Uncle Crumbles rises: How automation and rebranding are reshaping a legacy food manufacturer

When James Shutts took over as the CEO of Bakery on Main nearly two years ago, he stepped into a company with decades of history — and decades of operational inertia. He immediately recognized the opportunity for the Connecticut-based granola company to scale its business while simultaneously cutting back on inefficiencies, and he made a to-do list.

“Manufacturers often get in the mindset of ‘We’ve been doing it this way forever,’ but I’m not a believer in that,” Shutts said.

Determined to reposition the 30-year-old business for long-term success, Shutts laid out a strategy: clarify the brand, streamline operations, and invest in scalable, modern technology. That meant making bold changes, including rebranding the company as Uncle Crumbles, refocusing its product lines, and introducing automation to eliminate bottlenecks and empower the workforce.

Now, Uncle Crumbles is not only outperforming its legacy brand but laying the groundwork for expansion with automation as the centerpiece.

“When I stepped in, we had an 87 Safe Quality Food (SQF) score. Now we’re at 99,” Shutts said. “Directing our focus towards People and Processes, we have reimagined the entire business.”

Reinventing a 30-Year-Old Company

Since rebranding the Connecticut-based company to Uncle Crumbles, the company has a tighter focus on core products — primarily granola, oats, and soon oatmeal — and a clearer identity that matched the company’s creative culture. Since narrowing its SKU count and doubling down on specific products, Uncle Crumbles has seen stronger performance than under its previous brand.

“We had 40 SKUs in all types of shapes and sizes — but only a handful were in high demand,” Shutts said. “By leveraging real-time internal data with our new Oracle NetSuite ERP system and feedback from our strongest consumers, we were able to streamline our offerings to less than 10 and get back to growth.”

And that momentum is continuing. After 30 years as a leading gluten-free brand, Uncle Crumbles saw an opportunity to reach a broader audience. In response to growing demand from consumers and interest from major retailers, the company is expanding into standard oats while maintaining its commitment to all-natural ingredients and the use of gluten-free oats for the Uncle Crumbles brand. The result: a product lineup that appeals to both health-conscious and value-driven consumers.

That shift also means the company can now bid on business it previously had to turn away. “A top 5 grocer sent us 20 bids last year, and we could only respond to two because they weren’t gluten-free,” Shutts said. “That’s changing now.”

But with more business underway and on the horizon, Shutts saw the need to deploy automation to capitalize on the opportunity to build market share and to alter employees’ inefficient mindsets.

“We’ve been held back, but the reins are free now,” he said. “The equipment we’re bringing in can handle more intricate cartoning and bulk items our customers want. The more we can say yes, the more opportunities we win. Historically, though, the mindset was just to work with what we had, and what we had wasn’t working.”

A Forward-Thinking Approach to Automation

Uncle Crumbles' experience with automation hasn’t historically been successful. Shutts explained that they are finally almost rid of their “robot graveyard,” which was made up of used automation equipment they installed but couldn’t keep running and had to push aside.

This time around, Shutts said they’ve thought more strategically about where to deploy automation and who to partner with. In the coming months, automation from Formic, Delkor,  and Pattyn will hit Uncle Crumble’s production floor to tackle automated palletizing, cartoning, and case packing on the production lines.

The first of these — a fully managed robotic palletizer from Formic — goes live in a few weeks. It’s designed to eliminate a long-standing pain point: employees manually stacking 50-pound boxes, often leading to injuries and inefficiencies.

“We literally hand palletize 50-pound boxes,” he said. “I can’t ask my employees to do that. We can be more efficient and level up their skills at the same time.”

When Shutts first joined the company, he realized that many of the manual tasks being done could be automated to improve both productivity and ergonomics, eliminating the potential for injury due to bending, lifting, and twisting motions.

Uncle Crumbles turned to Formic to be able to quickly deliver on new business. While Shutts said Formic’s speedy deployment, monthly contracts, and $0 CapEx were a big plus, the inclusion of full support for preventative and corrective maintenance was the cherry on top.

“With Formic, we were able to say ‘Let’s get it in here now’ and start our automation plan quickly. If our customers want something different, we have the option to change and shift quickly,” he said.

Empowering Employees with Automation

For Shutts, automation isn’t just about throughput, it’s about creating a better workplace. He’s focused on retraining and upskilling current employees to support and manage the new systems, rather than replacing them.

“We are going to get more work done, but it’s going to be easier work,” he said. “We run 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. We want the robot running nonstop.”

Formic helps train operators as part of its deployment, ensuring workers are equipped to succeed in their new roles. That, combined with more efficient workflows, means Uncle Crumbles can now say “yes” to orders it previously would have turned away due to box size, configuration, or volume capabilities.

Beyond retraining line workers, Shutts has focused on developing a stronger management pipeline. “We need more team leads. We need more managers leading,” he said. Now, he has a path for people to get there. That emphasis on upskilling has created new internal opportunities while aligning the workforce with the company’s growth trajectory.

That approach mirrors what the state of Connecticut is championing. Paul Lavoie, Connecticut’s Chief Manufacturing Officer, emphasized that this is “what every manufacturing company in Connecticut needs to consider to ensure a sustainable growth trajectory.”

“Investing in industrial innovation and automation while upskilling and reskilling the workforce is the formula for success in manufacturing, not just in Connecticut, but nationwide. As we move to grow manufacturing companies, visionary leaders like James are needed,” Lavoie said. “Congratulations to Uncle Crumbles and Formic for partnering to bring Full Service Automation to grow the business.”

Building a Foundation for the Future

The story of Uncle Crumbles isn’t just one of new equipment or a fresh logo — it’s about leadership, clarity of vision, and a willingness to challenge the way things have always been done in order to build a stronger business.

Safety incidents are down, operational scores are up, and employees are being trained into higher-paying, less physically demanding roles. Operationally, the company has also introduced new scanner systems and inventory controls, giving the team better visibility into production and fulfillment as they scale into higher-volume accounts.

“We were ahead of the game in flavor,” Shutts said. “But behind in automation.”

Now, Uncle Crumbles is building a modern, scalable business; one that blends product quality with operational agility and puts its workforce at the center of that transformation. No longer just keeping up, the company is setting the pace for what a responsive, people-first food manufacturer can look like.

“Do you want to stay a small, family-run gluten-free business, or do you want to grow?” Shutts said. “We’re choosing to grow.”

Get started on your automation journey with Formic today.