Tamar Zaliouk Markham is now the CEO at YZ Enterprises, Inc. the manufacturers of Almondina Brand Biscuits. Mrs. Zaliouk-Markham takes the reigns of the cookie company from her father and founder Yuval Zaliouk, who was inducted into the Specialty Food Association’s Hall of Fame this past June in New York.

In 2013, after almost a quarter century of marketing Mrs. Markham’s great grandmother Dina’s Petit Gateau Sec, the original Almondina and their core line of Almondina products, Tamar and her husband Jason with the entire family, created Toastees.

Now at YZ Enterprises, Inc. Tamar runs daily 15 minute meetings with the Team Leaders of each department. Mrs. Markham also oversees and finalizes all new product development.  This included the development of Almondina Toastees or as we like to say “Toastees, Almondina, the Next Generation.” Tamar also runs executive/ownership meetings, oversees each department and makes decisions regarding vendors/customers based on analytic findings. She also oversees the relationships with her two current co-packing companies. She does constant research of the industry to stay ahead of the curve and keep current with all food industry trends.

Mrs. Markham handles the budgets, reconciliation of the bank statement, all P&L/Balance Sheet review, closing each month/year end, AR & AP/ check cutting, cash flow, meetings with the banks, meetings with VPs of each department to maintain budget numbers. She also worked with the bank to restructure YZ’s debt into an SBA loan that allowed YZ to pay the loans faster and eventually increase net profit.

Toastees launched into the marketplace in 2014 with a strategic initiative that included target marketing, trade show exposure and a public relations program that all emphasized the evolution of the Almondina brand. 

YZ saw positive net profit in the fiscal year in spite of the increase in raw materials and freight by streamlining systems and eliminating redundancies.  Mrs. Markham oversaw and passed the 3^rd party GMP with a SQF level 2 certification and successfully secured financing for new production equipment allowing YZ to expand their packaging capabilities.

Tamar is a member of Toledo Rotary. She is also part of an Affinity Group through the University of Toledo Family Business Center which allows networking on a monthly basis with other executives in family businesses.