ORLANDO, FLA. — Workforce challenges are top of mind for the commercial baking industry as manufacturers increasingly struggle to hire and retain labor. 

At BakingTech 2025, held Feb. 16-18 in Orlando, Fla., Chief Executive Officers Jane Miller, Rudi’s Bakery, Boulder, Colo., and Greg Toufayan, Toufayan Bakery, Ridgefield, NJ, in a panel moderated by Charlotte Atchley, editor of Baking & Snack, shared how their businesses are overcoming these challenges and meeting the needs of an evolving workforce. 

A flexible work schedule is increasingly important to today’s labor force, but this is often at odds with the requirements of a commercial bakery. To better meet flexibility demands, Miller said Rudi’s is focusing on cross-training its workers so they can work across numerous departments that offer different schedules. 

“It allows people to have more flexibility,” she said. “So if the mixers are starting at four o'clock in the morning, but you need to start at nine o'clock, then you're someplace else on the line. I think trying to get that kind of flexibility is probably the number one thing we've done.”

Rudi’s has also implemented four-day work weeks, and last year offered an extended break around the Christmas holidays for its employees. 

“When we talk about flexibility that you want from your employees, if you provide some kind of benefit like that, they will be more flexible,” Miller said. 

Toufayan emphasized the importance of leading your workforce by example. He said that if the bakery must do a project on the weekend, for example, he makes sure to come in to show the workers that they’re all in this together. 

“I’ll show up with my kids from a hockey game or whatever I’ve been doing,” he said. “And then I’ll come back later with the kids to see through that it’s done.”

Rudi’s is taking a different approach, however, Miller said, putting less emphasis on management showing up in person. The bakery is instead converting some of its offices into additional production space. 

“People who work at the bakery in finance and marketing and sales just weren't even coming in,” Miller said.  “Why do we have office space that can be better used for production, and then allow people to have the flexibility? … In my experience people who work from home actually get a lot done.”

When it comes to workforce retention, Miller emphasized that employees want to feel cared for in their job and that they’re part of something bigger than them. 

“That sounds kind of fluffy and all that, but I've been doing this like 40 years, and I will tell you the best companies have the best teams, and the best teams are there because it's like any sports team, because they feel like they want to win, they want to be a part of something,” she said

Toufayan said his company has expanded its HR staff and hired more recruiters to improve worker retention. He added that giving back to the community has the additional benefit of attracting people who want to “belong to something better.”

“[Toufayan’s] culture is family, hard work and community, and I think people really buy into that,” he said. 

Bakery leaders should also aim to foster collaboration and resilience within their teams to boost culture and retention, Miller said. She shared an example of when this resilience was needed at Rudi’s: just two weeks before the company’s new Texas toast was set to launch nationwide in Whole Foods, its co-manufacturer for the product went bankrupt and immediately ceased operations. Within 10 days, however, Rudi’s had its own Texas toast line up and running, with Miller out on the line herself. 

“We’re buttering by hand. We’re moving boxes by hand,” she said. “It’s like nothing you can imagine doing. But we got the order out to Whole Foods. … I think there’s something magical sometimes about crisis that allows you to see, ‘Hey, we’re in this to win this.’ ”