10 minute read
IBIE Perspectives
Advent of the Baking Influencer
From pastry chefs to viral creators, new and established names are leading baking’s influencer economy .
BY ANNIE HOLLON
With more bakery influencers sharing creations on social media, consumers are learning more about the industry and connecting to bakers directly.
Trendsetters and innovators in the baking industry have never been as accessible as they are now. The power of social media and influencer marketing is not one to be underestimated as the bakers behind the International Baking Industry Exhibition’s (IBIE) influencer program have proven. In addition to attending the Baking Expo, this select group of international bakers from a range of specialties were specifically chosen to create their own IBIE-related original content, bringing a century-old Expo into the modern day. But before there were bakers wellversed in the realm of social media — with major players like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram having taken off in just the last decade — there were bakers like Duff Goldman, renowned pastry chef and owner of Baltimore-based Charm City Cakes. He represents a generation of bakers who brought their expertise to the masses through the power of personality.
Food Network’s Ace of Cakes, a reality television series that featured Goldman and his bakery employees, provided consumers and those interested in baking and cake decorating with an inside look at the creation of baked goods, from complex orders to day-today operations with a bit of fun mixed in. Social media has blown the doors wide open for bakers big and small to do the same online.
In the advent of digital communication platforms available at the touch of a screen, influential figures like Goldman have adapted their strate-
Duff Goldman | owner | Charm City Cakes
gies and maintained their position as leaders in the baking industry by using these tools to their advantage. With the emergence of social media touching all kinds of industries, bakers can find opportunities to connect with consumers and one another as content creators and influencers.
How bakers create niches for themselves with everything from photorealistic cakes and cronuts to vending machine-dispensed cupcakes provides a unique viewpoint into the future.
“It’s a cool thing that people are coming up with, and it’s like, ‘Let’s see what’s going to be around next year,’” Goldman said.
The world of influencer marketing is vast and flourishing as social media maintains a preeminent digital presence. Whether it be on the viral video app TikTok, photo-forward Instagram or any other social media platforms dominating internet usage, social media has the power to connect audiences and creators from all over to relish in similar interests, hobbies and passions — including the baking industry.
Matthew James Duffy, a Toronto-based chef, baking professor and selfproclaimed bread fanatic, is among the select influencers partnering with the Baking Expo as part of its influencer program. More commonly known to his 300,000 followers as Sourdough Duffy, his primary platforms are TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, which serve a specific purpose and provide Duffy with different insights and opportunities.
“I have currently made TikTok my primary focus as I think it’s the best way to see organic growth and reach,” Duffy said. “It’s also a little bit more fun and less curated than Instagram.”
Combining personal content and behind-the-scenes footage of his unique bakes from his sourdough micro-bakery, Duffy has found a way to balance craft with content curation. With videos that have garnered more than 3 million views on TikTok alone, his creations — which include unique flavor varieties and inclusions such as chocolate, buckwheat, bacon, scallions, garlic and more — give his viewers a new perspective on the world of baking and sourdough in particular, which became home baking’s superstar during the pandemic.
Goldman, who has been in the baking industry since the ’80s and was a pioneer in the digital documentation of bakery life, noted a shift in how thought leadership and trends are communicated. While the comment section of social media posts certainly provides feedback, it’s a baker’s own instincts and interests that drive authentic trends.
“You’ve got to do things that make you excited and not necessarily things that you’ve already seen a million times,” Goldman said. “I think it’s cool to make stuff that you’re like, ‘Oh my god, this is delicious.’ And when you get to share that with people, and they’re like, ‘Oh man, this is really cool, I’ve never seen this before,’ I think that’s it.”
There are plenty of consumer trends online, from mirror-glaze cakes to sprinkle-filled layer cakes, but bakers like Goldman and Duffy hone their trade and content around the kinds of baked goods and flavors that interest them.
“I really don’t pay much attention to consumer trends,” Duffy said. “I’m in a fortunate position that my baking is shared with a small group of friends and family, and I can just bake whatever I want, when I want.”
Though his strongest following is on TikTok and Instagram, platforms like YouTube grant Duffy a different way to reach people. While he is currently in production for his upcoming cookbook, he plans to emphasize video content moving forward, as it serves an audience in search of answers to specific questions that he can address as a baker.
Since the pandemic lockdown drove many amateur bakers into the kitchen, Goldman took to YouTube and Instagram livestreams to bake alongside them, providing insights and advice to viewers who quickly picked up on some of the finer aspects of the craft.
“I’ve noticed that since then, the questions that I get are a lot more sophisticated. You can tell by the questions they’re asking that they’ve run into a problem because they’ve actually been
doing this,” Goldman shared. “‘Why is my bread not rising?’ ‘Why is my crumb so tight?’ ‘Why isn’t my crust crusty?’ And you can tell people are really going for it and I love that.”
As an educator, Duffy will have the opportunity to connect with answer-seeking audiences at IBIEducate, where he will present a session called, “Intro to Rye Sourdough & Freshly Milled Grains: Presented by Bread Bakers Guild of America” on Sunday, Sept. 18 at 8:30 a.m. The session will guide attendees through the development of rye sourdough and help them understand the impact of different milling properties.
