King Arthur Baking Co. sold over 156 million pounds of flour in 2020, an increase of almost 60% from 2019. And while sales have slowly declined over the year, the company sees still cooking at levels of around 25% to 30% from the previous year, a trend which, according to Karen Colberg, Co-Managing Director of King Arthur, has made the company “excited about this. means for our future ”.

In a March 2 interview with Alexis Christoforous on Yahoo! Finance Live, Colberg weighed in on some of the trends that have played out for King Arthur over the past year.

“The winner was the leaven for us,” Colberg said. “And what that means is the making of bread. And what we do, what’s at the heart of what we do is teach people how to cook. And we were thrilled to be both the resource for the inspiration, the know-how, and the what to do, and then helping people hopefully get the product. …

“And the flip side is indulgence. And I think baking brought a lot of comfort to people, as well as an activity. And it has become a hobby – again, great for our future. But I think we see the indulgence of baking bread.

As King Arthur thinks about the future, health and well-being will play an important role, she said.

“Health and wellness is an area that you don’t necessarily associate with baking, but we have new products in that space because I think when people explore and want to do more with baking, they want to do it in a healthy way. way, ”she explained. “So we see that health and wellness, forgiveness and baking bread are all very important.”

Colberg mentioned two new products that King Arthur says fit into the realm of health and wellness: a baked sugar alternative and a keto flour.

“The alternative to baked sugar is a calorie-free, carbohydrate-free product,” she said. “And it cooks really well. And it took us a long time to get there. And when we bring a new product to the market, it has proven itself and it has to perform well for the baker. And so we are really excited about the alternative to baked sugar. And when you pair it with keto flour, you have new opportunities for people in a kind of healthier baking avenue.

She added that the sugar alternative and keto flour have also sparked interest from consumers who, while perhaps not interested in health and wellness, have shown an interest in experimenting because cooking has become a hobby.

Another aspect of King Arthur’s business that helps set it apart is its relationship with consumers, Colberg said. The company has seen a significant increase in the number of calls to its baker’s hotline as well as visits to its social media websites.

“I have always believed that what sets us apart in the market is our bond with our customers, our deep bond with bakers and being that resource,” she says.

The company’s bakery hotline has been around for 25 years and is here to help consumers solve a range of baking issues they may encounter. Social media efforts, meanwhile, are relatively new, and King Arthur has gone to great lengths over the past 12 months to create content that helps people learn how to do new things, as well as how to do it. publish recipes very quickly so people can learn to cook, Colberg said.

“And for us, so that’s probably one of the biggest learnings for us in the pandemic, is that we could do it, and we could do it quickly,” she said. “We pivoted.”

Colberg said maintaining the supply chain was a major challenge at the start of the pandemic, but the company has rallied and is now in a good position. However, it was a “big trip” between those two points, she said.

“We probably produced twice the amount of our all-purpose flour from the previous year, three times the amount of our bread flour,” she said. “These same levels also apply to our gluten-free category. And we disappointed a lot of customers early in the pandemic by being out of stock, both in our direct-to-consumer business, as well as on the grocery store shelves.

“So we committed to really significant stock levels so that during the peak cooking season, November, December, we were in stock and continue to be at this time. And having the inventory that people need is as important as inspiring them to cook. I think our priorities are inspiring, innovative and in stock. And we’re back where we want to be with inventory.

Asked about her take on King Arthur’s affairs once the pandemic is over, Colberg said, “So we’ve doubled the number of clients who have come to us this year. And for that – you know, I still think of it like this is our wasting opportunity. We need to both do everything that we do very well, which is engage consumers that I was telling you about and inspire them how to cook, and be in stock so they can cook. So we challenged us to say, let’s do everything we can to keep the market share we’ve gained.

“That said, we expect that, current society included, once we can travel and go out to dinner and have fun, go to entertainment and get together with friends, the time people spend in their home kitchens will drastically down from what it was in April, May of last year.

“But what we believe and predict – and we’re optimistic about baking – we think it’s going to be at levels that are, you know, probably 20%, 30% above what they were before COVID, which is aggressive, but again,… because people come to us and are lovers and passionate about baking and learning more with us, they stick with it, and these amateur bakers use a lot of flour.

Big little news, a newsstand and bottle shop adapted to Capitol Hill from the Pike / Pine LGBTQ nightlife entrepreneur Joey burgess and Tracy taylor, the general manager of proximity Elliott Bay Book Co., open this week on E Pike.

How did two of the neighborhood civic and business leaders come up with their plan for a first collaboration by starting a new pike / pine business?

“It seemed to be in the middle of a pandemic,” Taylor said, “why not print and open a small business on Capitol Hill?”

Taylor says the double-faced challenges of the pandemic and a ‘let’s work together on something’ approach grew out of her work with Burgess to represent the neighborhood as Pike / Pine pushes and pulls Seattle City Hall For attention and resources, the bustling but difficult district has faced explosive growth in recent months and years.

“We worked together on this neighborhood and city thing for a while, but we looked for a project and it just opened up,” Taylor said.

CHS reported here on the newsstand project and the long-running vintage pike / pine company going live. No Parking as owner Billy Hutchinson decided as a cancer survivor that he was ready to leave the brick and mortar retail business in the era of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, it’s been an era of reading for Capitol Hill’s retail ventures during the pandemic. In December, “library” store – its titles are organized by theme – Oh hello again open on 15th Ave E. And the local Fuel coffeehouse chain is in the midst of a bookish makeover as it is part of the Ada’s family of companies.

