Lone Star doubles down on R&D

BACK TO ALL NEWS

30 Mar 2026

Mari Rydings

Mari Rydings is a versatile content creator, editor and marketer with experience developing dynamic, results-driven materials for B2B and B2C audiences. As the editorial director for Avant Food Media, she leads the day-to-day editorial operations for the company’s print and digital magazines, newsletters and social media platforms. Outside of work, she loves reading, hiking, putting together jigsaw puzzles and spending time with her husband and their twin daughters.

KANSAS CITY, MO — To more quickly accommodate product development requests from existing customers and attract new business, Lone Star Bakery, a San Antonio-based frozen baked goods manufacturer, recently doubled the size of its R&D team. It is also building an Innovation Center on-site that will include space to host working sessions with customers. These investments will allow R&D to keep innovating around flavors and formats — baked pies, frozen biscuit pucks and individual dessert cups are currently in the lab — while also meeting customer requests for clean-label options and formulas with natural colors and flavors.

“We know our customers’ menus, and that’s part of the inspiration,” said Christie McElya, R&D director at Lone Star. “We find creative ways to make items. We make 95 percent of our
fillings in-house, so we can create whatever unique flavor a customer requests. Our customers are highly concentrated in QSR, and as they work to increase foot traffic to their stores, limited-time offers have become a great contender.”

Optimizing operational efficiencies

The R&D team doesn’t operate in a vacuum; it works closely and collaboratively with both the sales and production teams.

“A lot of times, our customers will ask the sales team if Lone Star can develop a new product or flavor for them, and we’ll work with R&D to get samples made,” said Dave Sumner, sales director. “Sometimes, our R&D team suggests a new trending flavor for one of our existing products. If I can spark one customer, we have the opportunity for a limited-time order. It’s all about keeping fresh ideas at the forefront, building relationships, being available and doing our best for our customers.”

Then again, that doesn’t mean every idea gets the green light.

“With any new product, whether it’s from a customer or an internal idea, we have to take into account whether we have the equipment, personnel and production capacity to make it work,” said Tracy Fletcher, president and third-generation leader. “And, of course, will it generate revenue?”

As Lone Star diversifies its customer base and product offerings, optimizing operational efficiencies and food safety practices across both facilities is a priority. Last summer, the bakery implemented a Redzone management software system on the production floors, and the positive impact was realized almost immediately.

“The results are amazing, from identifying downtime issues to improving efficiencies,” Fletcher said. “Now, when we see a problem, we can react quicker.”

The system has increased employee engagement and instilled a feeling of empowerment. Lone Star leadership is proud of those achievements because they mean 600 people in two separate buildings are aligned toward the same business goals.

Quality control in every corner

“Redzone has really opened up the line of communication with the teams,” said Jennifer Acuna, director of quality, food safety and sanitation. “We’ve seen employees taking more leadership, making sure their lines are running smoothly and identifying issues immediately versus waiting for their supervisor to walk over. It’s brought a lot of ownership to their lines.”

Real-time analytics are another benefit. By having immediate access to data, line operators can track drop weights and case weights more accurately, which has reduced product giveaway and enhanced quality.

“We’re seeing even higher quality in the product bakes,” Acuna added. “For example, if we’re getting a little too dark of a color on one side of the biscuit oven, Redzone alerts the oven operator, who can make adjustments in real-time rather than running an entire shift of dark biscuits.”

Once Redzone was implemented on the production floors, Lone Star expanded it to the compliance department. The technology allows employees to track measurements and CCPs in real time on their tablets and make adjustments as needed. It will also make preparing for audits easier for Acuna’s team because data will be at their fingertips rather than in paper files.

“Audits are an opportunity for everyone to learn from best practices,” Acuna said. “They are all about continuous improvement and a way to avoid becoming stagnant. We’ve made some adjustments to some of our programs to meet customer requirements, and we’re constantly learning. It’s one more benefit we bring to the table with our customers.”

To help make those audits meaningful to every employee, Acuna has made it her mission since joining Lone Star five years ago to ensure a robust and seamless culture of food safety across the two facilities. She built on the company’s existing monthly food safety trainings by focusing on the “why” behind the practices in place. She also established an incentive program and anonymous reporting to encourage employee engagement.

“We want to make sure our employees recognize that food safety is the number one priority for leadership,” Acuna said. “We try to make it more of a team environment so we’re all working together to ensure food safety and quality within the organization. If someone goes above and beyond to make sure we avoided a food safety incident, or brought something to our attention, or had an idea about how we could improve, we want to recognize them.”

Indispensable workforce

Employee engagement is a priority not only as a company goal but also because it can set Lone Star apart from stiff employment competition in the immediate area.

“When Lone Star built Plant 1, we were the only large employer in the area,” Fletcher said. “It’s just been in the past five years that there has been a business boom. H-E-B, Amazon, The Dollar Tree and others have all built distribution centers within a mile of Lone Star.”

Despite the competition, Lone Star has weathered labor challenges well, thanks in part to a focus on building a company culture that upholds four themes: Honor Your Commitments, Take Pride in Your Work As a Team, Embrace Change with Energy and Enthusiasm, and Keep Your Word — Always Do the Right Thing.

That culture is demonstrated through significant investments in training and career development that help employees strengthen their skills and industry knowledge. Earlier this year, members of the R&D team attended the International Baking Industry Exposition and Kansas State University’s Flour Forward workshop, and partnerships with various organizations provide ongoing comprehensive training.

With 400,000 total square feet of production space for frozen baked goods manufacturing, Lone Star Bakery offers a big chill deep in the heart of Texas. It’s looking to the future, and with newly automated lines, ramped up R&D and a knowledgeable workforce, it’s primed and ready to take on new business while helping current customers find their next big thing.

This story has been adapted from the February | Q1 2026 issue of Commercial Baking. Read the full story in the digital edition here.

Advertisement

BACK TO ALL NEWS