January 21, 2004
The Muskegon Chronicle
By Dave Alexander

The surge in low-carbohydrate dieting has prompted Cole's Quality Foods Inc. in Muskegon to begin producing an "ultra" garlic bread that offers fewer than half the carbohydrate grams of the traditional frozen bread product.

Production of Cole's Ultra Garlic Bread began the first weekend of this month, with the new frozen garlic bread scheduled to be shipped at the end of this month, showing up on national grocery shelves in early February.

While introductory weeks of diets such as South Beach and Atkins call for avoiding all bread products, low-carb garlic bread could be part of a balanced maintenance diet under the two most popular diet approaches today, Cole's officials said.

The new garlic bread made from oat fiber and wheat gluten has led Cole's to hire 10 new employees at its Muskegon production plant, allowing the company to become a seven-day-a-week operation.

Ultra is currently produced on the weekends.

Cole's currently employs 150, and if Ultra takes off in the market another 10 employees will be hired, according to company President Scott Devon. If sales of Ultra succeed and more production capacity is needed, plant expansion is possible in Muskegon, Devon said.

The low-carb garlic bread was quickly developed, tested, produced and marketed -- six months from idea to shelf. The cost of Ultra Garlic Bread will range from $2.49 to $2.99 a loaf.

"We've read all about the Atkins and low-carb craze," Devon said. "The diets have hit the point of mass acceptance. And those are diets that do not include bread. We took that not as a threat but as an opportunity."

The first standard for Cole's was to produce a bread product that tasted good, Devon said.

Then that taste had to be produced within a "low-carb" formula. A 1-ounce slice of Cole's traditional garlic bread made from wheat flour has 11 grams of carbohydrates compared to Ultra's 5 grams.

With Ultra, the bread's garlic flavoring is delivered in a pure butter mixture instead of with soybean oil, cutting down the saturated fats, Devon said.

"Low-carb diets work," said Toni Bloom, a nutritional consultant who helped Cole's develop the product.

"But sticking with that approach beyond the induction phase is key.

Ask any person on a low-carb diet what they miss most -- or better yet, what food they cheat with most -- and they'll likely say ... bread."

With a trademark slogan of "carb sense, ultra taste," packaging was developed for the October National Frozen Food Association convention in Las Vegas. Without even having sample products, major grocery store customers lined up to order Ultra. Samples were provided in November.

With sales of more than $50 million, Cole's has roughly 30 percent of the national frozen garlic bread market, sharing similar percentages with its top competitors, Pepperidge Farms and New York Garlic Bread.

In West Michigan, Cole's products are found at Meijer, Spartan stores and Plumb's. Nationally, Cole's is distributed through Wal-Mart's Superstores, A&P, Super Value and Kroger.

Cole's invented frozen garlic bread in 1973. The company now distributes 14 different frozen garlic bread products from its Muskegon manufacturing plant, 1188 Lakeshore.

© 2004 Muskegon Chronicle. Used with permission