Stephen Bastasch knows well the idiom "the greatest thing since sliced bread," a popular expression used to highly praise a new invention, product, or idea.
The bread-slicing equipment firm he founded in 2013, Lenexa Manufacturing Company, is a multi-million-dollar, privately owned business that has achieved a compounded annual growth rate of 18%.
The company is an original equipment manufacturer that provides custom slicers, baggers, heat sealers, and spare parts to over 300 commercial bakeries across 45 states, including Fortune 500 brands. The client list includes Kroger, Pepperidge Farms, and Bimbo.
Surprisingly, 100 years ago, there was no such thing as a bread-slicing machine.
While the exact phrase "sliced bread" first appeared in the early 1950s, pre-sliced bread arrived in the late 1920s. The idiom was popularized by the popular American comedian Red Skelton, who famously remarked in a 1952 interview about television: "Don't worry about television. It's the greatest thing since sliced bread."
Pre-sliced bread became widely available after Otto Frederick Rohwedder invented the first commercial bread-slicing machine. It was put into service in July 1928 by the Chillicothe Baking Company in Chillicothe, Missouri.
At the time, bakers were initially skeptical that the sliced loaves would quickly go stale, but the convenience of perfect, crumb-free slices for daily sandwiches and toasting made it an overnight cultural hit.
The Bastasch family has a long legacy in the baking industry, dating back to 1910 when Andrew Bastasch immigrated from Sudentenland (Czech Republic) and started a bakery that would eventually become Luxury Bread in Oregon.
The bakery was known for producing high-quality, handmade breads, delivered fresh daily by horse and carriage.
Paul Bastasch’s eyes had been opened to the astonishing potential of baking machinery. In 1964, in Kansas, he became a leading manufacturer of automated slicing and packaging equipment by launching United Bakery Equipment. This marked the family’s transition from selling bread to servicing bakeries.
For over 40 years, United Bakery Equipment has stood at the forefront of the bakery machinery manufacturing industry. But in 2013, the Bastasch family was forced to close its Kansas facility. While many moved over to United Bakery Equipment’s California facility, Notre Dame-educated Stephen Bastasch chose to stay behind.
Using the skills he’d developed working at United Bakery Equipment, Stephen Bastasch started manufacturing and selling parts for bakery equipment in 2013 under the name Lenexa Manufacturing Company.
“We help bakeries automate slicing and bagging by building and servicing high-tech packaging equipment to remove manual work and improve line speed to one bag per second,” said Stephen Bastasch.
The company initially focused on refurbishing equipment and providing replacement parts for bakeries—drawing on decades of family expertise.
”Our 22,000 sq. ft. factory space and expert manufacturing engineers make it easy to produce any bakery machinery components to our clients’ specifications,” said Stephen Bastasch. “Rather than waiting months, we can produce these in mere days and even offer a 24-hour turnaround time on parts.”
Lenexa Manufacturing offers a full suite of services, including design, manufacturing, sale, installation, maintenance, and servicing of industrial bagging and slicing
“Every machine needs a bit of TLC to stay in peak condition,” he added. “So, our experienced technicians are available to visit a bakery anywhere in the world to provide on-site equipment maintenance and servicing. They also provide complementary services like reviewing preventative maintenance plans and delivering staff training.”
But perhaps the company’s most notable contribution is one of its simplest: the invention of a reusable hinge blade assembly. When a blade snapped or lost its edge, bakers used to have to replace the stem and hub even if they were in great condition, since all the pieces were connected. But by using a lock nut hinge, the company’s invention allowed for the blade to be removed from the assembly, leaving the stem and hub intact.
“This reduces wastage and saves bakeries a ton of money in replacement parts,” adds Stephen Bastasch.
Henry DeVries is a former Forbes online columnist who is the chief book strategist at Indie Books International. He has ghostwritten, co-authored, or edited more than 200 business books, including his international bestseller, How to Close a Deal Like Warren Buffett.
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