.

Although the recession pulled consumers away from doughnut stores, it did not lessen their sweet tooth entirely. Instead of purchasing doughnuts from specialty shops in the Doughnut Stores industry, consumers were more likely to buy lower-cost doughnuts from grocery stores during low income periods during the recession. As such, revenue growth slowed and declined in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

Smart Balance Signs Definitive Agreement To Acquire Udi's Healthy Foods, LLC

June 4, 2012 Smart Balance, Inc.

Smart Balance, Inc. announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Udi's Healthy Foods, LLC (Udi's) for $125 million in cash from majority shareholder Hubson Acquisition, LLC, an affiliate of E&A Industries based in Indianapolis, the family of founder Udi Bar-on, and other minority holders. The acquisition will be treated as an asset purchase for tax purposes. As a result, the Company expects to realize future tax benefits with a present value of approximately $22 million¹, resulting in an effective purchase price of approximately $103 million.

San Francisco's La Victoria Bakery: Re-Inventing The Concha & Other Mexican Breads

When Chef Luis Villavelazquez joined La Victoria Bakery as head pastry chef almost a year and a half ago, he wanted to perfect pan dulce classic, the concha. As I take a bite of a fluffy white concha I've chosen out of the display case, I find the dough is soft and almost chewy. It is dense like the conchas I remember from Oaxaca, and the sugar topping is not an attempt to distract from dry bread but simply an elegant final touch. Now that Villavelazquez' has perfected the concha, he wants to reinvent it.