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"My goal is to build the Abdallah brand, to do solid brand building so people are familiar with Abdallah in our new areas that
we're into, outside of the Minneapolis area. That's what's gotten us here today", says Steven (Jr.). Part of realizing this goal involved
hiring a national sales manager, Madonna Schmitz. She joined two and a half years ago to help expand the line through outside sales
people. Interestingly, Schmitz had experience in the gift industry rather than in candy, which Steven (Jr.)
saw as a strength. "When
she came on board, she said, 'What's a wrapped caramel?' and 'What's a Cashew
Grizzly
?'
She started from the very bottom. She was
[then] able to spell out this program and dissect it [to other people] ", he explains. "So when we would have sales people sell it, it
would be easy for them to understand and pickup and sell".
Steven (Jr.) also changed the packaging the company used, which had been the same for decades, in order to expand their
presence in the gift industry. "We've just redone our packaging so it's more of a gift box. Before it was just a brown box with a clear
lid, so you could see the candy, but there really was no packaging to speak of” he says. The new boxes feature various muted colors
with the new Abdallah logo and a bow on the upper left corner. Despite the relative simplicity of the design, it took a long time to
finalize. "It took a couple years to develop a simple box with a logo and a bow. You sit there and you examine every little thing. We
probably spent a whole day discussing whether that rose pictured above the Abdallah name on the logo should be over here a little bit
more or over here. But we knew whatever we stuck with was going to be our brand", says Steven (Jr.).
Some of the processes used to make the candy have also changed, with some changes occurring under Steve (Sr.), some under
Steven (Jr.) and some to come in the future. During Steve's (Sr.) time as president, the recipe for the company's caramels changed to
increase shelf life and productivity. To accommodate the large number of caramel apples the company makes during the fall, the
company developed its own caramel apple-dipping machine, which produces 4,000 apples an hour. The machine dramatically cut
down on the amount of space and the number of employees needed with the old hand dipping method. In the future, Steven (Jr.) hopes
to be able to use the Yorkshire Process Plant continuous caramel cooker, which currently makes caramel dip, for all of the company's
caramels. The switchover would boost output versus making caramel in copper kettles. They are currently working on tweaking the
recipe for their wrapped caramels to allow them to do this.
E x e r c i s e Fo u r
. Read the article below and choose the best word to fill each gap.
Despite his conservative business approach as company president, Steve (Sr.) knew that changes were (
made
/
bound
/
chosen
)
to happen with future generations. In order to help their son (
achieve
/
gain
/
reach
) what he wanted with the company, Steve (Sr.)
and Vicke bought a new piece of property in Burnsville in 1987 and eventually built a bigger facility, which they (
came
/
went
/
moved
) into in 1997. "We bought the property thinking that someday we might need it. But we were at the (
moment
/
point
/
time
)
where we were thinking, "we don't want to get bigger", Vicke remembers. "Yet Steven, who was coming up in the business, had no
room to grow. Steve and I talked and thought, we had our (
chance
/
time
/
moment
) to do our thing, and if we build the building,
Steven will have his chance to do his thing. So without the bigger building the growth wouldn't have been here, it would have been
(
stable
/
firm
/
stagnant
)".
The move more than doubled the company's space – 15,000 sq. ft. to 32,00l} sq. ft. Although adequate at first, Abdallah Candies
was (
given
/
caused
/
forced
) to expand again seven years later, thus in Dec. 2004 they built an addition, boosting the facility's size to
60,000 sq. ft. With the expansion the family hoped to (
include
/
be
/
get
) a tour area so customers could walk through the building
and watch the candies being made, but due to space constraints they settled on a (
watching
/
looking
/
viewing
)
area. Customers can
now watch employees hand-dip certain varieties of truffles and make Heavenly Hash (a combination of chocolate, marshmallows and
walnuts), among other handmade products, through a (
window
/
door
/
slot
)
in the retail store. The extra space this arrangement gives
allows the family to plan on staying at their current location long into the future.
"We're at capacity as far as the building is (
concerned
/
taken
/
made
) but we're far from capacity in production. We have a
long way to go before outgrow this building," says Steve (Jr.). Given the constant balancing act of expansion while (
preserving
/
keeping
/
reserving
) tradition and quality, Steve (Jr.) echoes the feelings about pressure that his father felt over 30 years ago. "I feel it
is a lot more responsibility", he says. "We have over 100 employees, and I feel a great deal of (
duty
/
responsibility
/
commitment
)
toward them and their livelihoods. The family legacy is important to hold up, too, as well as the quality". With a little luck, Steve
(Jr.)'s heirs will also bear that responsibility in the future.
E x e r c i s e Fi v e
. Define which paragraph (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) each statement (A, B, C, D, E) refers to.
A. Wrigley has definitely prepared to protect its share of the market.
B. The January 2006 rollout also includes four new sorts of gums.
C. Wrigley is feeling lack of space.
D. Wrigley's commitment to product development came with investment and innovation activities.
E. The new brands resulted in about two- thirds of the volume gain for the quarter and about a third of the volume gain year-to-
date.
1. Just five months after finalizing their acquisition of confectionery brands from Kraft Foods, Chicago-based Wm. Wrigley Jr.
Co. continues to expand and grow, preparing to release eight new products in January 2006.The new products, which include
Douhlemint
mints, Cool Watermelon
Extra
and Cinnamon Inferno and Midnight Cool
Eclipse
,
follow a previous major rollout of
seven new items in June, which was then the biggest expansion over any comparable period in the company's 114-year history. The
January 2006 rollout also includes extensions of former Kraft brands, with new Wintermint
Orbit White
,
Mango Sour
Altoid
mints,
tropical
Creme Savers
and Berry Sours
Lifesaver Gummies
to be introduced.
2. This announcement marks a significant shift in business strategies for Wrigley over the past several years. New products now
constitute 20 % of sales, up from 5 % in 1999 when Bill Wrigley first became chief executive of the company. "It has definitely been a
step up with investment and innovation activities", says senior director of corporate communications Christopher Perille. "Everything
really begins and ends with consumers, though. As long as we see continued opportunities with the brands, we'll continue developing
new products." Further evidence of Wrigley's commitment to product development came with the opening of the $45 million Global
Innovation Center last month, where Wrigley scientists and food technicians will work on new products and conduct focus groups.
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