Commercial Baking April | Q2 2022

ISSUE Q2 APR 2022

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INDULGENCE

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HERO LABS

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GREYSTON BAKERY’S JOE KENNER

www.commercialbaking.com

Dessert Holdings THE STEVEN CHARLES ACQUISITION ACCELERATING A SWEET PORTFOLIO

MARCH 2021 ISSUE 1

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DIGITAL EDITION

No

Preservatives

Added!

SOR-MATE

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NG

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Non GMO

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OUR COMMUNITY

QuickTakes

American Society of Baking

COMMERCIAL BAKING Paul Lattan

| digital edition

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Liz Goodwin

Commercial Baking is published by Avant Food Media, 1703 Wyandotte Street #300, Kansas City, MO 64108. Commercial Baking considers its sources reliable and verifies as much data as possible, although reporting inaccuracies can occur. Consequently, readers using this information do so at their own risk. Commercial Baking is distributed with the understanding that the publisher is not liable for errors and omissions. Although persons and companies mentioned herein are believed to be reputable, neither Avant Food Media nor any of its employees accept any responsibility whatsoever for their activities. Commercial Baking magazine is printed in the USA and all rights are reserved.

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APRIL 2022 Q2

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IN THIS ISSUE

20

36

Dessert Holdings and Steven Charles: Blue-Chip Synchronicity

Hero Labs: Bread Avengers Assemble

32

45

50

Joseph Kenner: A New Kind of ‘Yes’ Man

IBIE Perspectives: 360° Professional Development

Critical Issues: Dietary Needs

Features

PLUS: Look for QR codes that contain exclusive digital content throughout the issue.

Cover: Dessert Holdings’ acquisition of Steven Charles strengthens the company’s North American foothold for premium desserts. Read more on page 20.

Photo courtesy of Steven Charles - A Dessert Company

9

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PrH PRODUCT HANDLING

IN THIS ISSUE

Departments

77

TRENDS Category Outlook: Pies

65

Category Outlook: Bagels

71

International Market: The Dynamic European Business Model

92

I N N OVAT I O N S

92

102

Category Insight: Pies

77

Category Insight: Bagels

85

Supplier Solutions

102

Commercial Baking Channel

108

Ad Index

112

QUICK READS

11

Editor’s Note

14

Seen and Heard

17

Business Intel

99

The Last Word

114

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A N OTE FR O M TH E ED ITO R

Ready, Set ... Reset The “Great Resignation.” I get the denotative use, but honestly, anyone who couldn’t start up a bakery line or fill a customer order — or who has been 10-deep at a coffee shop being run by a one-woman show — knows there’s nothing great about this.

But what about the other word, “resignation?” It’s an easy description of this cultural phenomenon, but I contest its true accuracy. This isn’t just a mass exodus of labor; there’s something deeper at play. I believe work can be a good thing: necessary, but rewarding.

There’s an underlying equation between those two factors, and after living through a pandemic, civil unrest and now war in Eastern Europe, people can see it. They’re seeking equilibrium.

Work may be necessary, but it must also be fulfilling. People now recognize it doesn’t have to be a necessary evil. They’ve discovered a value proposition involved in employment.

Life is short. And valuable. Therefore, work must be meaningful. So, instead of filling the gap left by the Great R ­ esignation, perhaps we should see this as the opportunity to act upon a Great Transformation.

JOANIE SPENCER Editor-in-Chief | joanie@avantfoodmedia.com

APRIL 2022 Q2

On the pages ahead, you’ll meet some industry executives who have challenged the status quo, taken risks and created meaningful changes for their companies and the industry. Get ready to be inspired … and get set to reset.

14

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Seen eard H

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“Attitude will determine the altitude, and you need to be a tough-minded optimist. Going through [COVID-19] and having the team lead with courage and optimism, that made our people respond.”

Steven Williams | CEO | PepsiCo North America reflecting on leadership during SNX keynote

“While the first quarter of 2022 was very challenging, let’s not forget we have a very important year ahead of us. I don’t recall a more important Baking Expo in my entire career.”

Brad Alexander | COO | Flowers Foods ABA Convention opening remarks

“You might think it’s about shareholder profits, but consumers are not going to buy something unless they feel the brand is doing something good. Kindness is the new value system that we have to display in every possible way.”

Morgaine Gay | food futurologist | Bellwether Food Trends during keynote at BakingTECH

17

COMMERCIAL BAKING

SEEN AND HEARD

“My personal philosophy is to do less, but with the highest quality.

Because less really is more.”

Susie Sarich | founder and CEO | SusieCakes on the value of creating fewer, more premium SKUs or menu offerings during bakery trends for foodservice panel at ABA Convention

“We look at sustainability in terms of the planet, people and prosperity. Across these three pillars, we’re focused on reducing harmful emissions and meeting the guidelines of the Paris Accord. We want to continue to innovate to make baking as simple as possible and help our customers conserve resources and reduce waste.”

Nico Roesler | North American pretzel and snack equipment sales manager | Reading Bakery Systems during SNX presentation on sustainable equipment innovation

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BLUE-CHIP SYNCHRONICITY With the latest acquisition of Steven Charles, Dessert Holdings strengthens its foothold in North America.

BY JOAN IE SPEN CER

APRIL 2022 Q2

20

F E AT U R E D B A K E R Y: DESSERT HOLDINGS

In 1989, about seven years before Steven Fabos launched what would become one of the most innovative gourmet dessert providers in the country, a gentleman by the name of Paul Lapadat was just getting his feet wet in the food industry. Neither man knew the other, nor how each of their careers would someday impact not only the other’s but also the commercial baking industry.

“The mindset was to constantly innovate,” he said.

His startup team consisted of a few trusted colleagues from his corporate days, and after some cutting-edge product development for the world’s largest retailers and some supermarket private labels, they scooped up big players with a few hundred million dollars in sales, and they doubled the revenue and tripled the EBITDA — organically — in three years. In the spirit of “buy low, sell high,” Lapadat got out of the snacking game and set his sights on bakery.

For decades, the two moved on about their businesses, though thousands of miles apart, on parallel paths.

He could see that in the fragmented bakery sector, premium desserts were trending very well.

Today, Lapadat is CEO of St. Paul, MN-based Dessert Holdings, arguably the most influential umbrella of premium dessert brands in North America. It’s the parent company to The Original Cakerie, Lawler’s Foods, Atlanta Cheesecake Company and, most recently, Steven Charles – A Dessert Company, Fabos’ brainchild (with partner Charles Kosmont), now led by Rebecca O’Hara, the bakery’s president.

