ARYZTA North America has announced it has changed its name to Aspire Bakeries in order to reflect the direction the company aims to continue to move – upwards. Following its sale to private equity firm Lindsay Goldberg earlier this year, the company is reintroducing itself with a new name while continuing to focus on growth across its three core brands: La Brea Bakery, Otis Spunkmeyer and Oakrun Farm Bakery.

“Our brands established our North American business as a leader in baked goods, as they all have strong, long-standing reputations of providing customers with delectable foods across the artisan bread and baked goods categories,” says Tyson Yu, chief executive officer of Aspire Bakeries. “Aspire Bakeries will execute a business strategy that focuses on continued innovation and growth across our beloved brands.”

Aspire Bakeries asked for suggestions from its 4,500 employees on the new name. The company received over 150 ideas, with the name Aspire coming from Alex Gillis, a bakery supervisor at the bakery in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. He said, “As we Aspire to be the best bakery in North America, what better name than aspire to represent our desire to not only achieve our goals but exceed them.”

“We’re lucky to have such hardworking, motivated and creative employees working for us across North America, some of whom have been with the company for decades,” says Christine Prociv, senior vice president of marketing, innovation and R&D. “We wanted a truly collaborative experience when it came time to create a new name, and what better way than to involve all of our associates.”

Aspire’s core brands continue to innovate in retail and foodservice. La Brea Bakery recently announced it expanded its Take & Bake portfolio to include six new flavors, available nationwide in grocery stores and on Amazon Fresh. Otis Spunkmeyer launched a hybrid version of its muffin loaves and introduced frozen edible cookie dough. Oakrun Farm Bakery, which until now has only served the Canadian markets, just introduced new flavors of Belgian Waffles (Cinnamon and Maple) at Walmart stores nationwide.

“Aspire means to ascend, to soar, and that’s what we are aiming to do for our customers and our business,” says Prociv. “We want to continue to grow so that we’re exceeding our potential to deliver high-quality baked goods to our retail and foodservice customers and to our loyal consumers who have played an integral part in our evolution.”