Gardenias Legacy in the Baking Industry

Tracing Back Its History: Gardenias Humble Beginnings Gardenias roots go back to Singapore where, in 1978, it began as a humble in-store bakery. Increasing demand led to the opening of Gardenia s first-commercial bakery at Pandan Loop in March 1983. Gardenia has since been the market leader in Singapore and has expanded its operations in Asia to countries such as Malaysia and Thailand with the latest in the Gardenia chain of bakeries here in the Philippines. It all began in 1997, Limited through Gardenia International Pte. Ltd. established Gardenia Bakeries Philippines Inc. and started construction of its bakery plant in Laguna International Industrial Park (LIIP), Bian, Laguna. Gardenia Philippines started its operations in 1998 with the state-of-the-art bread factory rated as one of the most modern large scale bread manufacturing facility in the country. Its major, highlyautomated equipment come from the best bakery equipment suppliers from Germany, Holland, UK and USA making it the leading manufacturing company in the Philippines. Over the years, Gardenia has gained wide acceptance and is now considered as the most widely distributed loaf brand, reaching many parts of the country.

Gardenia Philippines offers a wide array of superior bakery products including white, wheat and health breads, flavored loaves, pandesal and snack items like snack cakes, muffins and toasts. Gardenia breads are known for their good taste, freshness, softness, oven-baked aroma and nutritive value. The popular Classic White Bread is cholesterol free and bromate free, has zero transfat, and is vitamin and mineral fortified, exceeding DOH recommendations. Its product slogan "So good...you can even eat it on its own" best describes the product benefits.

OUR MISSION :
Our mission is to serve consumers with the best quality assortment of great-tasting bakery and related food and beverage products, with world-class manufacturing facilities and an efficient nationwide distribution network, thereby providing a fair return on shareholder investments.

OUR VISION :
Our vision is to become the premier company in the baking industry and the related food and beverage industry, known and emulated for our best quality products that delight the consumer. It is the pride of every employee, investor, trade partner and stakeholder.

1978 Gardenia first started as a small in-store bakery at Bukit Timah Plaza producing variety bread, with the help of experienced American baker, Horatio 'Sye' Slocumm, who had 35 years experience in the bakery business. 1981 Production was growing rapidly and plans were underway for a larger commercial bakery.

1983 A commercial bakery was finally started in March 1983 at Pandan Loop, producing 2000 loaves per hour. Originally based on the concept of a central bakery supplying a variety of products mainly to retail bakeries, this changed to a single-minded concentration on producing a white sandwich loaf distributed to all retail outlets including supermarkets and sundry shops. Launched against entrenched competition; but with a superior product (softer-textured, tastierflavoured and enriched bread), modern distinctive packaging and good marketing (effective advertising, merchandising and distribution),Gardenia bread gradually gained popularity. Its merits of being baked fresh, using the finest ingredients and delivered fresh made it the most popular brand of packaged bread in Singapore within two years.

1986 In August, Gardenia expanded its operations by building a modern bakery that utilized the latest processing techniques. 1987 1991 Gardenia ventured into Thailand. The first Gardenia bakery in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was commissioned.

1993 A second bakery in Singapore was set up in June 1993, with a production capacity of 8,000 loaves an hour. To keep up with a growing demand and modern baking technology, substantial funds were ploughed into building this new state-of-the-art bakery. Costing S$18.5 million, this new Gardenia bakery in Singapore increased manufacturing capacity by 2.5 times without compromising on quality. Equipped with new computer-generated equipment, this highly automated plant ranks among the most technologically advanced in the region.

1994 1996

Gardenia commissioned a second bakery in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Gardenia expanded with new bakeries in China and India.

1997 Gardenia further extended its regional operations to the Philippines. Gardenia acquired a third bakery in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

1999

Gardenia invested in a fourth bakery in Johore Bahru, Malaysia.

2001 Gardenia acquired Bonjour. It has since become the No. 2 brand in Singapore for packaged loaf bread after Gardenia. Gardenia set up a fifth bakery in Bukit Kemuning, Malaysia.

2002

Gardenia built a new bakery in the Philippines.

Present Despite a competitive environment, Gardenia has remained the market leader till today. This speaks volumes for the many painstaking efforts that have been invested to ensure that its products are constantly a cut above the rest.