“The overall dessert category grows between three and five percent a year, which is considered a high-growth food category,” Lapadat said. “And premium desserts were growing much faster than that.”

The mark of an entrepreneur is the ability to see what’s not blatantly visible. And for Lapadat and his team, the writing was on the wall: Become, through acquisition and innovation, the premier premium dessert company in the industry.

Fabos and Kosmont had a vision of building a premier sweet goods company that was rooted in creativity and innovation. And for the past three years, O’Hara has spearheaded the charge of bringing that dream to fruition. She’s catapulted the bakery’s private label and foodservice businesses as global suppliers of exquisite baked goods, including portable treats for some of the world’s most prevalent QSR operators.

“We loved the tailwinds of premiumization that were driving this category,” Lapadat said. “And we saw that trend being driven by clean ingredients and people wanting to eat real food. That was really a starting point for any brand we were looking to buy.”

Meanwhile, Lapadat’s dream of building the continent’s leading dessert manufacturing company stemmed from the business acumen he acquired in the CPG and snack spaces, working for heavy hitters like General Mills, Kraft Foods and ConAgra. After giving all he could to corporate America, he longed for the entrepreneurial life. He knew that in snacks, innovation owned the day.

Dessert Holdings was formed, as a team of five, in 2015. By the end of that year, the group had acquired The Original Cakerie.

On many levels, private equity acquisitions are a more intimate affair than public M&A activity, so due diligence can be far more detailed with no stone left unturned. A perfect fit meant the right DNA in terms of culture, values, operational philosophies and, above all, product.

—Left Steven Charles - A Dessert Company is known for creating decadent portable desserts for some of the biggest QSR players.

“We always ask ourselves, ‘Are they a leader in what they do? Do they have the products and capabilities

Photo courtesy of Steven Charles

21

COMMERCIAL BAKING

DESSERT HOLDINGS

we want?’” Lapadat explained. “For us, it always starts with the products.”

sitions for all areas, including operations and R&D.

Seven months after the first acquisition, Lawler’s Desserts was next, followed

by Atlanta Cheesecake Company 18 months later.

“We built a team of experts and continued to attract top talent,” he added. “We were lucky to have The Original Cakerie as our platform company; it’s a truly special base to build off. We had well defined strategies on how to grow the business over time, and The Original Cakerie was an opportunity to bring some of the best multi-layer bar cakes in the industry and expand it more into the US.”

The pandemic period allowed Dessert Holdings to streamline operations, focus on people and service their customers at the highest levels across four bakeries operating the three brands — two of The Original Cakerie plants in Canada, along with the Houston and Atlanta facilities for Lawler’s and Atlanta Cheesecake Company, respectively.

“We put very thoughtful work into the process,” Lapadat said, noting some highly reputable consulting firms the team worked with to ensure smooth tran-

While The Original Cakerie fulfilled the retail strategy, Lawler’s broke Dessert Holdings into foodservice, allowing the company to expand its core executive team. With outstanding growth happening in cheesecake, Atlanta Cheesecake Company’s retail offerings complemented Lawler’s foodservice products.

Focus is a key strategy in the portfolio, and synergies among the brands have allowed them to ride certain tailwinds.

For instance, while the premium dessert category is growing, labor shortages are plaguing foodservice operators and supermarket perimeters. Although the baking industry isn’t exempt from the workforce crisis, providing a product that can help customers solve for labor is a tremendous value-add.

This is an area where Steven Charles has extensive expertise. So, when the opportunity came in 2021 to acquire the bakery and its two facilities, one in Denver and one in Pembroke, NC, the fit was undeniable.

“This has always been a company that we have respected,” Lapadat said of Steven Charles. “We have always felt like Photo by Liz Goodwin | Commercial Baking

Paul Lapadat, Dessert Holdings CEO, and Rebecca O’Hara, Steven Charles president, treat the partnership more like “merger” than “acquisition.”

APRIL 2022 Q2

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Photo courtesy of Steven Charles

“When we looked at the R&D process, we saw it was a perfect match because the companies go to market in the same way — with discipline but with urgency, as well.”

Paul Lapadat | CEO | Dessert Holdings

our companies were highly complementary. We fundamentally respected their entrepreneurial spirit and innovation, and the marquee customers they had acquired. The company is similar to Dessert H ­ oldings in that they were doing artisan baking at scale. We really felt like this combination would be something very powerful.”

After the Steven Charles acquisition, 3,000 employees across six production facilities throughout the US and Canada comprise the Dessert Holdings portfolio.

In a time of heightened M&A activity for bakers and suppliers, this is about more than retailers and foodservice ­o perators getting multiple products from one source.

“Our customers want to do business with suppliers that have scale,” ­L apadat said. “They need top-tier bakery

APRIL 2022 Q2

manufacturers with world-class food safety. I call it the ‘Fortune 500 CPG discipline’ across those functions.”

Dessert Holdings’ main d ­ ifferentiator is its cross-function of scalability and entrepreneurialism, partnered with the customer centricity that lives across every brand in the family. That’s important because “acquisition” could be met with trepidation if a customer erroneously assumes that scale comes at the cost of innovation.

In reality, the company’s reputation for innovation and thoughtful timing of acquisitions created respect in the marketplace so that when the purchase of Steven Charles was announced, customers didn’t really bat an eye.

“I was fully versed in all the rationale behind why they shouldn’t fear the

24

acquisition, but it never even came up,” O’Hara said. “That’s because Dessert Holdings already had a great reputation in the marketplace. The talent, the reputation, the scalability, the geographic locations, the financial backing for growth: It all resonated with every one of our customers.”

It all leads to speed of innovation.

In fact, that Fortune 500 CPG discipline makes Dessert Holdings’ speed to market about three to four times faster — and with a higher success rate — than that of the overall food industry.

The company still uses a Stage Gate innovation process with solid business propositions on the front end, but the ability to remain nimble allows Dessert Holdings’ bakeries to move through the gates much faster.

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DESSERT HOLDINGS “Our customers need us to move that quickly, so that’s where we tend to win,” Lapadat said. “And Steven Charles is a great example. When we looked at the R&D process, we saw it was a perfect match because the companies go to market in the same way — with discipline but with urgency, as well.”

seamless transition internally, where the cultures of transparency, humility, inclusivity, urgency and efficiency completely aligned. This created a sense of “merger” over “acquisition.” It also kept the Steven Charles team intact under O’Hara’s leadership, which masterfully combines ­discipline with entrepreneurialism.

