Brownie Crunch is hot and Greyston”™s got it.
The crispy concoction with its roots in a Manhattan entrepreneur”™s kitchen was lauded in January at the national specialty food meeting, the NASFT Winter Food Show, in San Francisco as an “instant hit.” Six months ago, Brownie Crunch joined the ranks of Yonkers-based Greyston Bakery-produced goods, which have continued to grow across a 31-year history and last year for the first time generated more than $10 million in revenue. In 2009, revenue was reported at $7 million.
The company is perhaps best known as the brownie maker for Ben & Jerry”™s ice cream and that work continues gangbusters.
“We ship a tractor-trailer per day, 4 million pounds a year,” said Mike Brady, who has been chairman and CEO of Greyston Bakery since January 2012.
The brownies are integral to two of Ben & Jerry”™s five biggest sellers: Chocolate Fudge Brownie and Half Baked, as well as to the recipes for Chocolate Fudge Brownie Milkshake, Magic Brownies and FroYo Chocolate Fudge Brownie.
Greyston terms itself a “value-based organization.” As such, last year it was named New York state”™s first “benefit corporation.” That status, according to Brady, allows the company with complete transparency to factor equally its concerns for social, environmental and financial benefits. Greyston”™s just-produced “Benefit Corporation Report” for 2012, according to Brady, “demonstrates to consumers and business partners how we are accomplishing our mission. It emphasizes the importance of other factors beyond purely financial.
“On a broad level, we are driving a new market economy where consumers and businesses make buying decisions based on the values of the companies they buy from,” he said. “The challenge is that people in Westchester don”™t know there is a revolutionary and innovative business in their backyard.”
How innovative? The rigors of vetting work candidates are as simple as a sign-up sheet. If Greyston has a job and your name is on the list, you get the job. There is a rigorous apprenticeship program. “Anyone who wants to put their name on a list, it”™s as simple as that,” said Brady. “We don”™t always know their backgrounds, but we think everyone deserves an opportunity or a second chance, regardless of their past.
“Greyston is unique both in its mission to eradicate poverty in southwest Yonkers,” he said. “Our strength is our social mission.”
The uniqueness comes not from doing good ”“ Brady cites Greyston partners Ben & Jerry”™s and its parent corporation Unilever, and Whole Foods as like-minded examples ”“ but rather from its people, planet, profits “triple bottom line” and Greyston”™s success with all three.
The Whole Foods alliance offers an example: Greyston makes the products for Whole Foods”™ Whole Planet line and Whole Foods donates 2 percent of the revenue from Whole Planet sales to third-world micro-finance conduits, $6,000 to date, according to Greyston business development manager Ariel Hauptman.
To accommodate Whole Foods, Hauptman said Greyston is not afraid to break a few eggs in pursuit of its Blonde Brownie, but they must be of the cage-free variety. “For Whole Planet, it”™s all cage-free eggs and Belgian chocolate,” she said, citing Greyston”™s baking adaptability.
Yet for all that do-gooding, the Greyston Do-Goodie Brownie ”“ a staple for years ”“ is no more. It has been rebranded as the Greyston Brownie and is available on the company website, along with other goods.
The nascent deal with Brownie Crunch has added 20 jobs, bringing Greyston”™s payroll to 75 positions. Baking can be cyclical, “but we do our best not to be seasonal,” Brady said.
The factory for six months has been turning out Brownie Crunch, its crunchy edges said to be the best part of the brownie by its inventor Seth Greenberg.
There are now versions with chili and chipotle among other flavors. Greenberg, a Manhattanite, is something of baking royalty, the scion of William Greenberg Jr., with whom he worked for 25 years. Greenberg products were recently mentioned on an episode of the period drama “Mad Men.”
“We”™re rolling out Brownie Crunch nationally as of February,” said Hauptman. “By 2014, we hope to be coast to coast.” She talks markets with national fluency, noting recent Brownie Crunch pushes into a pair of regions ”“ the Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana market, and the Southern California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii market.
Brady”™s background is food entrepreneurship, and specifically, “a strong interest in social entrepreneurship business models.”
Noting his first year on the job had just passed, he said he could no longer fall back on being a “newbie” as an excuse for things gone wrong. But he seemed content with that.
“What I found at Greyston is a great bakery that was already serving clients like Ben & Jerry”™s for 23 years, and with great potential for growth to drive our business. It”™s a great story that”™s going on here and we really want to make people aware of it.”
