New officers will be installed tomorrow by Unity Assembly of the Rainbow Girls. Ceremonies will start at 8 p.m. at the Madison Street Temple.
Marilyn Dawson will take office as worthy advisor, with Phyllis Paulson as worthy associate advisor. Judy Basker will be charity, Peggy Sparks, hope; Hannah Berry, faith; Merebeth Rohrer, recorder; Diana Strock, treasurer; Jan Jacobsen, chaplain, Genevieve Waage, musician, and Pam Saba, drill leader.
Carol Sparks and Carol Branin will be observers, Bridget Isakson, love; Collene Taylor, religion; Linda Paladino, immortality; Celia Crandall, fidelity; Beneta Taylor, patriotism, and Connie Wier, service.
Installation will be done by Marilee Sparks, junior past worthy advisor. Assisting will be Mrs. Ruth Corson, mother advisor, and Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Rice, host and hostess.
By Mrs. Vernon Doss
Staff Correspondent
Phone 2063
FORESTVILLE — Members of the Ross family of this area gathered at Mirabel Park for a weekend picnic in order to greet one of the older members of the family, Ed Ross, of San Diego. Mr. and Mrs. Ross have been visiting with his brother and wife, Mrs. and Mrs. H. E. Ross, on Van Keppel Rd., and the affair gave a large number of relatives an opportunity to see their uncle and brother.
Present were Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Voreis and son Ross of Lakeport, Mr. and Mrs. Ole Waage of Oakland and their daughter, Genevieve, and their 3 sons, Mrs. Ross De Gregory and daughters, Susie and Jacke, of Oakland, Mrs. Blanche Kimes and Calvin Kimes and his 3 sons, Gary Walter and Calvin Jr., all of Santa Rosa, Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Owen and children, Rickey, Kathy and Craig, of Windsor, Mr. and Mrs. Ed Kimes of Skagg Springs, Mrs. O. Matteoli and daughter, Jeanne, of Cloverdale, Mrs. Cornelius Van Keppel, Mrs. Clara Van Keppel, Robert Van Keppel, Lonnie Hughes, Mrs. Jessie Riley, Mr. and Mrs. Herman Wiebe and son, Nickie, Mr. and Mrs. Hoyt D. Bockes and daughter, Karyn.
Mary B. Ward and the H. E. Rosses of Forestville, Mr. and Mrs. Ed Ross of San Diego, Mr. and Mrs. Delbert Ross and grandson of Richmond, Ernest Ross of Courtland, Mr. and Mrs. Mathew Smith and Carol and Charles of Forestville, Mr. and Mrs. William Smith and son of Sebastopol, Mrs. Sadie Walter, Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Walter and daughter Linda, of Angwin, Mrs. Amanda Ross and Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Davis of Ross Station Rd., Mrs. F. P. Abshire of Geyserville, Irwin Dick Ross of Forestville, Mrs. Violet Looney of Sonoma and Mrs. Mamie Fish of Petaluma.
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Voreis of Scotts Valley were hosts at a cootie party honoring Arch Hendricks, on his birthday, at their home on Saturday night.
Cootie was played, after which refreshments were served, including a beautiful birthday cake made by Mrs. Hendricks. Red and blue crepe paper were used in decoration.
After the refreshments dancing was enjoyed by the following guests at the happy affair: Mr. and Mrs. Arch Hendricks, Mr. and Mrs. Olie (sic) Waage and children Genevive (sic), Norman and Edward, of Oakland; Mr. and Mrs. Anfin Haage (sic) and children, Janice and Avon; Mr. and Mrs. Gene Burger, Mr. and Mrs. Elvin Hystad, Mr. and Mrs. Gene Simpson, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Patten, Mike Guinn, Jack Hendricks, Shirley and Richard Voreis. Fern Green was ill and unable to attend.
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur R. Voreis of Scotts Valley last Wednesday celebrated a double occasion which mathematicians tell them occurs only once in every 133,225 marriages.
It was the anniversary of both their birthdays.
