Schwebel Baking and Gold Medal took home the top honors from The Long Company annual bakery competition.

Schwebel’s bakery in Hebron, Ohio, received The Long Company's Best Premium Bun Gold Cup Annual Trophy. Mike Elenz, Schwebel’s vice president of manufacturing, accepted the trophy from Al Bachman, Long Co.’s director of quality, research and development during The Long Company’s Annual Conference in Chicago on September 11.

Gold Medal Bakery, Fall River, Mass., won The Long Company’s Best Premium Bread Silver Cup Annual Trophy. Justin LeComte, Joe Walsh, and Javad Girami, from Gold Medal accepted the trophy.

More than 70 participating wholesale bakeries send premium bread and/or buns samples to The Long Company headquarters for scoring. The Chicago-based independent cooperative’s technical services staff rates samples for qualities such as crust thickness and color, interior grain and uniformity of cell structure, flavor, aroma and general eating qualities. The annual winners receive a traveling trophy to display in their bakeries for one year.

Additionally, The Long Company announced its new board of directors. David A. Gardner of Alfred Nickles Bakery in Navarre, Ohio, was elected chairman while Howard R. Alton of Pan-O-Gold Baking Co., St. Cloud, Minn., became vice chairman. Wayne Davidson of Holsum of Fort Wayne, a part of Lewis Bakeries in Fort Wayne, Ind., is now secretary; Raul Buso of Holsum de Puerto Rico is treasurer; and Ken Waltos of United States Bakery in Portland, Ore., was elected director.