The team at Dessert Holdings is an assembly of A-players, many of whom are Lapadat’s career-long colleagues since the snack food days. And Dessert Holdings’ Chris Rogers, chief financial officer; Mike Bley, chief supply chain officer; and O’Hara, have come in as the ringers. In fact, O’Hara could be considered one of the strongest assets in the Steven Charles acquisition.

“My team has this hyper resilience for keeping up with me,” O’Hara said. “I’m very committed to the leadership that we’ve built, and I never lose sight of why I’m here.

People don’t just come in; they come in and contribute.”

Caro, chief commercial officer at Steven Charles. “You have to be in it. My peers and I rumble, and that’s not always easy.

It’s about true, transparent, tough conversations that move the agenda forward.”

“Rebecca turned this business into a world-class operation, and one we wanted to buy,” Lapadat said.

The Steven Charles team is known for what O’Hara calls the “rumble” — it means fighting for what works and a willingness to let go of what doesn’t.

And it requires grit.

As leaders, Lapadat and O’Hara are not afraid to get into the weeds to ensure every aspect — from procurement to production planning to marketing — is proactively pursuing contingency plans, down to secondary or even tertiary suppliers. But with the level of growth and investment the company is making, there’s some leverage to be had, especially after Dessert Holdings was acquired in 2021 by Bain Capital, the global top-tier private equity investor.

With that financial backing and willingness to roll up their sleeves, these two are fully invested in overcoming any challenge in the name of prosperous growth for their customers.

The numerous synergies between Steven Charles and Dessert Holdings created a

“The word ‘grit’ means there are no lanes … you care about all aspects,” said Jennifer

“We have the benefit of the strong financial backing to invest for growth,

Photo by Liz Goodwin | Commercial Baking

The Steven Charles bakery runs on strategy and operational efficiency, along with technology upgrades throughout the plant.

APRIL 2022 Q2

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but it’s combined with a culture that we have ownership around each of our areas,” O’Hara said. “So then the investment becomes very personal.”

O’Hara has the proven discipline to run a high-throughput operation without much more than strategy and hard work. Now, she has the resources to invest in technology upgrades to take the business even further.

“It’s invigorating,” she said. “It’s given a whole new life to some people who may have felt they were spinning wheels without the appetite for investing to get into a go-forward plan.”

Operationally, Steven Charles is a hybrid of traditional commercial bakery manufacturing and state-of-the-art robotic technology so proprietary that it requires Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket to enter (O’Hara herself even checks in before stepping through one particular door, and no guest gains access without her approval).

Before any cakes, brownies, cookies or other desserts — in nearly every configuration imaginable — hit any area of production, the R&D team tinkers with product innovation in the 3,178-sq.-ft. culinary innovation studio, where they work with partners such as BakeMark and Agrana to develop new and interesting flavors. Every month the studio hosts “Sugar Rush” to showcase new product ideas for the exec team to sample.

Once those go into production, the bakery is a bustling 367,000-sq.-ft. metropolis running 23 hours a day, cranking out thousands of SKUs for customers throughout the country and internationally. Production planning is critical to keeping this welloiled machine running smoothly, and part of that is focusing on limitations first.

“When you overcome constraints early, efficiency naturally follows,” O’Hara said.

This enables Steven Charles to maintain a strong foothold in the premium dessert space.

“That’s a testament to the trust our customers have in us growing with them as ­partners,” O’Hara said. “They trust we’re on the right path and doing the right things.

We don’t have to ‘hunt’ for business because our reputation precedes us. We still have to earn it every day, but we come with that mindset.”

The strength that Steven Charles brings to Dessert Holdings is making waves that neither Lapadat nor Fabos could have imagined when they first started in their respective careers.

It’s blue-chip synchronicity.

“We’re focused on our customers; we’re focused on our employees and just building a great company,” Lapadat said. “There’s no doubt we’ve built something special here.” CB

APRIL 2022 Q2

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INNOVATIONS FROM THE BAKERY FLOORS Dessert Holdings allows for investment in the best technology and highest food safety standards. Each of the company’s six facilities holds the top-level certification of either SQF or BRC, depending on what standard each plant was operating to at the time of acquisition.

Below is a breakdown of each facility and innovations that can be found in all Dessert Holdings bakeries.

The Original Cakerie •

London, ON: 161,000 square feet

•

Delta, BC: 115,000 square feet

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Layered sheet cakes, bar cakes, crust brownies, inclusions

Lawler’s Desserts •

Humble, TX: 119,000 square feet

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Cheesecakes, cheesecake cubes, inclusions, layer cakes, pies, brownies, sheet cakes

Atlanta Cheesecake Company •

Kennesaw, GA: 94,000 square feet

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Cheesecakes, fusion products, slices, bars

Steven Charles — A Dessert Company •

Aurora, CO: 367,000 square feet

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Pembroke, NC: 129,000 square feet

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Decorated cookies, layer and individual cakes, cheesecakes, cake pops, singleserve desserts

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SCAN ME

A New Kind of ‘Yes’ Man Joe Kenner, Greyston president and CEO, is mapping the future of workforce retention.

BY J OAN I E S PEN C ER

Photo courtesy of Greyston

Joe Kenner’s path to social enterprise CEO looks a little like connect-the-dots.

His experience ranged from insurance underwriting and risk management for financial institutions to capital markets and pricing strategy for one of the biggest names in CPG before stepping into public service. That was the dot that connected him to Yonkers-based ­G reyston Bakery, known for its brownies sold nationwide at Whole Foods and as inclusions in Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and — perhaps more so — for its open hiring practices.

Before the social enterprise, Kenner’s transition from corporate America to public service was, quite literally, a calling when a friend who had been elected as a county executive offered him a senior advisor role in the administration serving Westchester County in New York.

That position parlayed into a role in the department of social services (DSS), where Kenner could put his personal passion for working with underserved communities into professional practice.

“I wanted to get a sense for how we were delivering services to the people of Westchester County, how effective we were and what needed to change,” he recalled.

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Joe Kenner | president and CEO | Greyston Bakery

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EXECUTIVE PROFILE: JOSEPH KENNER

Kenner had heard of Greyston, but DSS did not have a strong partnership with the organization. After meeting Kathryn Harris, a former Westchester DSS client and then Greyston employee, Kenner learned about the bakery’s open hiring and workforce development program through its parent entity, Greyston Foundation.