Attending a surprise party in their honor were Mr. and Mrs. Orville Weese; Mr. and Mrs. Ellis George; Mr. and Mrs. John Smith; Mr. and Mrs. Ole M. Waage Sr.; Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Kimball; Delores Kimball; Loretta Green of Richmond; Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Dutcher of Upper Lake; Mr. and Mrs. Jim Bates of Ukiah; Mrs. and Mrs. Ole K. Waage Jr.; Genevieve Waage, and Norman, Edward and Robert of Oakland.
Following a buffet supper, the guests enjoyed singing and dancing to music provided by Mrs. Dutcher, Miss Waage, Miss Kimball, and Miss Green.
Genevieve Waage will be installed as worthy advisor of Unity Assembly, Order of Rainbow for Girls, at 8 p.m., on Saturday at the Madison Street Temple, 1433 Madison St.
Miss Waage will be installed by Elizabeth Froines, past worthy adviser.
Mary Elizabeth Parsons, junior past worthy advisor, will install the other officers, who are:
Judy Butler, worthy associate advisor; Marilee Sparks, charity; Marilyn Dawson, hope; Beverly Robinson, faith; Judy Basker, recorder; Marilyne Lyon, chaplain; Phyllis Paulson, drill leader; Barbara Shepardson, love; Joyce Taylor, religion; Jane Ellen Jones, nature; Merebeth Rohr, immortality; Diana Strock, fidelity; Dolores Coleman, patriotism; Brenda Peterson (proxy), service; Pat Bradley, confidential observer; Mary Ann Parsons, outer observer.
Assisting in the ceremony will be Mrs. Ruth Corson, mother advisor of Unity Assmebly; Mr. and Mrs. Jack McCrudden, host and hostess; Jeanette Jacobsen, recorder; Pat Limpke, chaplain; Wilma Luders, installing marshal; Phyllis Paulson, Joan Finke and Jane Ellen Jones, marshals; Edward Waage, flag bearer; Marilyn Dahlstrom, Rainbow banner; Mary Anne McCabe, Bible bearer, and Norman Waage and Robert Waage, ushers.
Mrs. Gertrude Rost Ellis will be the installing musician. Pat Gellenbeck will be the soloist. Refreshments and dancing will follow.
A joint birthday party was enjoyed on September 6th at the home of Mrs. Mildred Hage with Janice Hage and Norman Waage as guests of honor. The latter was here visiting from Oakland.
The traditional birthday cakes for each honoree and other delicious refreshments were served.
The guest list included: Leah Jean Noreen, Tommy Curry, Darlene Henderson, Dennis Harmon, Sandra Hage, Saundra Sowell, Joanne Butler, Shirley Beach, Edward Waage, Genavieve (sic) Waage, Avon Hage, the two honored guests and Mrs. Carl Noreen, Mrs. Arch Hendricks, Ole Waage, Anfin Hage and the hostess.
Genevieve Waage was installed Saturday, September 15, as Worthy Advisor of Unity Chapter 65 of the Rainbow Order for Girls in Oakland.
Miss Waage is the granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Voreis of Scotts Valley and Mr. and Mrs. Ole Waage of the Terraces. The ceremony was attended by Mrs. Voreis and Genevieve's mother, Mrs. Ole Waage, Jr., formerly Iris Voreis of Lakeport.
Audrey Lindeblad of Scotts Valley is a past Worthy Advisor of the Unity Chapter.
caption: A few of the hundreds of dolls to be placed on sale at the annual "Doll Festival" at Oakland Bank of Commerce Dec. 3-7 are previewed by Genevieve Miller, Mrs. James Hayburn of Berkeley and Bambi Chapter, and Miss Bertha Ellsworth, founder of the charity event. Proceeds benefit the Children's Home Society.
"Do unto others..." might well be the theme of the annual "Doll Festival" opening Monday, Dec. 3, at the Oakland Bank of Commerce, 16th and San Pablo, with Children's Home Society of California benefiting from the sale of hand-dressed dolls.
Miss Bertha Ellsworth, long time employe (sic) of the bank, is the moving spirit behind this charitable project. But it was her Mother, Lorena Ellsworth, who originated the idea. An orphan, Lorena started at the age of five years to sew clothes for dolls to be given to other children.
Bertha Ellsworth is one of a family of seven. Her three sisters and three brothers have all participated in their Mother's doll project. As children the girls sewed and the boys made cradles for the Christmas gift dolls that went to orphanages. Today the Lorena Ellsworth Memorial Fund has grown to the point where bank employees help dress the dolls and the Bank of Commerce purchases the dolls for the project.
