“Get me an application right now,” says one student who attended the tour of Ethel’s Baking Company for MFG week this year.
MFG Day/Week is a nationwide initiative that allows students, parents, and educators to visit businesses and explore the potential career opportunities and future of manufacturing.
This year, over 2,000 high school students toured manufacturing companies across Macomb County for MFG Day/Week, including industries from cars to baking. This event is hosted by Macomb County’s Planning and Economic Development (MCPED) and the Macomb Intermediate School District.
"Working in manufacturing can be an exciting and dynamic career pathway for many individuals, and this is why Macomb County hosts one of the country’s largest celebrations of Manufacturing Day,” says Vicky Rowinski, director of MCPED.
"We need young people to come into local facilities and see operations first hand. We need to inspire them and get them thinking about the different types of jobs available in this industry," says Rowinski.
"Over the years, we have seen the success of students going on tours and then joining the workforce at their host site. Through the creative and collaborative efforts of our manufacturers and school districts, we anticipate this number will continue to increase."
Earlier this month, almost 50 students from Warren Consolidated Schools attended a tour of Ethel’s Baking Company. Ethel’s got involved in Macomb’s MFG Day/Week because they wanted kids to be more aware of the potential of working in a trade.
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Genevieve FoxJill Bommarito, CEO of Ethel's Baking Company
“I’m a huge supporter of trades and I believe so many people push their kids into college but the trades are amazing, we all know there’s a major shortage,” says Jill Bommarito, CEO of Ethel’s Baking Company.
“It’s going to be harder to find a baker, a plumber, a welder, than it is a physician or an attorney.”
Manufacturing in the baking business is also different than what most people think of when they think of manufacturing.
“Baking is a science, so you think of automotive as a science, but in the baking world there are a lot of external factors no matter how good your science is,” Bommarito says. Recipes, raw materials, mixing times, and temperatures are all variable components when it comes to baking.
At different times of the year, she says they will have to slightly change their recipe as factors such as humidity may alter the baking time or texture of the baked goods. This is not something the automotive industry has to worry about.
Bommarito hopes to see more people get into the food manufacturing industry.
“Food is an industry that people don’t think of for manufacturing and we have loads of amazing food manufacturers here in the state of Michigan, and I’d like to see more,” she says.
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Macomb County Planning and Economic Development
Inside Ethel’s Baking Company
The smells of sugar and caramel surround the building as thousands of treats are prepared daily for distribution.
Bommarito founded Ethel’s Baking Company in 2011 after wanting to provide a sweet treat that everyone could enjoy. In Bommarito’s family, Celiac Disease is very prominent, making it nearly impossible to eat any sort of sweets, as many desserts contain gluten. To substitute gluten, she uses xantham gum.
“Everyone should be passionate and able to enjoy food,” Bommarito says.
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Macomb County Planning and Economic Development.
She launched her baked goods at a Celiac Food Fair at a church in Farmington Hills in April 2011. At that event, Ethel’s was the number one most liked goodie.
“People cried because they had not had the experience of having something that reminded them of their childhood and retailers asked to sell us, Plum Market which is one of the toughest customers in the industry insisted three times that we must wholesale to them,” Bommarito says.
From there, she leased out a kitchen, scaled out recipes, and delivered goods to markets like Nino Salvaggio, Plum Market, and Westborn Markets. At the time, they only had four products, blondies, the Pecan Dandy, vanilla cupcakes, and red velvet cupcakes.
Now, Ethel’s has a permanent location in Shelby Township. Out of this building, they can produce a variety of dessert bars, snack bars, single-serve desserts, and cookies. Currently, they are working on adding muffins to their menu.
Rachael Annon, packaging supervisor for Ethel’s says nearly 20,000 treats are made daily, adding up to 100,000 desserts a week. Everything from baking, packaging, labeling, inspecting, and shipping are done by hand.
“The goods are baked in the kitchen from Monday through Friday and packaging is from Tuesday through Thursday,” Annon says.
She notes because the facility is guaranteed gluten-free, they do swab testing every day to ensure no traces of gluten are in or on the treats.
“This is by far the cleanest facility you’ll find in the industry,” Annon says. “All of our treats can be loved without sacrifices.”
To keep the spirit of manufacturing going even after MFG Week/Day,
Macomb Community College will host an event on October 24 for high school students and their families to learn about what a career in manufacturing looks like.