News and Features
|
The new Tasty Baking facility is at the Philadlephia Navy Yard.
|
A tasty transition
Thoughtful preparation and modern amenities make Tasty Baking’s move to new digs a sweet deal
By Pam George
For more than 80 years, Philadelphia’s Nicetown section has been the home of Tastykake, a brand of baked goods so beloved that expatriates beg friends to send them care packages. After all, “nobody bakes a cake as tasty as a Tastykake.”
|
Tasty Baking Hosting Council Event
An Eastern Technology Council CIO Institute Show and Tell Event for CIO Institute members and invited guests will be held at the new Tasty Baking facility on the morning of November 10.
The event will include breakfast, time for networking, a tour of the building and a Q and A session with Brendan O’Malley, CIO of Tasty Baking.
Naturally, breakfast will include Tastykake donuts, honey buns and coffeecakes.
If you would like to know more about the Council’s CIO Institute, contact Kim Tuski at Ktuski@EasternTechnologyCouncil.org or 610-975-9430, ext. 4449.
|
But last April, Tasty Baking Co. moved its headquarters to a 25-acre site at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. In 2010, the manufacturing facility will move to a 345,500-square-foot building nearby. Along with production, the building will hold the warehouse and distribution center.
On paper, the move makes sense. The old facility, built in 1922, was inefficient and cramped. Equipment often broke down. Moreover, the new site is in a Keystone Opportunity Improvement Zone, which exempts the company from state and city taxes until at least 2018. The company also received a $600,000 opportunity grant from the state, in addition to $32 million in loans from the state and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., the city’s economic development arm.
But the emotional attachment to Tasty Baking’s original location on Hunting Park Avenue is strong. For many, it is the end of an era. “It was the only place the employees had been, in anyone’s memory,” says Brendan O’Malley, CIO of Tasty Baking Co. and Eastern Technology Council CIO Institute member. “You're asking people to uproot themselves. There was a lot of nervousness, and a lot of things to overcome.”
Modern building energy efficient
It helps that Tasty Baking encouraged employee input when designing the space. It also helps that the 36,000-square-foot building is modern and attractive. “In the old building, no one on my staff had a window,” O’Malley says. “We never knew what the weather was like. Now we‘re in an open, sunny environment that is so much more comfortable and efficient. It affects people's approach to coming to work. The change is dramatic and striking.”
The new headquarters, developed by Liberty Property Trust and leased for 26 years, is LEED-certified gold and features energy-efficient HVAC, water conservation, daylight harvesting, and recycled and sustainable building materials, such as bamboo.
Change began before the move
|
The old Tastykake facility was in Philadelphia’s Nicetown.
|
The company did not wait until the move to introduce new technologies, and that approach helped with the transition. Six years ago, when O’Malley came on board, the company overhauled its IT system, including the applications. “We significantly upgraded,” says O’Malley, who grew up in Philadelphia eating Tastykake products. “We modernized the way the technology ties into and supports the business.”
O’Malley, who has a MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, was clearly the right person for the IT project. Before coming to Tasty Baking, he worked at Price Waterhouse, PwC and IBM as a business and technology consultant. He has more than 14 years of experience leading and managing business software projects.
Before the move, Tasty Baking also debuted a new phone system, installed by Evolve IP. “We put it in the old facility so people got used to it before the move,” O’Malley says. The company knew employees would be frazzled enough just coping with a new location. Having problems communicating with others would only exacerbate any issues.
O’Malley can’t comment on when the company expects a return on its investment, but he does say that there is a comprehensive financial plan built around the move. “A move like this is a significant undertaking financially,” he says. “There is a lot of energy directed into this.”