Dolls of all sizes and shapes, each dressed according to the theme selected by the individual seamstress, run the gamut from a beautiful bride doll dressed by Miss Ellsworth's sister to a cuddly baby doll dressed in colorful cotton print pj's. Profits from the sale will help children awaiting adoption through the good offices of the Children's Home Society of California.
Mrs. C. F. Walters, President of the East Bay Council of Chapters, said that the doll festival display would be staffed by members of East Bay volunteer chapters during the sale week. Monday Dec. 3 through Friday, Dec. 7. The third through the sixth of December hours are from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on Dec. 7 from 10 to 5 p.m.
Children's Home Society, only statewide adoption agency will be observing its 71st year of service on Dex. 10, according to Mrs. Walters.
Friends this week learned of a baby daughter born Thursday to Mr. and Mrs. Ole Waage, nee Iris Voreis, in Oakland. She was given the name Geneviewe (sic) Elaine. The baby weighed seven pounds and seven ounces and is their first child.
Mrs. Waage's mother, Mrs. Arthur Voreis, daughter Mildred and Mr. and Mrs. Royden Livermore, nee Virginia Charlton, who were married Sunday, drove down on Friday to visit the new heir. Congratulations are extended to the happy parents.
A son, Norman Ross, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Ole Waage, nee Iris Vorheis (sic), on September 3 in Oakland. This is their second child, the other is a daughter three and a half years old.
The mother is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Vorheis (sic) of Scotts Valley whose other daughter, Mildred, had a baby last week.
Caption: WHO WILL REIGN AS 'QUEEN OF HEARTS'? These 12 girls are competing for the chance to rule over the "Queen of Hearts" ball to be held Saturday at the Scottish Rite Temple. But salesmanship, not beauty, is the criterion, because the girl who sells the most tickets to the ball and an accompanying card party will reign as queen. The event is being held under the auspices of the Oakland DeMolay Chapter.
Twelve Oakland area girls are competing for the title of queen of the 10th annual "Queen of Hearts Ball" to be held Saturday under the auspices of Oakland DeMolay Chapter.
The event will be held at 8 p.m. at the Scottish Rite Temple, 1547 Oak St. A card party also will be featured in conjunction with the ball from 8 to 11 p.m. at the Madison Street Temple, 1433 Madison St.
The candidates for the royal title are representatives of local Job's Daughters Bethels or Rainbow Girls Assemblies.
TICKET SALE
Each girl is selling tickets to the ball and card party and the girl who sells the most will be named queen.
Music for dancing will be provided by Rod McCauley and his orchestra.
Marv Stanley, general chairman of the double activity, is being assisted by the following committee chairmen:
Mike Meeker and Ken Alexander, decorations; Rich Heaton, card party; George Courreges, tickets; John Hertzberg and Gary Williams, bids; Mel Silverman, publicity; Sam Martinovich and Roger Kern, refreshments; Terry Grosshans and George Ball, reception, and Jack Smith photography.
CANDIDATES LISTED
The queen candidates and the Rainbow Girls Assemblies or Job's Daughters Bethels they represent are:
Corlene Hoglund, Alameda Assembly; Kay Venstrom, Thousand Oaks Assembly; Flo Ann McWhorter, Bethel No. 253; Penny Nichols, Bethel No. 21; Bobbie Farley, Bethel No. 222; Lynne Risch, Oakland Assembly No. 11; Earline Fisher, Golden Chain Assembly; Marcia Mennet, Bethel No. 231; Genevieve Waage Unity Assembly; Mary Jane Halsey, Bethel No. 1; Margo Vickery, Bethel No. 261, and Lynne Kilgore, Loma Vista Assembly.
A Volkswagen driven by Byron P. Buss, 20, of Kelseyville, was struck from behind by a vehicle driven by Jerry Lee Tice 22, of Lakeport, Friday morning at 10:30 a.m. on Highway 29 one half mile north of Lakeport.
Buss was cited by the state highway patrol and will appear in Judge Gesford Wright's justice court April 16. The accident occurred when Buss began to turn off highway 29.