PRODUCTION SYSTEM OF GARDENIA :

Step 1: Automatic Blending The production process begins with a computerized blending of the exact amount of quality ingredients are needed. This helps to ensure equal goodness in every loaf. Step 2: Production of Sponge Mix The specially formulated Gardenia enriched flour, purified water, yeast, vitamins and minerals are added together to form the sponge which is released into a through. Step 3: Fermentation Room The sponge dough is then kept in a fermentation room, under controlled temperature and humidity for four hours, so that the carbon dioxide released, and the sponge can rise. This fermentation process helps the sponge to develop a unique Gardenia bread texture, aroma and texture. Step 4: Production of Dough Mix At this stage, the sponge is mixed again with other ingredients to form the dough. It Depending on the type of bread to be baked, these can include skimmed milk powder, vegetable shortening, wheatgerm, bran, malt or honey. Step 5: Divider The dough is then divided into the recquired weight for each loaf and conveyed to a rounder.

Step 6: Rounder At the rounder, each piece of dough is kneaded so that carbon dioxide is trapped and the bread can develop a soft texture when it is baked. Step 7: Checkweigher The dough pieces then go through the checkweigher. Here, pieces that are over or under the recquired weight are automatically rejected. Step 8: Intermediate Proofer The dough is then left to rest in the intermediate proofer for 10 minutes before being moulded and places into the baking pans. Step 9: Moulder Here, the dough is shaped according to the desired configuration and then automatically placed into pans. Step 10: Automatic lidder The pans are lidded automatically to give the bread its uniform rectangular shape. Step 11: Final proofer At this final proofer stage, the yeast is allowed to rise further under controlled temperature and humidity. Once the dough is risen to the desired height, it is finally ready for baking. Step 12: Tunnel Oven Here, Gardenia breads are baked for about 20 minutes at a temperature of approximately 200 degrees celcius in the state of the art tunnel oven. Step 13: Automatic dellider and deppaner Hot from the oven, the freshly baked loaves are then removed by vacuum suction before being conveyed to a bread cooler. Step 14: Bread Cooler This bread cooler can hold up to 8000 loaves of bread for hour. The freshly baked and hot loaves need to be kept in the cooler for about an hour until slightly above room temperature before it is packing. Step 15: Automatic Slicer and Bagger

When the loaves are sufficiently cooled it is then, ready to sliced, wrapped and made convenient for consumption in attractive gardenia packaging mechanically sealed with kwik-loks tags that are printed with the use by dates. Step 16: Daily Delivery In the early hours of the morning when the most people are still asleep at about 3am, gardenia begins preparation for its deliveries, 364days a year. The freshly baked breads are stacked into the gardenias fleet of delivery trucks seven days a week, come rain or shine and delivered to some 3000 retail outlets throughout Singapore.

GARDENIA QUALITY :
Gardenia Assurance Gardenia believes strongly in making sure that our consumers always get the finest quality and freshest bread.Gardenia's freshly baked bread can be found around the clock, from provision shops and convenience stores to supermarkets, hypermarkets and even hospitals and schools. Our efficient sales and delivery teams ensure daily bread delivery to some 3000 retail outlets in Singapore come rain or shine.

Faced with the challenge of an increasingly competitive bread market and a steady and continuing growth in demand for healthy bread due to lifestyle preferences and greater consumer sophistication, Gardenia's Research & Development team constantly strives to come up with new products through a careful process of rigorous adaptation and trial with in-depth taste testing and feedback from the public.

Gardenia will continue to propel the bread market forward by setting new standards in being the first in the industry to introduce better products and refreshing ideas to enjoy bread. Gardenia also prides itself on its Quality Control team who helps ensure that only the best quality and freshest bread goes to our consumers daily. Consumers can always be assured of Gardenia's commitment to quality and freshness.

Food Safety Partner Award Gardenia is the first bakery to be named as Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore's Food Safety Partner, in recognition of Gardenia's commendable food safety assurance and food safety consumer education efforts. ISO 9000 In 1996, Gardenia became the first sandwich loaf bakery to be conferred the prestigious ISO 9002 Quality certification by the Singapore Productivity and Standards Board (PSB) HACCP Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) awarded by the Singapore Productivity and Standards Board (PSB). The HACCP is a food safety management tool which provides a framework for companies to effectively run their processes to prevent and control food hazards. Grade A Hygiene and Sanitation Awarded by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA). Since the inception of the Food Factory Grading System, Gardenia has consistently been awarded the Grade A status each year. Healthier Choice Label Awarded by the Health Promotion Board, the Healthier Choice Symbol can be found on a variety of Gardenia breads, including the Fine Grain Wholemeal Bread and Super Soft and Fine Enriched Wholemeal Bread (100%), which have met the nutritional guidelines set by HPB as a healthier choice. Evaluation is based on the nutritional values; particularly fat, saturated fat, sodium and dietary fibre, as well as the contribution of the product towards a balanced diet. Superbrands Awarded by Singapore Superbrands Council