“I will be taking a group of students from Centennial College to participate as volunteers and help out some of the conference presenters,” Duffy said. “I really look forward to networking and seeing some old friends. There are a lot of great companies and bakers that will be there, and it’s awesome to be a part of it.”
With IBIE bringing all kinds of influencers to the Las Vegas Convention Center, this meeting of minds can now take place in a real-life social setting. After years of social distancing and lockdowns, the event allows people from every sector of the industry to come together face-to-face.
As he enters his second IBIE show cycle — this year as a celebrity guest with AB Mauri at Booth #1832 and as part of Rockin’ Pint Night’s featured act, Foi Grock — Goldman looks forward to not only the innovations and opportunities but also a chance to see his peers and other industry members in person.
Molly Robbins, a London-based cake decorator and CEO of Molly’s Creature Creator, is also involved in the influencer program. Goldman will get to meet her face-to-face for the first time after being online friends for nearly 10 years.
“We’ve been really good friends for so long, but we’ve never actually met in person,” Goldman said. “This will be the first time, so I’m really looking forward to that.”
Influencers hold the power to connect with and educate their followers, a power that industries like cannabis can leverage to get their products into the hands of consumers.
Cannabis goods consulting firm The Vivid Team’s leaders — Jessica Cristadoro, president and CEO, and Steffen Weck, COO and Food Business Consulting president — shared that since cannabis brands can’t advertise in the traditional sense other bakeries do, influencers provide a way for brands to speak directly to consumers they’re trying to reach.
“The only way we as an industry can communicate effectively to our products’ end consumers is through influencer marketing,” Weck said.
Rather than through fiscal arrangements, cannabis companies are limited to trading product in exchange for content from influencers, Cristadoro shared. With each state having its own rules and regulations, edibles producers need to lean into modern marketing methods to connect to consumers. While influencers in cannabis range from online creators to the “budtenders” dispensing product, their impact and the feedback from their followers is direct.
Working with creators who already have an audience — and the ability to create appealing content for that audience — can be a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing.
“By engaging with different people, you don’t have to hire 15 new people,” she said. “All you have to do is work with influencers.”
At its core, IBIE is about innovation, and the inclusion of influencers provides industry leaders, artisan bakers and others interested in a new way to market their products with a glimpse into what the future of connecting with consumers could look like.
“I think we’re just in the beginning stages of the rapidly developing creator economy,” Duffy said, “and I really look forward to being a part of it.” CB
Matthew James “Sourdough” Duffy | chef, baking professor, social media influencer
© Creativefamily on Adobe Stock Beyond the Pot Brownie
Jovi Chen-Davis, founder and CEO of Munchy Co., is pioneering new territory within the cannabis industry.
BY ANNIE HOLLON
What began as a side project for Jovi Chen-Davis is now a vibrant, vegan edibles brand changing the way cannabis can be used in food. As founder and CEO of Munchy Co., she’s bringing a savory innovation to the International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE) this fall.
Cannabis edibles more commonly take the form of brownies, cookies, gummies and other sweet options, leaving savory snacks in the white space. Following hefty R&D, Chen-Davis’ experimentation to merge the snack food and cannabis industries was a success in the form of an extruded snack.
Munchy Co. is set to debut at IBIE 2022 in Las Vegas, previewing one of its three flavors — Vegan Barbecue — as a sample at Booth #7551 in the Cannabis Pavilion before the products launch in the Denver and Long Beach, CA, markets in 2023. Other flavors, which Chen-Davis expects to be received well in these first markets, include Vegan Cheddar Jalapeño and Vegan Hatch Chile Lime varieties.
For her, this sector’s great unknown was not an obstacle, but an opportunity.
“The reason why people do sweets is because there’s a charted path on how to do it, so everyone sees what works,” Chen-Davis said. “In an industry that can be kind of volatile, I guess it could be easy to do what works. But I feel that this is feasible with the right team being me.”
Though traditional cannabis edibles involve the use of fat such as cannabisinfused oil or maltodextrin cannabis blends, the powder version of maltodextrin cannabis mixes with the seasoning process of snacks to create a new kind of edible. The Vivid Team, a product and brand creation consultant in the cannabis space, has helped Chen-Davis fill a share of the cannabis market that had not yet been tapped into. She is also leading the way through the core mission of her company. After facing her own issues getting Munchy Co. off the ground, ChenDavis plans to build a social equity fund from the proceeds of her company to help other entrepreneurs of color build their businesses.
“I lost everything, and I was like, ‘This cannot happen to other people of color. I refuse to let it happen if there’s anything I can do about it,” she said.
With Munchy Co. set to officially launch in 2023, this ambitious CEO is set on paving a new path in cannabis.
“I know I’m on track with my thinking because cannabis is slowly being integrated into other types of products,” Chen-Davis said about her trailblazing path with Munchy Co. “And I feel like snack foods is the white whale — I’m going after it. It’s the next frontier.” CB
SEPT. 18-21, 2022
