ST. LOUIS — Companion Baking, which services restaurants and retail chains in the Midwestern US, will now provide bread for all Chicken N Pickle locations.
The opportunity, presented to the bakery by Chicken N Pickle’s distributor Sysco, focused on the Kansas City, MO-based restaurant chain’s interest in simplifying its supply chain and finding a manufacturer able to grow with it.
Chicken N’ Pickle sandwich on a Companion Baking bun | Photo courtesy of Companion Baking
The St. Louis-based custom bakery manufacturer answered the call and will provide the current six locations with two bread offerings: 4” sliced potato buns and 2.75-3” potato pull apart sliders, available in 96-count and 192-count cases, respectively.
To meet the restaurant’s requirement, the Companion team worked to find the right vehicle for Chicken N Pickle’s products, adjusting the recipe to include more milk and steam to add stability and a longer shelf life. This contributes to Companion’s commitment to reducing food waste.
“One of the most important things we can do as a manufacturer for our partner is realize that waste is the enemy you know,” said Jonathan Potts, regional sales manager for Companion. “As a company that has really been working to eliminate waste over the last four to five years, we understand that if buns are hitting a waste basket that’s it’s a failure on our part.”
As a custom bakery, Companion has positioned itself as a partner that can grow with Chicken N Pickle, especially with six additional locations set to launch in 2023 in various urban areas in Texas, Nevada, Arizona and Missouri.
Potts noted that this partnership serves as a “perfect example” of what the bakery can bring to the market.
“As a custom manufacturer, we really want to be able to provide them with the product that they need to be able to grow and to not have to worry about another bakery handling their increased volume as they really start to grow,” he said. “For us, this is an opportunity to be on the ground floor of a company that really wants to go places and that for us is really fun.”