At Greyston, the concept of open hiring is about providing employment opportunities for anyone who might otherwise be overlooked — a concept that deeply resonates with Kenner.

Around that time, Kenner had launched the county’s Fatherhood Initiative, a program for unemployed noncustodial fathers with child support arrears so high they couldn’t pay.

“Oftentimes they couldn’t pay because they couldn’t get a job, but they couldn’t get a job because they had a barrier to employment,” Kenner recalled. “I thought, ‘How did we not know about Greyston?

This is a great resource for people we serve in the county. Why wouldn’t you hire people this way?’ And so I started my relationship with them.”

Kenner partnered with Mike Brady, Greyston Foundation’s CEO at the time, the Westchester DSS and the Fatherhood Initiative until 2017, when the foundation began searching for a VP of programs.

When he looked at the job description, Kenner saw all those “dots” from his career path connecting to lead toward Greyston.

Requiring core competencies in financial management, social services experience, connections to business and government leaders, and community service, the position was calling his name. He sat down with Brady to throw his hat in the ring.

“Mike told me about his vision to launch the Center for Open Hiring and how he wanted to take the concept globally,” Kenner recalled. “He wanted to see this model replicated in different contexts, and I knew this was the job for me.”

As VP of programs in 2018, Kenner was tasked with streamlining Greyston’s initiatives to align those far-flung programs with the open hiring mission. He wanted to focus on its hiring and workforce development, steering away from a variety of social outreach initiatives, including housing, community gardens and childcare, that the foundation had dabbled in.

“As far as I was concerned, employment was the focus,” Kenner said. “It’s what we do best, so we needed to think about how to realign our programs and the bakery operation with the mission.”

That realignment culminated in the spring of 2020 when Kenner was named president and CEO. He started executing a plan to restructure the organization and sharpen the focus on its mission of inclusive employment, including bringing the bakery and foundation under the “One Greyston” umbrella. Then the pandemic hit, rocking Greyston to its core.

“You couldn’t just get out your business school textbook on how to manage a company during a crisis,” Kenner said.

“But even as a first-time CEO, this is where I understood the value of the mission and where we wanted to go. Was I scared?

Absolutely. There was uncertainty, there was fear and anxiety. But as a leader, I had to project a stable front.”

Greyston’s organizational restructuring happened at the height of the pandemic, where Yonkers was, at one point, a major COVID hot spot. The executive team had gone from seven people to two, and the

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foundation had to partially shut down temporarily.

But the bakery was essential, and that was Kenner’s beautiful irony.

“These are people who were once deemed unemployable, and now they’re essential,” he said. “They were working at a time when 20 million of their fellow citizens were out of work. They all showed up, and it was a record year for our production.”

For Kenner, it’s a testament to the Greyston mission. The brownies, he said, are the means to what founder Bernie Glassman wanted to create.

“Greyston wasn’t founded on a product, per se,” Kenner said. “Glassman founded it on the idea of giving people hope. So, I’m constantly trying to bring people back to why this company exists: There are people who want to work but can’t. They’re blocked because of their history, whether they’re formerly incarcerated, homeless, a single parent, battling substance abuse or what have you. But they have a strong work ethic despite their barriers.”

Looking at workforce through a lens of humanity could likely be the key to solving the crisis currently plaguing the industry.

Kenner doesn’t see a “Great Resignation.”

Instead, he sees a mass reassessment.

“If COVID has taught us anything, it’s that the leadership playbook is done,” he said.

“We need something new. Where are we looking for talent, and how are we hiring them? Greyston has been doing this for 40 years. It’s not something we just thought of; we know it works.”

But for Kenner, hiring is only the first step.

What happens after a worker walks into the bakery is up to its leadership. Kenner’s goal is to move people “up” or “out.”

COMMERCIAL BAKING

EXECUTIVE PROFILE

Photo courtesy of Greyston

As a steward of Greyston, Kenner (right) creates strong connections, such as with award-winning actor Hugh Jackman.

That means by working at the bakery — or participating in Greyston’s workforce development program — a person can develop transferable skills for a promotion or employment elsewhere.

“I’m probably the only CEO that thinks it’s a good thing when people leave,” Kenner said. “We have a foundation that provides training for hard and soft skills, and we have partners who know when they get someone from Greyston, the person has been trained and they’re ready to work. It’s about inclusive hiring, but it’s also about inclusive employment.”

There’s a business case for open hiring when ROI means something more than the balance sheet. Inside the labor gap lives the underrepresented — such as people of color, disconnected youth or those with criminal records — many of whom rely on public assistance.

“That comes with a cost,” Kenner said.

“It’s financial costs for taxes and lost revenue, and it’s also a loss of productivity.

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“If COVID has taught us anything, it’s that the leadership playbook is done.

We need something new. Where are we looking for talent, and how are we hiring them? Greyston has been doing this for 40 years. It’s not something we just thought of; we know it works.”

Joe Kenner | president and CEO | Greyston Bakery

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Companies have big challenges in hiring people: If you can’t hire people, you can’t get product out the door. That’s lost tax revenue and lost economic development.

But if you just look in some of these other places, you can get a percentage of these people into the workforce.”

Just look at employment partners like The Body Shop. The company adopted the open hiring model, first at its distribution centers, then globally to its retail operations, and the turnover rate cut by two-thirds. The productivity has increased by 13%.

Since joining Greyston, Kenner has seen open hiring strengthen employee retention. The company’s turnover was just over 30% and has been on a steady decline for five years. He chalks it up to purpose-driven loyalty.

“Purpose is built into what we do,” he said.

“We don’t hire people to bake brownies.

We bake brownies to hire people. When everyone else said no, we said yes.” CB

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BREAD AVENGERS ASSEMBLE Innovation at Hero Labs is saving consumers from a life without baked goods.

BY J OAN I E S PEN C ER

Photo courtesy of Hero Labs

APRIL 2022 Q2

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F E AT U R E D C O M P A N Y: HERO LABS

A big lesson in developing alternative baked goods: Flavor is the first roadblock.

There are certain foods some people can’t have. There are others that some don’t want. In both camps, there are foods that some people just can’t live without. Then there are people like Cole Glass, founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Hero Labs, for whom avoiding certain foods is a literal life-ordeath proposition.

But thanks to Glass’ scientific discovery that launched Hero Labs, those lines can blur just a little more.

