Less than six years after its founding with a single customer and in only its second year of third party audits, 5 Generation Bakers—the manufacturer of Jenny Lee Cinnamon Swirl Breads, now available through over 4,000 retail outlets in the Eastern half of the United States—has earned a “Superior” ranking from the American Institute of Baking (A.I.B.)

“Our score of 905,” according to Scott Baker, president and founder of 5GB, “is a testament not only to the care and concern of every single 5GB employee, but especially to Denice Beccard, our HR and regulatory compliance officer.” Mr. Baker went on to state that obtaining a qualified third-party audit is a daunting task for any company, but especially so for a small start-up company operating from other than purpose-built facilities.

Obtaining their first third-party audit last year required extensive modification of machinery, sanitation procedures and production methods as well as a tremendous increase in the amount of paperwork necessary to document and track all aspects of the operation. Included in this was a product recall procedure which permitted each and every package produced to be traced back to the time of production, the batch from which it was produced, the sources of all the raw ingredients used in that particular batch and even the individual employees involved in its production.

“After all it took to pass the initial audit,” Baker said, “our goal for the future was one of continual improvement. But Denice had other plans. When she said that her goal in the second year was to exceed a score of 900, I didn’t really say anything because I didn’t want to discourage her. I just reassured her we would do whatever we could to help.”

“Her results speak for themselves,” he observed with a satisfied smile.

As part of 5 GB’s ongoing growth plans, the company expects to move into new facilities in early 2016, effectively doubling production capacity and providing acreage for continued expansion.