Genevieve Waage, 19, of Oakland, was cited for making an unsafe turn when she turned left into a driveway Sunday, Mar. 31, and her car was struck by a pickup driven by Earl R. Chambers, 17, Lakeport. He was cited for speeding. Both will appear April 16 in Wright's justice court.
With great insight and candor, the president of the Biscuit and Cracker Manufacturers' Assn. comments on the industry's present and future and goals for the trade association he serves. Here is the story of a dedicated man and his California-based company, Mother's Cake and Cookie Co.
There's no sense of the frenetic about Ole Waage. His pace is firm but flexible, tidy without tensions. Maybe his sturdy Norweigan (sic) heritage has been the dominating influence on his life-style and philosphy. In any case, Waage's blue eyes take on more sparkle and depth as he unhesitatingly comments on the industry he's known for 37 years.
A modest man, Waage shuns accolades and the VIP treatment because he is his own person. He knows where he is going whether it's directing operations as executive vice president of Mother's Cake & Cookie Co., Oakland, California, or serving a second term as president of the Biscuit & Cracker Manufacturer's Assn.
A native Californian, Waage grew up in Oakland and has lived there or nearby for 62 years. From his sprawling ranch house high in the San Leandro hills, he looks down on his bigger than an acre property and up to the fairways of the Chabot Country Club. Beyond are the 11 Western states; Mother's ever expanding cookie market. This, of course, includes Hawaii, Ole and his wife Iris' favorite vacationland. When they travel the couple prefers people to places because "Only when you get to know people can you learn to understand and love another land."
Waage's pet hobby is photographing people. Favorite sports mutually shared with Iris, such as badminton, golf, and paddle tennis, are more fun with people. And they delight in sharing their home. Only a short ride from his office, Waage lunches daily with Iris, his wife of 33 years. Waage's business associates and visitors eagerly respond to the warm invitation.
Mrs. Waage, a tall, stately, gracious hostess moves with the grace of a dancer, another pastime the Waages never tire of. She wears a floor length muumuu, a souvenir from Hawaii, and matter-of-factly admits she made the bread, pickled the cucumbers after growing them and canned the fruits in the colorful salad. Both the Waages have green thumbs so it is not surprising that the conversation touches on the thriving asparagus plot, spraying of fruit trees and the deer who brazenly consume the roses.
Pictures of their daughter, three sons and five grandchildren are everywhere.
Norman, the eldest son and father of three, is night superintendent at Mother's; Edward, with a doctorate in chemistry, teaches at Illinois State University; and Robert, 23, now in the Army earned a psychology degree. Genevieve, the oldest, is married and mother of two boys.
Double Sales Volume
It is soon apparent that, after people, Waage believes in the product and prosperity. He is a very optimistic man. While others may wring their hands and lament the sad state of the economy, Ole Waage confidently comments on Mother's Cake and Cookie Co.'s plans to more than double its gross sales volume in the next ten years. Probably sooner.
Waage told Snack Food: "In the past 15 years we've been growing at a rate of 10 percent per year, or doubling our sales every seven years. Our present sales are $20 million a year and we are enjoying a profitable return on our investment.
"However, the financial demands on food companies in the 1970s will escalate. More technical and professional people, more funds for research and development, increased distribution costs, greater outlays for automation—these costs, compounded by inflation, will raise the cost of doing business for all companies.
To Be Competitive
"By 1980 I feel that a full-line company such as Mother's will have to do $40 to 45 million in sales in order to be competitive, provide for future growth and still earn a reasonable profit. This means we will have to double our sales by 1980. I won't be here to see it because I will have retired, but it will be done. I know it will."
As executive vice president of Mother's since 1955, Ole Waage is in a predominately important position to know. To know even more about the industry, Waage has, for many years, been actively involved with the Biscuit & Crackers Manufacturers' Assn. Currently he is serving a second term as president which will expire May 1971. Before that he did a stint on the board of directors in 195; served on the executive committee in 1965; held the vice-presidency two years later; and, assumed his present position in 1969.
Waage handles both jobs with efficiency, enthusiasm and his own inimitable brand of soft-sell dynamics. He confesses he thought he knew as much as there was to know about the business 15 years ago. Now, on reflection, he feels he knows very little because there is so much to know. Still, the record disproves his observation.