What do you get when you cross a formally trained engineer with a rare esophageal autoimmune disease and severe pollen allergy? Tens of thousands of iterations of a zero-net carb flour that’s developed without almond, coconut or cauliflower to create carb-friendly baked products every bit as delicious as their traditional counterparts.

That’s exactly what Glass did. An engineer with experience working at NASA, SpaceX, Apple and Google — but no culinary or baking experience — Glass’ lifelong, life-threatening health issues had severely limited his diet.

In a nutshell, so to speak, he can’t eat anything unprocessed that comes from a bush, tree or the ground without risking his life.

Synthesized meats derived from plantbased proteins and alternative fibers can take advantage of flavor-masking ingredients like beet juice or genetically modified soy leghemoglobin. Bread, however, can’t.

“[Mattson] told me, ‘Whatever your day job is, you need to quit and start a company because this is going to change a lot of things for a lot of people.’”

Cole Glass | founder and CEO | Hero Labs

After a childhood filled with highly processed foods and a shot at the keto lifestyle in adulthood, Glass put his engineering expertise to work in developing a new type of flour to create net carb-free baked products parallel to plant-based meat alternatives.

He used combinations of proteins, fibers, liquids, fats, leavening agents, binding agents and anything else he could secure, first from GNC and Whole Foods, then from bulk suppliers and experimental research labs.

“Those are things that can make it taste like meat, but that doesn’t really work for bread,” Glass said. “There’s no ‘magic bread dust’ that you can use to make it smell or taste like bread.”

It took about two years of crude product development — with hundreds of attempts a day — to develop allergen-friendly, zero-net carb muffins, cookies and waffles that not only tasted like the real deal but also, on a macronutrient level, were on par with most salads. The trick was identifying the right mix of plant-based protein and fiber isolates combined with those traditional ingredients such as water, fats, and yeast or chemical leaveners.

“The real work was in evaluating every protein or fiber isolated from any kind of plant, whether it was legume-based or wheat-based or things that come from corn, potatoes, rice, oats, sugar cane or flax,” Glass said. “But it’s all commonly available from plants, and it’s always about isolating that protein or fiber and then understanding how they look, taste, smell and feel on their own and how they function through the baking process.”

If it looks like the code is cracked, it must be time to validate.

Glass shared the flour prototype and samples of muffins, cookies and waffles with Mattson, the renowned Silicon

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COMMERCIAL BAKING

HERO LABS

Valley-based food R&D lab. After a few weeks of testing the flour, baking with it and sending the items to top independent nutritional labs and consumer guidance panels to substantiate the claims, the verdict was in.

Even with its extensive product development expertise in keto, Atkins, gluten-free and low net carb, Mattson was stumped: Glass had, in fact, cracked the code.

as they rang the bell on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange — Lane’s phone rang.

“I had gotten a text from Cole introducing himself and telling me that he’d produced a flour with no net carbs or sugar and half the calories of traditional flour,” Lane said.

“And he said he could make products that taste just like the original. I told him to meet me at my house the next day.”

“They told me, ‘Whatever your day job is, you need to quit and start a company because this is going to change a lot of things for a lot of people,’” Glass said.

With the concept in place and support from the top research firm, the time for financial backing was there. And the next step was finding an investor with aligning values.

“This is a story that we, as venture capitalists, like to hear,” said Ray Lane, managing partner at GreatPoint Ventures. “If what you’re doing relates to the way you grew up or something that gave you inherent passion, it’s a very good thing in the venture capital world. We want to see a founder who puts those things together because they just pour more of themselves into it.”

GreatPoint is the investor behind some of the most innovative brands, including The Fresh Factory, Good PLANeT Foods, Farmer’s Fridge and Beyond Meat in the food and beverage space, not to mention a host of technology, health and data companies. Lane himself is highly respected in the tech world, with leadership roles at giants such as Oracle and Booz Allen Hamilton.

In the GreatPoint portfolio, the brand that most notably aligns with Hero is Beyond Meat, and on the day of its IPO — just

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—Below After a successful launch with Subway, Hero is exploring more opportunities in foodservice, retail and direct-to-consumer.

All photos courtesy of Hero Labs

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HERO LABS

In terms of ratios, each Hero Labs flour is unique to the product it’s designed for.

On that day, Lane and Glass immediately negotiated the terms of the deal, right there in Lane’s kitchen.

“After the due diligence, we invested in the company very quickly, and the deal was done in a few weeks,” Lane said. “I kind of liked the way we did it because we were both so excited. It’s a dangerous way to invest, but it was about the enthusiasm, the passion and the uniqueness of his desire to build a company that can make a difference.”

“They suggested I changed the name from Hero to NFW Foods because every time they tried it, they’d say, ‘No f---ing way this is real.’”

Since then, Hero Labs has secured financial backing from names like Tom Brady, Kevin Durant and a former executive from one of the country’s most notable fast-food groups, just to name a few.

Now, it’s go time … as in go to market.

In Lane’s eyes, Hero Labs could do for baked goods what Beyond Meat did for plant-based meat: change the game. With real synergy between the two brands, Hero buns and tortillas started appearing in the Beyond Meat board room.

“We met everyone imaginable at the c-level from practically every quickserve restaurant and fast-casual chain,” Glass said. “And we started laying the foundation for eventual CPG and grocery relationships, as well. But what rose to the top was our first partnership, which was Subway.”

“We’d put the latest Beyond Burger in the bun or chicken or beef crumbles in the tortillas to make tacos,” Glass said.

Harkening back on lessons learned from the relationship with Beyond Meat, the Hero team knew how to navigate

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the potholes on the “yellow brick road” that had been paved to revolutionize the food space.

The result was a co-branded Subway launch that landed Hero Bread as an option on Subway menus in five markets. It wasn’t relegated to a “special” sandwich item; rather, it was a regular on the bread lineup.

“When you walk into Subway, the first thing you smell is the bread,” Glass said.

“It’s the first thing you think about and the first thing you choose. We wanted to allow consumers to have any of their favorite Subway sandwiches made on Hero Bread.”

With Subway as the brand’s first QSR launch, consumers took to Hero Bread almost immediately, opening even more opportunities not only in foodservice but also in retail and direct-to-consumer (DTC) markets.

HERO LABS

“Subway was the first QSR to offer a one-net-carb sandwich roll, and the feedback from consumers has been incredibly positive,” said Steve Straker, VP of R&D and commercialization for Hero Labs. “As we expand the availability of our products across various channels, including adding a DTC marketplace, there’s great opportunity awaiting when it comes to strategic partnerships with additional foodservice/QSR, grocery and retail concepts.”

