Tate’s Bake Shop Taps Mondelēz Vet for Exec Role

Tate’s Bake Shop, which has taken off in recent years after being in business since 1980, is adding another industry veteran to its c-suite. The company announced that former Mondelēz executive Cass Black will serve as chief customer officer. 

In this role, Black will accelerate what has already been a strong growth path, working with customers across the Tate’s Warehouse and Mondelēz direct store distribution (DSD) sales teams. Mondelēz International acquired Tate’s Bake Shop from founder Kathleen King in 2018 for $500 million. 

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At Mondelēz, Black was customer VP and led the strategic transformation of the DSD retail operating model for the sales team. During his career at the CPG, he held a variety of business development sales strategy positions. 

He joins a leadership team that includes newly-named Chief Marketing Officer Jessica Goon, who joined Tate’s last August from a chief growth officer job at Spring Foods. According to Tate’s, the hiring of Black and Goon is expected to fuel the brand’s momentum in the cookie category.

Already this year, the company has introduced new products, including Tiny Tate’s cookies in Chocolate Chip and Snickerdoodle varieties and two new flavors of the brand’s core crispy cookies, Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip and Snickerdoodle. 

Black will report to Tate’s CEO Esi Seng.