Justin Eisenach This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Rudis Press Release

   www.cybus.com/PressReleasesand - [Cached]

   Published on: 3/18/2001   Last Visited: 9/14/2002

   "This creative new venture will be a powerful competitor in the par baked and fully baked bread sector, providing excellent product and competitive prices," said Justin Eisenach, CEO of Mountain View Harvest. "Besides providing our wheat farmers with attractive markets for hard wheat, this venture will provide product tracking back to the farm, cost-efficient channel management and stable pricing for our members through the use of innovative supply chain technologies."
   
   Cybus Capital Markets, Des Moines, is a leading merchant banking firm with a focus on the food chain, value-added agriculture and complementary industries. Cybus previously facilitated the acquisition of Mountain Meadow Farms (Denver, CO) by Transhumance Holdings, Inc. (Davis, CA), a leading supplier of lamb.

2. 2. Branded Bread

   www.farmland.com/news/sysnews/ - [Cached]

   Published on: 2/11/1999   Last Visited: 8/12/2000

   Everyone in agriculture wants to more closely link the farmer with the consumer, said Justin Eisenach, CEO of MountainView Harvest Cooperative. By putting the Farmland brand on bread, consumers already well-acquainted with Farmland meat products will understand the bread products will be just as high in quality, and that be going to add more value to farmers, Eisenach said.
   
   ...
   Justin Eisenach (left), CEO of Mountain View Harvest Cooperative, the parent company of Gerard's Bakery, talks about putting the Farmland and Carando brands on bread with Paul Armbrust and Ken Thomas, of Farmland Grain Processing, and Gerry Watson, president and COO of Gerard's.
   ...
   Justin Eisenach, CEO of Mountain View Harvest Cooperative, Ken Thomas, director, Farmland Grain Processing, and Gerry Watson, president and COO of Gerard's, tour the bakery.

3. 3. Gerard's Bakery - Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc. (Cooperative G&T)

   www.tristategt.com/index.cfm?c - [Cached]

   Published on: 6/25/2002   Last Visited: 6/25/2003

   "Gerard's is the nation's first bakery to be owned by a group of wheat farmers," said Justin Eisenach, president of the bakery and formerly chief executive officer of MVHC.
   ...
   "Our producers can grow about 10 million bushels of wheat a year, but the bakery only uses about 250,000 bushels because we can make a lot of bread from a little wheat," Eisenach said. MVHC members sell their wheat directly to a flour mill, Rocky Mountain Milling in Platteville, Colo., instead of a grain elevator. "When they can, Rocky Mountain Milling purchases our members' extra wheat to use for the rest of its customers," he added.
   
   The Colorado wheat growers have seen the bakery's sales more than double since they purchased it four years ago. Sales for 2000 were over $20 million. Eisenach said that partially baked bread is a growing segment of the baking industry because the trend is moving toward nearly fully baked products.
   ...
   Eisenach said that return on investment in Mountain View Harvest Cooperative has not yet matched the returns that producers anticipated. "The par-baked industry is still in its early growth stages, so when you have double-digit growth like we've had, you have to continue expanding your operation to stay up with the competition and your customer base -- and there goes your shareholders' dividends," he said. "Our attempt has been to pay an annual dividend, but we haven't always done that because we had to reinvest our profits back into the business due to our phenomenal growth."
   
   A former CEO of Mountain View Harvest Cooperative, Justin Eisenach, bakery president, has been instrumental in the success of the farmer-owned bakery, including negotiating a new joint-venture with Farmland Industries.
   
   Eisenach was raised in Fort Morgan, Colo., where both his grandfather and father were farmers. He believes that farmers today need to be aggressive in the commodities business. "Some people in agriculture with depressed prices would say farmers don't have a great future, but I would argue that the future is just as great and exciting as the early sod buster," he said. "While nobody likes change, it brings about new opportunities."
   
   One strategy MVHC is using to differentiate its bread is through a new joint venture with Farmland Industries, a successful farm-to-table cooperative that is the largest producer-owned co-op in the country. Eisenach explained that Farmland is diversifying into more value-added, food-related industries and wants to strengthen its brand in grocery stores by placing bread next to its meat products.
   
   "We're producing six product brands for Farmland and its subsidiary, Carando Foods, that are sold in the Midwest where Farmland's brand recognition is the strongest," he said. "They are selling a variety of high-end premium breads to supermarkets and also to restaurant accounts. By aligning ourselves and working together with a friendly co-op like Farmland, we'll have the clout to participate in the domestic marketplace with the strength of its brand behind us."
   
   Several factors have contributed to the bakery's overwhelming success, Eisenach said. The producers purchased a successful operating bakery and didn't incur the problems of a start-up business. However, the co-op's rapid success created an immediate need for new equipment and other capital investments. Gerard's also has an excellent reputation for producing quality breads and has received five superior ratings from the American Institute of Baking. The bakery staff works closely with Colorado State University in Fort Collins to determine what types of wheat produce higher-grade flour and make better-quality breads.
   
   Eisenach said that teamwork also is a key element to the bakery's growth. "We are a customer-driven company that reacts quickly to the market's demands for products and we're supported by a dedicated workforce of 120 employees," he said.