When "The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book" was first published in 1954, it included a recipe for "Haschich Fudge," made with black pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, coriander, dates, figs, almonds, peanuts, sugar, butter and "a bunch of canibus sativa (sic)."

Bread is the most-important category in the baking industry, but also one of the most-challenging for building appreciable growth. For the 52 weeks ending November 4, 2018, the fresh bread and rolls category grew 0.13 percent in dollar sales to $13.4 billion, per IRI, Chicago.

This month marks our first dedicated Report covering the legal cannabis edibles market that has emerged in multiple states across the U.S., and nationwide across Canada.

When combined, the grain-based snack and bakery industry in the U.S., as covered in Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery, accounts for over $100 billion in annual sales - and that's just at retail.

While developing this year's Top 50 Snack & Bakery Companies list, I dug into the story behind Quest Nutrition and its stratospheric rate of growth over the years.

Some people place such a high emphasis on quality that they hang their shingle on it, like Publican Quality Bread has in Chicago. Just bite into any of the signature artisan breads the bakery distributes to restaurants throughout the city and you'll have all the personal experience you need to define quality bread for yourself.

Optimized efficiency is a moving target. That's why terms like "continuous improvement" enter into discussions related to snack and bakery operations on a regular basis.

From a philosophical point of view, the notion of "quality" has formed a focus since the days of Aristotle. He saw quality as tied to the very nature of an object. Other thinkers through the years more prone to subjectivity brought relative