Dive into Lone Star Bakery’s expansion journey, powered by family leadership and advanced equipment
In 1889, a German immigrant opened a small retail bakery in San Antonio, Texas, specializing in bread. Through his commitment to flavor, freshness, and consistent quality, he quickly earned a reputation in the area, which lived on when Mac Morris Sr. acquired the bakery in 1956 and established Lone Star Bakery (Lone Star). By combining family values with innovation, the company has been able to deliver high-quality baked goods and rise to become a leader in the commercial bakery space all while remaining true to its roots. Now in its third generation of family ownership, Lone Star is run by Tracy Fletcher, President and granddaughter of Mac. “My father made me President after celebrating his 70th birthday back in 2020. Although he is settling down, he still comes in every day – he likes to have his finger on the pulse,” she laughs.
“When my grandfather first acquired the bakery, it was a small operation renowned for its fresh bread. As years went by, my dad joined the company and the business experienced tremendous growth by making a lot of fresh deliveries around town,” says Tracy, as she recounts the rich history of Lone Star.
“In the 1980s, we realized that focusing solely on fresh bread was not enough to compete in the local market, so we began looking into selling frozen items. Our first major account was with Shoney’s, for whom we made blueberry muffins. This was a significant step for us and helped to drive further growth, leading us to expand into the production of frozen biscuits, which became an important niche for the bakery and my father. Circa 1986, we built our first plant, named Plant One, in China Grove. Larger ovens were installed, enabling us to complete our orders in a single day, which in turn helped us to secure more work with big chains like KFC. As our customer base expanded to include quick service and sit-down restaurants, so did our business. To meet the increased demand, my father purchased land up the road from Plant One and built a new facility, which he intended to use as a biscuit bakery and contingency plant. However, the new facility, known as Plant Two, was slightly larger than our first one and ended up being a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) certified plant. It became operational in 2004 and opened the door for many new opportunities, such as the ability to offer USDA-approved products.
“Today, alongside our core baked biscuits offering, we are one of the biggest manufacturers of ready-to-fry pies in various flavors, including traditional apple pie. Additionally, we craft kolaches, which are also known as sausage wraps or pigs in blankets. We are deeply committed to the quality and safety of our products, and both our plants have achieved a double A rating from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). At present, we are working to automate our processes and have new equipment on order for this purpose,” she elaborates.
Increasing capacity
Embracing automation and new equipment is set to bring about many improvements and benefits for the company and its customers. “At Plant One, we currently operate two biscuit lines on a full-time basis. Some of our formulations call for two types of flour, but the original flour system that we installed when the plant was built can only pull one type of flour. To address this issue, we are upgrading the entire flour system to be more automated and to allow us to pull the two types of flour we need. Moreover, it will enable us to install a third biscuit line next to the existing two lines, which will increase our overall biscuit production capacity. Beyond this, investing in new equipment will empower us to produce individual baked pies. There has been a lot of demand for baked pies from restaurants that have reached capacity with their fryers, but still want to offer apple pies to their customers,” Tracy reveals.
The dynamic landscape of San Antonio makes it one of the largest and fastest-growing cities in the US. Lone Star is a significant contributor to the local economy, employing many of the talented individuals who inhabit it – though the competition is fierce. “Given that so many people are moving to San Antonio, housing development has exploded in recent years. This has contributed to the growth of the commercial sector, leading the city to enhance its infrastructure through frequent road repairs and expansions to keep up with this growth,” continues Tracy.
These developments have contributed to the economic vitality of the city, which in turn has led to a larger pool of potential employees. “We have been quite successful in hiring non-skilled workers, and although the competition for skilled and administrative positions seems to be more challenging, we are faring well in that area too. Less than a mile from where we are based, on the east side of San Antonio, a large H-E-B warehouse –the leading supermarket chain in Texas – was built a few years ago. Additionally, we face competition from a new Amazon center and a Dollar General distribution center, both of which are in fairly close proximity to our plants. These new massive warehouses, which were being built during the pandemic, presented some challenges for us in terms of competition for employees, but the competition has since started to subside,” she explains.
Tracy concludes our interview by giving valuable advice to women aspiring to be in leadership roles. “Growing up as the owner’s daughter, I felt a strong need to prove myself and show that I was not just there for an easy ride. I believe this need to prove oneself is especially relevant for women trying to climb the corporate ladder. My advice is to always be transparent, humorous, and authentic with people. In my case, I am not particularly extroverted or well-spoken, but I am sensitive to what is going on in people’s personal lives and that has created a pretty good environment here,” she enlightens.