At Mother's the sales volume graph took a decided upswing in the 50's when Floyd Wheatley, son of the founder Mique Wheatley, was general manager and Waage controller. But not before the firm recovered from shattering setbacks born of the changing times. With the influx of cake mixes, Mother's deleted their cake line, and a union contract cut the salesmen's work week from six to five days. The combination of factors dropped sales 30 to 40 percent. It was rebuild or sink.
In 1955, Wheatley moved up to the presidency and Waage as executive vice-president. "To get going again" the firm expanded its market area to Los Angeles, the second largest in the country; changed its package design; changed to larger packaging; put more emphasis on developing new items; installed a laboratory with sophisticated equipment and brought in highly competent food technologists as watch guards on supplies to assure uniformity of the product's size, texture, taste and shelf life; scrapped traditional outdoor and radio advertising and went for the slogan "Look for the cookies in the passionate purple package."
Homemade cookies
"All contributed to our growth and we've been growing ever since," Waage says. A boast to be proud of for a firm that started as a one man operation in 1914. That was when Mique (pronounced Mike) Wheatley, operator of a San Francisco newsstand noticed the daily trips of an elderly couple selling homemade cookies door to door out of a hand basket.
Wheatley saw possibilities in developing the idea and persuaded the couple to sell their recipe. The earnings from his newsstand finally added up to a down payment on a tiny bakery, a buggy and a horse named Vanilla. His initial output was 2000 cookies packed 150 to a box and prices at $1.00 each. He was assisted by his wife, Mrs. Leopoldine Wheatley, who is still active in the business as chaiman of the board of Mother's Cake & Cookie Co.
Today's plant and offices at 810 81st Street, Oakland, occupes a block long building. Current weekly production averages 700,000 to 800,000 pounds. (In 1934 when Waage joined the firm as production scheduler, the firm was about a 10th of its present size.)
Now, some 30 to 35 items make up the product line. Chocolate chip cookies are the top seller with oatmeal a close second. A peanut creme, introduced November, 1970, is the latest addition and "is going very well." Packaged in a box with a handsome color photo in brown upon brown tones, the item takes on a gift look.
Moving up the ladder, Waage went on to paymaster, personnel manager and controller before assuming his present position.
More Competitors
Waage recalls that there was more competition in terms of number of cookie companies 15 years ago. Today, the smaller companies are being absorbed or going out of business. Now there are fewer companies but the remaining ones are bigger and the competition even tougher. "But this doesn't dismay us," says Waage. "The answer is to staff your organization with competent, knowledgeable, creative people—people who like to take on a job and run with it."
For Profit, Creative People
This highly attuned sensitivity toward people makes Waage "a greate believer in delegating authority. When a job falls to a man competent to handle it, he should do it. I don't want to get into it." In fact, Waage asserts, that the most important asset to insure success is creative personnel. "We like to see our men and women develop their talents more fully. Too often we spend time, money and effort to make our people feel secure when we should be allowing them to feel they are accomplishing something worthwhile, that they are 'growing' through their work.
"One of our ways we are helping our people grow is to use the Task Force system. We select people from first and second levels of management and assign them top management problems. In one case we selected on person each from purchasing, manufacturing, marketing and accounting and gave them the opportunity to create a new product line. They worked on feasibility studies, product development, product testing, package design, cost estimates, pricing, sales and profit projections, test marketing and promotional activities. We wanted to challenge their minds with top level problems and they responded by challenging our minds with their solutions.
"Incidently, a group working on a major marketing project such as this does not report to the vice president of marketing. Instead we have it report to a non-marketing executive such as vice president of purchasing, or the controller, because we want to expand their horizons, to challenge them with problems that lie beyond the boundaries of their specialty."
An inveterate long-range planner, Waage deals in decades. At Mother's, Wheatley, Waage and top executives are working on their 10 year plan to double sales. This may be done either by geographic expansion or an expanded product line. However, Waage sees the company doing both. Jumping in six years from the seven Western states to 14, the market area now stretches from San Diego, California to Anchorage, Alaska, and from Denver to El Paso to Hawaii. Sale Lake, the newest market, was opened six months ago. Total sales place Mother's in the number one position in northern California, number two in southern California and number two in the Northwest, an area opened in 1968.
