greenlogistics
BY DAVID MALONEY, SENIOR EDITOR
GREEN BEST PRACTICES
going green
is a piece of cake
It might sound complicated and burdensome,
but Tasty Baking discovered that building
green was easy as pie.
A HIT WITH PHILADELPHIANS ALMOST FROM
their introduction in 1914, Tastykake brand snack
cakes and pies have proved they’re no flash in the
pan. Nearly 100 years later, they still occupy a place
alongside cheese steaks and soft pretzels in the pantheon
of local favorites.
But Tastykake products are no longer just a regional delica-heir manufacturer, Tasty Baking Co., has been distributing its
res, and other outlets up and down the East Coast for decades. And as
a result of deals with major retailers like Wal-Mart, they’re now available in stores nationwide.
wares to supermarkets, convenience sto
cy. T
That kind of growth is great for the bottom line, but it can create headaches for the operations side of a
business. Tasty Baking is no exception. A few years ago, the company was forced to confront an unwelcome
reality: It had outgrown both the six-floor bakery it has occupied in North Philadelphia since 1922 and the
small distribution facility it opened across the street in the 1980s.
That put the company in a quandary. Tasty Baking was determined to remain in Philadelphia—the company had grown deep roots in the community and wanted to retain as much of its workforce as possible. But
its choices were limited. Expanding the current facility—an aging building with multiple floors—wasn’t practical, says Autumn Bayles, senior vice president of strategic operations. Yet finding a new site wouldn’t be easy
either. In Philadelphia, as in many older cities, suitable land for building is in short supply.
After looking at various alternatives, Tasty Baking came up with a solution. It would build on reclaimed land
at the site of the former Philadelphia Navy Yard—a deal that was sweetened by city and state incentives. In April,
Tasty Baking moved into a new 35,000-square-foot headquarters it built on the site. And construction is currently under way on a combination production-distribution facility where the base’s military prison once stood.
What’s remarkable about the facilities isn’t their location on a brownfield site, however. It’s their eco-friend-ly profile. The two buildings are showpieces of green construction, built with methods and materials chosen
specifically for their minimal impact on the environmental.
From brown to green
Though it’s now being touted as a model of environmental responsibility, the company didn’t go into the
project with any specific plans to go green. The idea actually came from the Navy Yard site developer, Liberty
Property Trust, from which Tasty Baking will lease its buildings. Tasty Baking quickly came on board, however, once it saw that being environmentally friendly was also smart business.
“It’s the right thing to do,” says Bayles. “If you’re going to build new, then you may as well [go with] sustainable initiatives that help the environment. Our customers also encouraged it.”
