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ABOUT US OUR PRODUCTS WHERE TO BUY PIZZA RECIPES NEWS
Media Coverage
| October 4, 2005 When Brad Sterl set up shop in Pittsfield in 1996, he had one major customer, the Ground Round restaurant chain. But the past nine years have been good to Sterl. This year spurred by new contracts with major retailers such as Shaw's, Hannaford and Trader Joe's; Sterl plans to sell more than two million of his pizza crusts and frozen flat breads pizzas. In the next few years, Sterl hopes to increase sales to five million. Sterl's secret? All natural ingredients and hand formed crusts. "If you think of artisan breads, and those tastes and textures, that's really more what that is," Sterl said. Unlike larger pizza crust makers, Rustic Crust Pizza is small enough to devote attention to each crust that comes off the line. While Sterl keeps the details to ferment and rise before hand-stretching it into crusts. Sterl pays as much attention to what foes into his crusts as he does to how they are made. "So many of these ingredients that you can't even pronounce are in products these days," Sterl said. In contrast, Sterl uses only unbleached and whole grain flours, and doesn't add sugar to his dough. There are no genetically modified crops or artificial ingredients in his products. This year, Sterl even hopes to add some organic products to the Rustic Crust line. While the natural ingredients and traditional baking process reflect the kind of food Sterl enjoys, he also thinks the model makes good business sense. In focus groups, Sterl saw a growing interest in healthy eating. Many parents, he said, "want to feel like they're feeding their families better when in a rush". His ready-made pizza crusts fulfill this interest in whole grains and unprocessed ingredients. Among the five varieties are flavors such as Tuscan Six Grain and Ultimate Whole Grain. For his frozen flat bread pizzas, Sterl tries to use as many local and organic ingredients as possible, such as fresh herbs and three varieties of frozen Rustic Crust pizzas: cheese and vine-ripened tomato, basil pesto, and roasted red pepper, and cheese and herb. Sterl has developed the crusts and frozen pizzas with tough customers in mind. His two kids, now 13 and 14, have tested Sterl's products over the years. I have, "a lot pf good friends and family that love to taste products". "That's really where I get a lot of feedback. Sterl also got direction from local food guru Gary Hirschberg from Stonyfield Farm. Rustic Crust products are slightly more expensive than other mass-market crusts and pizzas. A ready made curst rangers from $3.49 to $3.99, and a 12-inch frozen flat bread pizza goes for $7.99 to $9.99. But Sterl is confident that customers will pay slightly more for a product that tastes better and uses healthy ingredients. Even tough Rustic Crust products are all natural; Sterl has discovered a way to give them a shelf life of four months. The success of Rustic Crust has been good to Pittsfield. When Sterl opened his factory on Barnstead Road, some shipping companies were loath to travel all the way to Pittsfield. But now the business is thriving, and Sterl has 12 full time employees. He's working to expand production and hire 12 to 14 more employees to staff a second shift. "In the next two to three years, we'll become on of the better employers in the area," Sterl said. "We would like to keep it in the area as long as we can." While Rustic Crust already ships products to stores as far away as Texas, Sterl has more plans to fuel the company's growth. Besides new organic products, he hopes to create a tomato sauce, and sign contracts with colleges and schools. Until then, he looks forward to seeing his products on supermarket shelves, when Hannaford and Shaw's being to stock them this autumn, "It's really fun to see these things that you've developed," he said, "for the employees as well as me". < Return to Media Coverage Page |