麻豆影院

He says his training in economics helped him understand the market forces more fully

Let鈥檚 get this out of the way at the very start. When you ask George Kordas (Econ鈥�05) if he was destined to work in his family鈥檚 bakery business, he says with a chuckle, 鈥淚 was bread for it.鈥澨�

Then he follows up with, 鈥淪orry, that was an awful joke. Carry on.鈥澨�

Yeah, no, um, 听knead to repeat that. But it is true, Kordas was bred for it. Over the summer and after school, he logged thousands of hours snatching rolls off rapid-fire assembly lines, mixing 1,600-pound batches of gooey dough and setting up timesaving routes for delivery trucks at his family鈥檚 bakery business in Detroit, Michigan.听

鈥淚 was really proud of the family business, and I was very fortunate to have a father that never made me feel pressure to join the business, but rather allowed me to choose any path I wanted. I think in a way this made me realize the incredible opportunity that I had and not to shy away from it.鈥�

Kordas certainly didn鈥檛 shy away from it. Today, he鈥檚 president听of the听, the third-generation Kordas to run the business. His grandfather, a retired salesman at Ford Motor Company, started it in 1945鈥攐perating out of two small houses, a classic mom-and-pop shop where folks came in off the street. Eventually his听grandfather expanded with trucks delivering to restaurants and schools around southeastern Michigan.听

Today, that delivery area is bigger鈥攎uch bigger. Kordas estimates several million people eat Metropolitan鈥檚 foods on any given day across the country, including听at several national restaurant chains ranging from 30 to 1,000-plus locales.

He chalks up much of that growth to advancements in frozen distribution, namely 鈥渂last freezing,鈥� which reduces foods鈥� temperature quickly to prevent it from getting moldy or stale.听鈥淥nce thawed, the product tastes like it was fresh out of the oven that day; it truly is remarkable,鈥� he says.听听

Beyond technology, Kordas says two more ingredients for success are hard work and perseverance, which he learned from his dad and grandfather.听

鈥淭hey were among the hardest working men that I have ever met; they鈥檇 spend countless hours building this business into one of the largest wholesale baking companies in our region. They reinvested their profit to slowly automate the plant. And now it鈥檚 fully automated producing hundreds of thousands of units daily.鈥�

Kordas adds that learning how to evolve with the times helps, too. 鈥淵ou never want your business to become a proverbial dinosaur.鈥澨�

He is quick to credit his CU 麻豆影院 degree in economics, though he admits he had no idea how large the impact would be. 鈥淓conomics forces you to look in depth at how the world works and how you may be able to utilize that knowledge to lead you on a better path.鈥澨�

He explains by sharing that the bakery鈥檚 largest ingredient, flour, makes up roughly 58 percent of all his ingredients鈥� cost (he buys up to 30 million pounds of wheat鈥攎illed into flour鈥攁nnually). Pay too much, profits suffer. Oil is another factor鈥攖he higher its price, the more it cost to transport wheat and run farm equipment. Then stir in government policies, weather (droughts and floods raise wheat prices due to lower supply), changing diets, market speculation and the value of the dollar.听

鈥淭hey all have to be considered,鈥� Kordas says. 鈥淚鈥檓 not sure I鈥檇 be thinking in these terms and this depth without economics. I鈥檇 recommend that all students consider a degree in economics at CU 麻豆影院.鈥�

He also suggests students take risks.听

鈥淕o outside of your comfort zone and you鈥檒l learn an incredible amount about yourself if you aren鈥檛 afraid to try new things. You have the chance to do anything you want if you鈥檙e putting in the hard work to get there. But at this moment, take a minute to sit back and realize that being a student at CU 麻豆影院 is an awesome accomplishment. In my opinion it makes you better off than most people who have ever lived. However, I admit that I may be a bit biased.听

鈥淭here is nothing to fear. No matter where you are or what you are thinking about doing, someone has been at the start faking it 鈥榯il they make it before you,鈥� he says.

翱谤听baking听it 鈥榯il they make it.

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