LP Bread Company Could Appear On Food Network

By Matt Fritz
Published: Friday, February 12, 2010 8:06 AM CST
Staff writer

LA Porte — The Alpha Baking Company in La Porte may be featured on the Food Network’s “Unwrapped” TV show on Monday at 7:30 p.m.

“Unwrapped,” a half hour show featuring behind-the-scenes details on classic American food, such as peanut butter and french fries, is planning a segment in which the bread-making company may be seen.

Alpha Baking Company President Larry Marcucci said the show would have a segment on deli foods. He said the station sent a camera crew in September to get footage of his company’s La Porte plant, located at 360 N. Fail Road, which has been baking rye bread for 20 years.

“They filmed our bread line making rye bread and talked to some different people,” he said. “We could end up being in five minutes or five seconds or none at all. We have no assurance that we ever even made it on the show. I’m going to sit there on the 15th and find out.”

The Food Network is channel 57 in La Porte.

“We are a segment of a segment of the show so we don’t have a clue how it’s going to work,” he said. “As far as we know we could end up on the cutting room floor.” 

But he was sure the show wouldn’t feature his company’s new bread oven, because it hasn’t arrived yet due to state regulations. Instead, if anything is shown, it will feature the company’s current bread oven, which has been baking rye bread for more than 20 years now.

According to Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Marc Zawicki, the new, 75-foot long oven is supposed to be able to bake 1 million buns a week, and is expected to make Alpha Baking more competitive for future business.

The La Porte City Council recently granted Alpha Baking a tax abatement to purchase the oven. The oven is needed to increase efficiency, retain Alpha Baking’s customers and keep the 260 jobs it provides, Zawicki said. The 5-year tax deduction would help the company afford the $1.5 million upgrade.

— Derek Smith

contributed to this report

Courtesy of the LaPorte Herald Argus