Because the flour innovated by Hero Labs functions exactly like traditional flour — it’s net-carb-free but not glutenfree — the team can partner with some of the industry’s biggest co-­­m anufacturers.

From a production standpoint, the process looks nearly the same as that for traditional, carb-rich baked goods.

APRIL 2022 Q2

“The formula is easy to slide into the supply chain of any of these big partners, and that helps keep production costs down,” Glass said.

Then again, with supply chain currently under huge constraints, finding the right co-manufacturer with the time and capacity to fit Hero into the production schedule has become a new piece of the puzzle. This could likely impact what manufacturing looks like for Hero in the future, whether it’s co-investment, co-building a facility or, depending on subsequent rounds of capital, taking the whole operation in-house.

“Any of those are absolutely in the cards,” Glass predicted. “It’s just the kind of thing that requires a multi-year planning process with a lot of CapEx … and that’s

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for the pitch decks in our next funding round.”

Currently, the co-manufacturers partnering with Hero Labs are seen as an extension of the team. Creating something so close to traditional bread, yet at the same time so different, provides a commercial bakery the opportunity to truly expand its capabilities, especially when each Hero product has such pivotal differentiators.

Remember the thousands upon thousands of iterations Glass created in the beginning? The final flour he took to Mattson is very different from the one used to make Hero Bread. That’s because each flour, in terms of ratios, is unique depending on the Hero product being developed.

“What we use for the tortilla to make it stretch, pull and hold the contents of a burrito is very different from what we’d use for a burger bun to make it retain its shape and fluffiness with a nice toastable outer crust,” Glass explained.

Then there’s the Hero croissant, whose flour has a makeup all its own to create a dough that can be laminated to hold all its layers.

“We almost consider it to be like developing a library of proteins and fibers, where you know what each one does when you add it into the flour mix,” Glass said. “But then you have to know all the exponential permutations of what that does with different levels of hydration and fat in combination with the others. It becomes a giant probability math problem.”

Scaling such complex products requires more than just the right production partners. Hero Labs now employs around 25 people with a broad range of baking experience, including bakery scientists in addition to Straker, who brings 36 years of bakery expertise.

“I just had to find people with decades of experience — and much brighter minds than mine — to execute on the foundation I was able to create with my two hands,” Glass said. “I had to teach it to myself, but I couldn’t have imagined the scale at which it could have reached and where we are now.”

As a small team working with such big partners, Hero expects exponential growth for its internal human resources,

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with a plan to double the staff in the very near future.

“Bread is often seen as a key c­ omponent to human happiness, and the fact that Cole was able to reinvent foods that people love — with a significantly improved n ­ utritional profile — was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” Straker explained.

“Being offered a seat on this rocket ship has been nothing short of ­amazing since day one,” he added. “And it’s r­ewarding to know that our whole team is working every day to change the p ­ erception of what’s possible when it comes to great-tasting baked goods with better nutritional benefits. Hero will fundamentally change the way a staple of the human diet is viewed.” CB

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IBIE PERSPECTIVES

360° Professional Development IBIEducate is just the beginning for a holistic experience at Baking Expo.

BY J OAN I E S PEN C ER

All photos courtesy of IBIE

For a fully immersive baking industry education event, there’s no beating the International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE), to be held Sept. 17-21 at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). In fact, Sept. 17 is a day fully dedicated to IBIEducate, one day before the show floor opens.

“IBIE is a feature-rich tradeshow and educational experience,” said Emily Bowers, VP of education and operations for BEMA, which co-owns the show, and co-manager for IBIEducate.

“Overall, there are multiple elements of experience and numerous opportunities to network. By dedicating a full day to education prior to the show floor opening, attendees have a day for focused learning and professional development with no distractions. The competition at IBIE is really for time, so this first day of education will allow attendees that additional time once the show starts to engage with the other show features, or to map out the additional seminars and hands-on workshops that they’d like to attend later in the week.”

IBIEducate is designed to impart knowledge bakers can take back to their businesses, but it also helps attendees get in the right mindset for programming and demonstrations throughout the entire show.

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While attendees will get the full educational experience from classroom settings to hands-on workshops,

COMMERCIAL BAKING

IBIE PERSPECTIVES

the learning doesn’t stop when the IBIEducate bell rings. The program itself is designed to impart not only knowledge that can be applied to the business back home but also to the right mindset throughout the entire show.

“Education sessions are designed with skill acquisition in mind, and the knowledge you can apply to the other show features creates a truly unique professional development experience,” Bowers said.

It also creates a platform for talking points when visiting exhibitor booths.

By combining their own operational and R&D needs with the information they gain from IBIEducate, bakers are ready to have meaningful conversations with suppliers and can make informed decisions about their equipment, ingredient and service needs.

IBIE is about so much more than just touring booths and seeing equipment in action. While that’s an important aspect of the show, IBIE is a multi-­ faceted experience that can create entirely new perspectives on a baker’s business needs … and uncover solutions that might not otherwise be on the radar.

learn more about this emerging market gaining ground in the baking industry.

It will feature education, demos and thought leadership for any baker interested in breaking into cannabis-based products, which provides valuable base knowledge to keep in mind when talking to supplier partners about their capabilities in cannabis production and R&D.

“Education sessions are designed with skill acquisition in mind, and the knowledge you can apply to the other show features creates a truly unique professional development experience.”

Emily Bowers | co-manager, IBIEducate | VP of education and operations, BEMA

“There are relevant conversations planned for the exhibitor stage in the RBA Baker Center and the QuickBITES programming,” said Samantha Moore, senior director, meetings and education for the American Bakers Association (ABA), which also co-owns the show.

“One of the best ways to learn at IBIE is walking the show and engaging with the exhibitors in their booths. Each one has knowledgeable industry experts eagerly waiting to converse with attendees.”

The Tortilla Industry Association will once again co-locate its annual technical conference with IBIE Sept. 17-18 at the LVCC. The conference will address technical issues in areas such as tortilla chip production, clean label strategies, preventive maintenance on tortilla equipment, overall production troubleshooting, R&D best practices and more.

Tortilla producers will also have an opportunity to network with suppliers to make introductions and set up appointments for booth visits, where attendees can learn more about how technology advances can help with all the information gained at the conference.

