The California-based bakery recently teamed with Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry initiative to help feed one million meals to children in need during the holidays by donating a portion of all sales from October through December to the campaign.
“No child should grow up hungry in America, but one in five children struggles with hunger,” Kristina Dermody, brand president ARYZTA, told FoodNavigator-USA. “Through the #AlwaysEnough campaign, La Brea Bakery is helping No Kid Hungry and child hunger in America by ensuring that all children get the healthy food they need, every day.”
Dermody said La Brea Bakery joined the effort, which works year around, because “as a food company, it is our corporate and personal responsibility to make sure that children always have access to nutritious and adequate meals, especially around the holiday season where there should be more than enough food to go around.”
The company’s participation in the campaign also likely will elevate the brand’s visibility during a season packed with celebratory meals. In addition, it could boost the perceived value of the brand at a time when consumers increasingly are seeking products that contribute to the greater good.
For example, when Hain Celestial’s organic children’s brands Ella’s Kitchen and Earth’s Best partnered with No Kid Hungry in March 2015, it saw a lift in sales and gained increased prominence in Walmarts with middle of aisle displays.
Dermody was quick to point out, however, that this is not the main goal of the campaign and “any additional awareness of La Brea Bakery is an added, although unintended, bonus.”
In addition to the #AlwaysEnough campaign, La Brea Bakery simultaneously is hosting a #ThanksgivingHero campaign that invites people to visit the company’s Facebook page to nominate a loved one who has to work on Thanksgiving to receive a full holiday meal at work.
“People across the country can nominate their favor nurse at Children’s Hospital or a firefighter who might be on duty that day,” and then the nation will vote on a favorite hero to win the meal, Dermody said.
New products in the New Year
The company will continue to celebrate in the New Year with several new product launches.
In early 2016, the company will launch a line of “Farm to Table” bread, Dermody said. She explained the inspiration for the specialty brand came from the ongoing farm to table movement, which “is something we not only see as a trend, but something that we believe at our core, and we’re excited to embrace it with this new line.”
The bakery also is rolling out several new gluten free breads, which already are available in select locations. They include a Multigrain Artisan Sandwich Bread and a White Artisan Sandwich Bread, Dermody said.
“Many of the gluten-free bread options in the market don’t taste very good. We wanted to create gluten free bread that was delicious, by being moist and flavorful, and fill a void consumers currently experience in the marketplace by giving them bread that is true to what bread should taste like.”
She added that the new breads are made with “only the highest quality ingredients and created with the same dedication to the artisan traditions and uncompromising standards” to which the bakery holds its other products.