Mike Senackerib (Dewey's Bakery) - How a 90-year old bake shop turned into a CPG powerhouse

Our guest today is Mike Senackerib, CEO of Dewey’s Bakery. Dewey’s Bakery was founded in 1930 in Winston-Salem and was famous regionally for their baked goods. Fairly recently they opened a CPG line with lots of treats. Their cookies are incredibly delicious, not just saying that because Mike came on the show. We discuss the history of Dewey’s, why they decided to start a CPG line, approach to baking and manufacturing, brand positioning and how Mike became the CEO.

Some of the questions I ask –

1. Why did a bake shop decide to create a CPG brand? What’s the history of Dewey’s?
2. Why did you decide to join Dewey’s and let your brand be acquired by the company?
3. What did you think was missing within the cookie and biscuits category?
4. What are some of the challenges taking a bake shop and building out a line of packaged goods products?
5. What are some of the benefits being vertically intergrated? Were you able to not have as much disruption due to the supply chain crunch?
6. How do you also think about the positioning of Dewey’s and sales channels? Given Walmart and Target are featuring more premium products, do you see yourselves as a brand for conventional grocery?
7. There’s been lots of better for you products within cookies and the dessert/snack space. How do you think about what consumers want in a modern cookie company?
8. What did you learn from COVID?
9. What has been your biggest lessons learned about ecommerce?
10. What’s one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?
11. What’s the best piece of advice that you’ve received?