ABA will also host a Cookie Cracker Workshop Sept. 17 as an additional registration offering to provide an opportunity for commercial bakers to take a deep dive into the technical aspects of cookie and cracker production. The lineup will include a presentation on the latest cookie and cracker trends, a panel discussion on oven technology, education on plant-based ingredient applications, and more.

This workshop will close with a networking reception that creates additional o pportunities for introductions and ­

New this year is the cannabis pavilion, where bakers will have the chance to

APRIL 2022 Q2

Additional programming will also be available on Sept. 17 that provides ­immersive content focused on specific industry segments.

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can also walk in with a future-focused mentality. With so much M&A activity happening in the industry, smaller brands are finding investors that can inject capital into their business, fast-tracking them to the next level.

“If a retailer walks in with a mentality that an equipment vendor could be part of the next step, they could find the supplier they’ll need for special packaging, branding, ingredients and things like that,” said Bernadette Haas, executive director of the Retail Bakers of America (RBA), education partner for IBIE. IBIE is a marquee event for retail bakers who can’t always travel for tradeshows.

It’s their chance to see the broader baking industry all at once, which can be extremely eye-opening.

IBIE is a marquee event for retail bakers who don’t always get a chance to travel, and it’s also an opportunity for larger-scale bakers to draw creative inspiration from the retail side.

follow-ups that can parlay into show floor visits the following day.

Networking mustn’t be overlooked; it’s also a key element of holistic professional development.

A plethora of scenarios can unfold in any networking environment, whether it’s idea sharing, business connections or problem solving. One area where the greatest opportunities could live is through IBIE’s Student Immersion Program. It’s designed to help the industry’s freshest entries kickstart their careers, but it also gives companies an opportunity to connect with top talent coming out of universities.

“It’s a great opportunity for exhibitors to promote their companies to future employees and potential interns,” said Pippa O’Shea, education manager for ABA and the Student Immersion

APRIL 2022 Q2

Program lead. “These are highly motivated students from universities across the US, and this is an opportunity for mentors to teach them more about the industry and career paths they may not have been exposed to at school.”

It’s important to remember that networking is not a one- or even two-way street.

Networking is multidirectional, and with so many segments of the industry — and specific disciplines inside them — attending the show, these opportunities can quickly become circular.

Baking Expo is host to the commercial and retail sides of baking, but that’s not to assume the two are mutually exclusive.

Information and inspiration can easily flow back-and-forth.

Retail bakers might feel overwhelmed when they walk onto the Expo floor and see such huge equipment lines, but they

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“They see how the larger operators are doing things and think of ways they can apply it at their shop,” Haas said. “They can walk out with tangible, feasible ideas that can be implemented ASAP.” Haas also boasted the loyalty of the retail baking community. When a retail baker can meaningfully connect with a supplier, it can lead to business down the road.

Conversely, bakers and suppliers on the commercial side have a lot to glean from artisan and craft bakers as well.

They’re often the ones at the forefront of innovation, and larger companies can find inspiration and identify cutting-edge consumer trends in areas like the Artisan Marketplace.

Education is never linear. Starting the Baking Expo experience a day early at IBIEducate on Sept. 17 is the first step to “baking in” a well-rounded professional development for the full IBIE experience. CB

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Better Food For All How baking companies are tackling different dietary needs, from slashing sugar to boosting fiber and more.

BY LIZ GOO DWI N

Photo courtesy of Maxine’s Heavenly

Robert Petrarca, co-founder of Maxine’s Heavenly, worked with his team to take a beloved family cookie recipe into the modern era of food.

Imagine a buffet of snacks, sweets and other assorted niblings laid out at the “big game” watch party or a work gathering.

Although that might make the stomach growl, for many consumers, every cookie, cracker or brownie bite presents a question: “What ingredients are in here? Does this contain dairy? Gluten? Is there sugar

APRIL 2022 Q2

that will cause an insulin spike? Should I have my Epi-pen ready?”

As consumers put an increasing amount of thought into their food, baking companies are called to do the same.

There is not only trend-driven demand but also medical necessity for reformulation that is more inclusive to those

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with food sensitivities, health conditions or even life-threatening allergies. And several bakeries are on a mission to bring better food for all to market.

The research and advocacy group Food Allergy Research and Education states that food allergens impact a staggering 32 million Americans,

CRITICAL ISSUES: D I E TA R Y N E E D S

including 5.6 million children under the age of 18. There are eight major food allergens that cause the most severe reactions in the US: milk, egg, peanut, tree nuts, wheat, soy, fish and crustacean shellfish.

Many major allergens are commonly used in baked goods, making every sandwich, granola bar, cookie or muffin packed in a lunchbox a potential hazard.

Schools remain one of the top places where cross-contamination can run rampant, increasing the need for products — especially the sweet treats that children love — to be “classroom safe.”

As indulgence remains a driver with serious purchasing power, many ­A mericans are missing out if they can’t find an option that fits their needs.

shoppers feel dismayed at the current options because they’re simply not as good as what their mom used to make.

Baking companies are trying to crack the code on how to cater to dietary needs of consumers who care more about ingredients and how they make them feel while still delivering on the taste factor.

“The idea was, if we’re already going to make it vegan, why don’t we do a real deep dive into how we can make it the cleanest possible cookie so it really can be for everyone,” Petrarca said. “It was a really organic evolution that started with vegan and then added on attributes we felt were important to us.”

Robert Petrarca, co-founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based Maxine’s Heavenly, was on the frontlines of the testing and refinement of the formula for his company’s vegan and whole ingredient cookies. He and his co-founder started with an original family recipe, laden with ingredients that weren’t vegan friendly or reflective of current consumer needs, and then adapted it. The products took off from there.

Maxine’s Heavenly’s ingredients, in addition to being vegan, focus on natural products that leave refinement by the wayside, or, as the company deems it, focus on being “sweetened by nature.”

This includes coconut sugar, coconut nectar and dates, creating a chewy and sweet cookie that nearly everyone can enjoy. Additionally, each ingredient packs a hidden nutritional punch such as fiber or magnesium.

Several baking companies are delivering delicious, allergen-friendly products that don’t compromise on flavor. Austin, TX-based Better Bites Bakery makes cookie dough bites, cupcakes and more without any of the top eight allergens, using starch-based egg replacers and rice flour to replicate that signature texture. Partake, a New York, NY-based rising star on the allergen-friendly baking scene, also makes its cookies and baking mixes without any of the top eight allergens, utilizing healthier ingredients such as oat flour, buckwheat and flax seed. As national retailers pick up more allergen-friendly options, it’s clear that commercial bakeries are shifting to give consumers impacted by allergies an opportunity to enjoy without worry.

