Ultimately, the entire system allows roughly 600 more buns per minute to go out the door, all with the same headcount as any other bakery in the network. In this facility, 90% of that headcount is stationed in the packaging area, and automation in places like the oven area reduces the need for people in those hot spots. In the uncomfortably cold spots like the freezer, where pallets wait for pickup from the distribution centers, robotic skids ensure they move first-in, first-out onto the trucks.
Taking a risk in business can be unnerving, especially when more than 700 teammates and their families are counting on the risk to pay off. Ultimately, that’s why the new bun line’s throughput is so critical. The speed can generate revenue, but perhaps more importantly, it also supports the company’s alternative work schedule: When employees fulfill three 12-hour shifts in their work week, they are paid for 40 hours, allowing for more flexibility and better work-life balance.
“When we designed this bakery, we wanted our customers and our team members to experience a facility where everything we put in is from a safety perspective and a quality perspective,” Porter said. “We wanted to create an environment where people want to be.”
The pancake line was also designed to stay on par with those expectations. With Rademaker’s Doug Hale, director of systems integration for Rademaker USA, providing system integration, commissioning is expected Sept. 1.
“Doug Hale and his group have been second to none,” Porter said. “I’ve had my team watch how they’re leading this project so they can gain key learnings on system integration and startup. It can really help us improve our own processes down the line as well.”
It’s all intertwined, capital investments and product development. But, CEO Trina Bediako testifies, the most important element is in relationships. Without those, the lines would simply be machines, and the building would be little more than a shell.
Family over everything
“The relationships are critical,” Bediako said. “My father established this business 30 years ago on a strong foundation of relationships with many stakeholders. When he handed me the baton, I had to maintain those relationships. That’s how we keep the New Horizons name a good one. It’s how we remain known as good partners who operate with integrity, keep our word and make a quality product.”
It’s a point Porter took to heart when the team first saw the facility and its potential.
“We were in the plant, and there was nothing here,” he recalled. “It was completely empty. We just came together in the corner and tried to envision what the lines would look like. I went around and asked everyone on the team if they were committed to this. When we all agreed we were, we prayed over it. And we’ve been moving forward ever since.”
That’s how this company works: together. New Horizons is family-owned, but those ties run deeper than the Brown and Bediako names.
Whether it’s Bediako’s assistant Kelly Kromer; Jealousy Matson, who writes the company newsletter; Kevin Stevens, senior director of operational excellence; or any associate on any of the five factory floors, everyone is considered family. For the core leadership team —Brown, Bediako, Porter and Loeffler — family is who they will always see.
“Trina’s like a sister and Mike’s like a brother to me,” said Kurt Loeffler, New Horizons’ CFO. “This company truly is like a tight-knit family, and it’s an honor for me to serve as the CFO.”
While New Horizons is a multi-generational family business, the second generation includes not only Bediako, but also her husband Gabe, and her brother, sister, and sister-in-law, as well as her daughter and son in the third generation — the company holds more family trees than the one who owns it. Porter, who has been with New Horizons since he was 19, now has a second generation at the company, as well.
“I’ve had two mentors in my life: Russ Bundy and Tim Brown,” Porter said. “I’ve learned so much from them both, and one big lesson Tim has taught me is that all you have is your name. I’m teaching that to my kids now.”
Today, the name New Horizons is the quintessential moniker.
“With all Trina, Mike and the team have accomplished, it’s opened up a new horizon,” said Tilmon “Tim” Brown, chair of New Horizons. “We’re starting to understand how companies can mushroom, because we’re seeing that now with capabilities we never even realized we had.”
The company began with one product, and today, New Horizons — with the leadership and executive team representing 200 collective years of baking experience — has business in 65 countries.
“We built the infrastructure, giving the sales team unlimited options to grow the business,” Porter said. “Now, we could be one phone call away from anything. If we have a pan and a product, we can make it. We really are feeding the world, and as long as we keep moving forward, every day is a new horizon.”
This story has been adapted from the August | Q3 2025 issue of Commercial Baking. Read the full story in the digital edition here.