With a twist on the echoes of the past like Broadway News which closed in the summer of 2010, Big Little News offers magazines, periodicals, beer, wine, champagne and other small sundries and has “more than 250 foreign magazines, newspapers and zines and national ”when it opens.

Taylor, who remains in her role as Executive Director of Elliott Bay and is a major reader, provided an eclectic mix of recommendations, including the ‘phenomenal’ The dog magazine (a “magazine for smart homeowners”-“ You don’t even have to have a dog to appreciate it ”, says Taylor) and Playgirl.

“This year, I read fewer books. I listened to more books. For me, it was all about attention span, ”Taylor says. “Magazines kind of fill that niche that isn’t a Tweet.”

Big Little News is now open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily at 1102 E Pike. You can find out more about biglittlenews.com.

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Placing gyms and recreation centers at the front of the queue for the reopening would be a ‘declaration of intent’ for building a healthier and better Britain after the pandemic.

This is the point of view of Humphrey Cobbold, CEO of PureGym, who made a passionate appeal to the UK government to allow the doors of physical activity facilities to be opened as soon as possible.

Speaking today (February 18), Cobbold said gyms are highly regulated and controlled environments – compared to other indoor spaces – which means they are safer for people to visit.

“Even the minutes of SAGE meetings last year indicated that opening gyms would make little measurable difference to the R-rate,” he said.

The government is currently finalizing its “roadmap to reopening”, with an announcement of the exact details expected next week (week starting February 22).

“As our leaders meet over the next few days to review the data and discuss the post-pandemic plan, we respectfully but strongly call on them to place gyms and fitness centers early in the reopening streak,” said Cobbold.

“Specifically, we call on the government to heed the wishes of the people – millions of normal people across the country – who have been denied access to gyms and fitness facilities over the past year and to grant them this right as soon as safely possible upon reopening. period.

“It would be a positive and progressive step and a declaration of intent for this government to commit to building a healthier and better Britain after the pandemic. And it is a step that can be taken based on the data of periods when gyms were open after the first lockdown which demonstrates that gyms do not pose a material risk to the infection rate.

“In this most recent lockdown, current PureGym research of 7,000 gym members suggests that over 85% of members cite gym closures as having a negative effect on physical well-being and 98% report gyms are important for their mental well-being. Worryingly, these two data points suggest that people’s physical and mental health is under more pressure now than after the first ‘summer’ lockdown.

“A lot of people don’t have access to a safe outdoor space, especially in the winter, and home gyms and Peloton bikes are the preserve of the wealthy. At PureGym, we provide access to good quality facilities for an average price of just £ 20 per month – gyms are now a democratized product for many, not a privilege for the few.

“And gyms are unique in that closing them is bad for both livelihoods (more than 400,000 people are employed in the gym and fitness industry) and for the health and well-being of people. The continued support for the reopening of gymnasiums among the general population is underscored by the growing number of people who have signed or are in the process of signing petitions to this effect. (Click here to view).

“At PureGym, we don’t advocate recklessness for a single moment and fully agree with the government’s cautious approach to reopening and its commitment to make it the last lockdown the country has to endure. not at all about rushing to reopen but about the sequence and order in which the company is reopened.

“The government has rightly been praised for its game-changing vaccine deployment program and the benefits of this exceptional effort should not be wasted. We all have to wait patiently for the impact of this effort to be felt – agonizing though many of us find the delay.

“Regarding the reopening, recent media reports have suggested that outdoor venues will be given priority, but we encourage the government to take a thoughtful approach in this regard – not all indoor spaces are created equal. Gyms are highly regulated. and controlled to a greater extent than other indoor spaces and therefore, in our opinion, are safer. Protocols for the safe operation of COVID gyms and fitness centers were developed in close consultation with government experts.

“I have personally met the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor Van-Tam, and other members of SAGE and PHE to agree. They cover all aspects, including social distancing (100 square feet per person!) , ventilation (rapid extraction and replacement of air), strictly controlled limits on the number of people in gymnasiums, and considerably tightened cleaning and hygiene requirements.

“These protocols have been rigorously applied at PureGym and throughout the industry and have survived the very proper scrutiny of hundreds of environmental health officers who regularly visited our sites across the country when we were open year round. last.

“The merits of this highly controlled approach were evident in the form of very low incidence rates of COVID-19 infection when we were open last year. This data was collected and released regularly by our industry body – ukative – and was updated more recently this week, and it is clear from the government’s own data on infection parameters that gyms were relatively safe places to go. work and train.

“Even minutes from SAGE meetings last year indicated that opening gyms would make little measurable difference to the R-rate.

“This has been a huge health crisis for our country and we recognize the challenges it continues to present to everyone and especially to all those in government facing painfully difficult decisions and compromises.

“However, we call on the government in its current deliberations to prioritize the opening of gymnasiums and fitness centers, as they clearly offer a net benefit to the health and well-being of millions of people and reduce the burden. of the NHS.

“Activity and exercise are literally a miracle drug in many ways and in 21st century Britain, gyms are the number of millions of people who choose to ‘get their fix’.

“At PureGym, we are ready at our 275 locations nationwide – as are hundreds of thousands of industry colleagues – to open our doors as soon as the government allows us to do so.