Setting B&CMA Goals
As B&CMA's president, Waage's long-range planning strategy has stimulated innovative ideas. Rather than be a "caretaker" Waage sought to accomplish a set of goals during his term. "With the tremendous support of the board of directors and fellow officers, Samuel H. Campbell III, George Keller and Glenn Rhodes, first, second and third vice presidents respectively; Frank Delaney, treasurer and William Pieper, secretary, we are making great strides."
A planning committee was set-up with Glenn Rhodes of Lance, Ind., as chairman. The major recommendation was to appoint an executive vice president to be the chief operating officer of the association.
Says Waage: "The board of directors, in adopting the committee's recommendation, recognized that our association, like so many other associations, is on the threshold of a new era. Times are changing rapidly and new approaches are needed for old problems as well as for the multiplicity of the tasks we see ahead. This means expanded operations in involvement in more areas.
"It means more activity in our technical services program, which is Bill Pieper's primary interest. We want him to be able to devote more of his time to that aspect of our operations in servicing our members. This requires a full-time salaried chief operating officer for the organization who can administer and carry out these programs as they develop in the future.
"To sum up, we're trying to develop a more effective, well-rounded trade association truly representative of our industry—an association to which our members can point with pride. This is what our members are supporting and what the board wants to provide."
A nutrition committee, chaired by Dr. Irving Rusoff of National Biscuit Co., is concerned with the enrichment of the industry's products. As a start, a separate research committee was set-up in February to study, among other things, how, why and when the consumer buys the industry's product and how she feels about having nutrients added to fortify and enrich them. These research findings will go back to the nutrition committee.
"I think we will have a continuing need for the services of a technical committee such as the nutrition committee. Mounting government regulations, plus the rising expectations of the consumer, will make it necessary that we do more work, more research in the technical aspects of our business. There is so much yet to be learned about ingredients, about baking processes. Either as individual companies or an industrywide basis, research will have to be done.
"A standing technical committee could be most helpful in suggesting areas of research that coule be undertaken by the association, either acting alone or in conjunction with suppliers."
Still more committees at work include Industry Statistics with Robert G. Weil, Mother's Cake & Cookie Co., as chairman. For the first time statistics on the total production of cookies and crackers are being compiled on a quarterly basis. The Government Specifications committee, with E. W. "Bill" Reynolds of Schulze and Burch Biscuit Co. as chairman, has updated government specs on bid items. Since the last figures new ingredients and new packaging processes have come along and these ideas and savings were passed on to the government.
A convention sites committee, headed by Waage, has reserved sites for the next five years. Already many desirable places are reserved until 1980, Waage says, so it behooved the association to plan ahead.
Consumer: Top Priority
Waage told Snack Food the top priority matter facing the biscuit industry today is "people who buy our product. I think it has to be that. Anything other than that... then you are ignoring your primary business purpose. Both as an industry and through our individual companies, we have to do a continuing job of identifying the wants and needs of the constantly changing consumer. The research project of the nutrition committee should tell us much about the homemaker—how she perceives our industry's products in terms of nutrition, as a food, as a source of enjoyment in eating.
&qout;But ours is a 'tomorrow industry.' We need to keep abreast of changes in buying habits. We need to concern ourselves with what people are going to expect from their food suppliers next year and the year after that.
"A forward looking step was taken by the B&CMA board of directors when it recommended to the members that they voluntarily use enriched wheat flour. This is a positive and valuable contribution to the consumer.
"The directors' recommendation was well received by the manufacturers and the response from government officials and nutritionists has been most congratulatory. Letters of approval came in from the Department of Health, Education & Welfare and Harvard University School of Public Health. Administrator Edward J. Hekman, Department of Agriculture wrote: 'Please extend my congratulations to your members, and convey my appreciation to them for this important recommendation. Biscuits and crackers are used so widely in our diets, that an improvement in their nutritive value translates quickly into significant improvement in the diets of the American people'."
On Packages, Labeling
"Another example of our association responding to consumer needs involved package proliferation. During John Barton's term of office as president, the B&CMA worked with the Department of Commerce in reducing the number of package sizes. This voluntary program was most successful.
