By Lynn Kan

'SO good you can even eat it on its own.'

The phrase is synonymous with Gardenia, the leading packaged sandwich loaf company in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, capturing at least 75 per cent of market share in all three countries.

It takes its tagline very seriously. With consumers getting more conscious about nutrition over the years, Gardenia moved with their demands.

It started manufacturing loaves with no trans fat, no cholesterol and chockful of vitamins. More than that, they make that extra healthy choice plain to see on its nutrition labels.

'Before we entered Malaysia and Philippines, no bread producer gave complete nutritional information to its customers,' said QAF senior manager Cheah Tik Wah.

As obvious as their nutritional information and commitment to quality baked goods is their growth over the years.

Gardenia's global bakery arm - Gardenia International, a group of bakery companies in Malaysia, Philippines and Australia and Bonjour Bakery in Singapore - leads the pack in this year's Fastest Growing 50 awards.

It may be in a good place right now, but it wasn't always so.

Gardenia International only emerged after QAF, the listed company that owns Gardenia, decided to restructure in 1996, said QAF's managing director Tan Kong King.

Mr Tan began a serious pruning of QAF's operations, which he described as a 'loose portfolio of various businesses' as disparate as food production, shipping, publishing and car distribution.

'It was a hodge-podge of things. When I took over the operations of the group, I decided to hive off its non-food businesses and concentrate on expanding the food business,' said Mr Tan.

He doubled his efforts to beef up the Gardenia bakeries in Singapore and Malaysia and nurtured the brand before making a foray into the Philippines about a decade ago.

Then, he started the push for Gardenia to go beyond their 'core product' offering, the sandwich loaf.

In 2004, Gardenia International bought over an Australian sole proprietorship called Bakers Maison, which specialised in par-baked goods that were 80 to 85 per cent baked, frozen and distributed.

'We are moving away from producing just 'ready-for-consumption' packaged bread loaves for the retail market. The par-baked technology enabled us to sell not just to the consumer retail market, but also to institutions such as supermarkets, catering companies, airlines, restaurants, cafes and hotels,' shared Mr Tan.

Since acquiring Bakers Maison, with its array of French-style baguettes, Danish buns and other continental-style pastries, Gardenia International's sales in Australia has doubled, said Mr Cheah.

So much so that it recently relocated its Australian factory to a bigger and more modern one on the outskirts of Sydney to handle larger orders and to broaden the customer base.

The acquisition also has 'great significance' for Gardenia in the way it can use this production technology in other areas, said Mr Tan.

Acquiring the new par-bake technology does away with the need to set up fully outfitted production plants with all the production equipment and facilities, quality control and in-house team of production specialists and technicians.

'With this new technology, the baking process is completed in facilities which basically require only an industrial oven,' said Mr Tan.

Every day, the Australian factory churns out thousands of pastries.

And because they are frozen, the products can be sent to various cities simultaneously, capturing volume since they are sold to large institutions, while not stinting on quality.

Mr Tan thinks that the new production method will do well in large countries.

Two countries Gardenia International is looking to tap are China and Vietnam.

He cites the example of China where it is common for hypermarkets to have on-site production facilities with chefs producing fresh-baked goods.

In his opinion, that's 'costly and inefficient'.

One 'possible new idea' for Gardenia would be to introduce these par-baked goods there, which would only need to be heated for 15 minutes for freshness and fragrance.

This would extend the range of products it can offer to retail customers as well as institutions.

But like all bakeries around the world, Gardenia isn't immune to the escalating price of flour, wheat and edible oil as well as the effects of global climate change.

Besides gaining wider channels on frozen par-baked goods to secure growth, Mr Tan also believes that streamlining its processes will pave the way for higher growth.

'We have to be more efficient in our deliveries, our routing. We deliver fresh every day. The costs may be high, but we cannot skimp on quality, so we have to plan more carefully, review our costs more critically. Every little bit of efficiency adds up.'

This article was first published in The Business Times on 23 July 2008.