From kitchen to commercial: How Bobo’s R&D evolved

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From kitchen to commercial: How Bobo’s R&D evolved

19 Jun 2023

Joanie Spencer

Since 2008, Joanie Spencer has covered the retail and wholesale sides of the baking industry.
Serving associations such as the American Society of Baking (ASB) and BEMA, Joanie is also in demand as an industry presenter on bakery operations and trends. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from Rockhurst University and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri.

When she’s not running or playing soccer, Joanie spends her time with her husband and 11-year-old son.

LOVELAND, CO — Despite the innovative food brands that have emerged from the Boulder area, the lack of industrial space eventually pushed many of them toward co-manufacturing outside the city walls. However, Beryl Stafford, founder and president of Loveland, CO-based Bobo’s, chose the self-manufacture route, and Bobo’s has maintained control over the process and growth.

“The business was launched in Beryl’s kitchen, and she chose to ‘DIY’ it the entire time,” said T.J. McIntyre, Bobo’s CEO. “That’s become a great legacy that, 20 years later, is woven pretty thoroughly into who we are and how we do things.”

For McIntyre, who joined the company in 2016, Bobo’s manufacturing strategy has been a key factor in its growth.

With executive experience with some of the leading Colorado-based natural brands including Smart Balance, Earth Balance and Boulder Brands, McIntyre is focused on increasing production output through automation and growing the business organically through category and channel expansion.

With 50% market penetration in retail, including rotations in every region of Costco and 15,000 points of distribution for Walmart, opportunities abound for expansion as well as doubling the equivalized items inside the stores where Bobo’s already has a presence.

On supermarket, drug, convenience, military and, of course, big-box store shelves, Bobo’s currently competes in the cereal bar and nutrition bar categories. One of the most recent product launches — a protein bar, a dipped bar and a PB&J variety — will expand the brand’s presence in both categories.

In c-stores, Bobo’s is on pace with other natural brands as it increases presence in high-end banners such as Wawa, Plaid Pantry, Jacksons, Racetrac and more.

But that’s just the beginning. With new technology now at its fingertips, the runway for growth is still quite long because shoring up production opens up R&D and product development.

In 2022, Bobo’s grew 40%, despite several out-of-stock periods before the company moved into its new facility. Shortly into 2023, February proved to be the bakery’s second biggest month on record.

“It nearly cleaned us out,” said Jason Jimenez, Bobo’s director of operations.

With investments in automation to streamline production and overcome labor challenges, the bakery is on pace to at least match last year’s growth.

The entrepreneurial spirit that started Bobo’s is what keeps the engine revving today.

“As an entrepreneur, you never sit back and pat yourself on the back because there’s always more to do,” Stafford said. “There’s always another place where we can sell Bobo’s. When you start with nothing, and then you get people excited about buying Bobo’s Oat Bars … it’s addictive.”

With many items being baked to order, Bobo’s works with a two-week lead time and a 270-day total shelf life, so the product is constantly on the go … just like Stafford herself.

“Product is never longer than 30 days on our racks,” Jimenez said. That’s one reason why Bobo’s has, for the most part, focused on making its products in-house, rather than relying on a co-manufacturer.

“We leaned on external manufacturing last year when we were capacity constrained, but it’s just not the same as working with your own team,” McIntyre said. “Even the best co-manufacturers, while they can be an extension of our team, they’re not going to function like our team would internally or have the type of flexibility we have.”

Self-manufacturing, he explained, also helps Bobo’s better control its margins, which has been critical to its growth in a post-pandemic environment.

This story has been adapted from the April | Q2 2023 issue of Commercial Baking. Read the full story in the digital edition.

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