"Nutritional labeling requiring the listing of percentages of nutrients and the contribution to minimum daily requirements or to recommended daily allowances may well be required in the next year or so. I have two reservations regarding such regulations. First, the cost of developing the information through frequent assays of the product line may outweigh the benefits to the consumer. Second, I wonder whether the average homemaker has enough technical knowledge about vitamins to make effective use of the information. There will be many who will want to educate her but the food industry should be the one to do it.
"I hope that under our new headquarters setup we will be in a position to communicate with homemakers, nutritionists, home economists and educators through the use of news releases and printed material. We need to inform them about the role cookies, crackers and baked snacks play in satisfying family food needs. We need to increase their knowledge of our industry's products in terms of nutrition, labeling, menu planning and storage. Such an activity would have an added plus for our industry by stimulating sales of our products."
On Private Label
As for private labels for cookies, crackers and baked snacks, Waage told Snack Food he believes we will see many more of them on supermarket shelves.
For two reasons, said Waage: first, the retail chains are getting larger so they are able to put in their own bakeries. Second, the move to discounting has put an even greater cost pressure on the retailer. For many of them the private label looks inviting, because there is no direct price comparison with other competing retailers, which gives them the opportunity to take a larger market if they so desire.
"As time goes on, we can expect to see many of the larger chains carrying only three full-line cookie brands—their private label plus two advertised brands. For many of the smaller manufacturers this will mean a shift to specialized areas of the market—specialty product lines, private labels and institutional sales.
"This growth of private labels coupled with rising costs of distribution undoubtedly will cause more and more manufacturers to re-examine the cost-effectiveness relationship of their distribution system.
On Driver-Salesmen
"At Mother's we are using driver salesmen and we expect to continue with them. This type of distribution system offers special advantages for us. It minimizes product breakage, facilitates special promotion activities, and makes for effective shelf merchandising. In particular it enables us to do considerable in-store promotion work, which we consider to be one of the big factors in our sales growth.
"Lee Bickmore, chairman of the board of NAtional Biscuit Co., once said: 'To be successful in the consumer food field, a company has to have a strong product and a strong marketing department.'
"We fully agree with him because this is the premise upon which we have operated. But to make this premise work you have to have a top flight management team and we have it in Robert H. Brandon, vice president-manufacturing; Albert E. Davis, vice president-purchasing; George F. Kinst, vice president-marketing; Robert G. Weil, controller; Nancy Dolton, manager-product development; and Robert W. Frey, personnel manager."
Product Convenience
As for the future of the biscuit industry, Waage's confirmed optimism surfaces again.
"I don't see anything but continued growth for our industry because our products are particularly right for the family food needs of the 70's.
"The products consumers will be seeking in the 70s will be those that best satisfy a life-style that will be influenced by a higher population density, fewer meals eaten together by the family, impromptu eat-and-run meals, more discretionary income, and more leisure time and increased recreational activities away from home. All this translates to a need for food products that are delivious, nutritious, portable and ready-to-eat—all the characteristics of the products we make. Certainly we will have increased competition from the rest of the food industry, but I'm sure that an industry as innovative and aggressive as ours will continue to meet the evolving needs of the consumer."
Reflecting on the "honor of being president of the B&CMA," Waage affirms that it has been a stimulating and rewarding job. "One that took more time that I expected. To do the job I wanted to do I needed more time away from Mother's. My staff took over part of my responsibilities and has done an excellent job with them.
"At Mother's I have been fortunate in that our president, Floyd Wheatly has given me free rein to carry out my ideas. He doesn't second-guess me. He's a warm and congenial person and all of us have a high regard for him. All along I have been assisted by top-flight people.
"It's been the same with the B&CMA. Our members take an active part in the organization, attend meetings, serve on committees, and provide technical assistance for special projects. We have a very competent headquarters staff in Chicago, and our general counsel, Joseph Creed, has been most helpful to me."
But then Waage knew what he wanted to do, where he wanted to go and how to get there. Like working up to forty daily laps in his swimming pool, you build to the top systematically, effectively when there's drive, determination and devotion. With characteristic understatement, Iris Waage puts it another way. "It's been a busy time."