Photo courtesy of Banza

In addition to being allergen-conscious, many consumers must cut out animal products due to dietary conditions such as food sensitivities. Whether people are vegan by choice or necessity, the demand for these types of products is growing stronger. However, many

Banza has catapulted the chickpea to new heights with its fiber and protein-rich pizzas and pastas.

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D I E TA R Y N E E D S

“Sweetened by nature is really what I think the future of baking should look like,” Petrarca said. “Some sugars that are commonly used in baked goods have been stripped of things like fiber and other elements that help the body absorb the sugar more slowly, which can cause a sugar rush and then crash. You can’t make sweets without sugar, so it’s not about ditching that. It’s about making it better.”

Photo courtesy of Maxine’s Heavenly

The total dietary intake of fiber from food should be about 25 to 30 grams a day, but most Americans only get about 15, according to research from the University of California San Francisco.

People need fiber to help control blood sugar levels, manage cholesterol and regulate GI health among other anatomical functions. This presents a big opportunity for bakers to choose ingredients and sweeteners that allow Americans to meet their nutrient needs.

Maxine’s Heavenly uses natural sweeteners in its cookies such as coconut sugar and dates.

Beans, whole grains, nuts, berries and even brown rice are good sources of fiber, and the inclusion of these ingredients in bakery products can help attract the dollars of consumers who need to up their fiber intake. Banza, the food company known for its chickpea products including pasta and pizza, is cashing in on the mighty legume to boost its products’ protein and fiber content. This gives them a health halo while filling in the fiber gaps for many consumers who crave a crispy and cheesy slice every now and then. In fact, Banza’s pizza has nearly three times the fiber content of an average frozen pizza.

“From a human health standpoint, chickpeas are high in protein and fiber, full of vitamins and minerals, and are proven to lower cardiovascular disease and risk of diabetes. “

“We chose to use chickpeas as the primary ingredient in our products because they help make products with similar taste and texture to wheat and have many great health benefits,” said Leigh Hamp, VP of product at Banza.

Reducing the amount of added sugar in the American diet is not only of interest to the government but also to consumers, especially as people pay more attention to how food impacts their overall health post-pandemic.

APRIL 2022 Q2

Another key dietary need on the bakery industry’s mind — and the overall food industry — is reducing added sugar. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that from 2017 to 2018, the average sugar intake for adults aged 20 or older was 17 teaspoons a day. That’s nearly 50% more than the recommended amount.

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“We now have a collective mindfulness about what the impact of what we eat is having on us physically, and it’s like a seismic shift.”

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The Dietary Guidelines for A ­ mericans 2020-2025 report said that sugar-­ sweetened beverages are ­ highest for contributing to average added sugar intake, making up 24%, but desserts and sweets are not far behind at 19%.

The Alliance to Control Excessive Sugar (ACES) is on a mission to get beverage and sweet treat brands to reduce their sugar levels. The organization and its member companies had removed 34 million pounds of sugar from the American diet as of late January and has its sights set to remove 157 million more in the coming years. The Alliance includes several popular sweets and beverage companies and has a “passport” available to consumers with special ­ coupons and discounts to help them save on their healthy choices.

“Retailers that are focused on betterfor-you with intent as opposed to just the image are looking for that,” Ens said.

“Sophisticated [consumers] are looking for sweeteners [that don’t] jack up your glucose levels like sugar does. I think as long as you are coming to retailers with natural solutions and clean ingredients, there’s a pretty strong receptivity to it.”

That’s why smart sourcing of carbohydrates and sugars is not only meeting consumers’ dietary needs but also helping companies gain a loyal following for the quality and taste of their products.

“Fifty-one percent of consumers are trying to avoid sugar, so we didn’t have to create the demand because the demand is there,” he said. “The shift toward more awareness is always going to be consumer-driven, although I do think the government has been thinking about it as well. But it’s really about when a consumer personally experiences the benefit of driving sugar out and focusing on naturally occurring sweeteners that help keep glucose levels in check.”

Highly processed grains and sugars have a higher glycemic index, which can cause spikes in blood sugar, according to the Harvard School of Public

APRIL 2022 Q2

“The baking industry is going to rely on flour and sugar because those are the core ingredients,” Petrarca said.

“For us, it’s still a cookie. We don’t want to get rid of cookies. People like to broadly cut [ingredients] categorically, and I think that’s short-sighted and unrealistic. It’s all about finding that next phase.”

As more commercial bakeries join Petrarca on finding the next phase of ingredients, it’s clear that consumers are becoming more enchanted with the industry’s journey toward creating better food for all. The demand for more ­allergen-friendly, food ­sensitivity-friendly, low-sugar and high-fiber foods just keeps growing.

“We’ve been really fortunate that some of our major customers like Target and Costco are in front of this, so we didn’t have to spend a lot of time pitching it,” Ens said. “We now have a collective mindfulness about what the impact of what we eat is having on us physically, and it’s like a seismic shift.” CB

Photo courtesy of HighKey

One of ACES’ member companies is Orlando, FL-based HighKey, a low-sugar and better-for-you cookie, cracker and treat brand. Joe Ens, HighKey’s CEO, brought his extensive experience in the food industry to help the brand grow, but he said it was really the consumers who were leading the charge.

Health. This is not only what causes a sugar rush and crash but also what can contribute to increased risk for heart disease and more medical conditions.

Including whole grains or sweeteners that retain their fiber content can help prevent these spikes, letting consumers indulge without so many negative aftereffects. And as more consumers pay attention to these factors, retailers are increasing the number of products that fit this bill on their shelves.

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Pieces of the Puzzle When developing indulgent products, is it possible to deliver what consumers want and need?

BY J OAN I E S PEN C ER

American food trends have been focused health-andwellness for quite some time, ever since obesity in the US was declared an epidemic in the late ‘90s. Today, as the COVID-19 pandemic enters its third year, American consumers are living in a dichotomy between health and comfort, often seeing indulgence through a different lens.

Once considered an “either/or” proposition, eating habits are now thought of more like a puzzle, where healthy and indulgent each have a specific fit.

“Consumers are recognizing that what they’re trying to achieve is a sustainable way of feeling well,” said Shelley Balanko, PhD., senior VP at the Hartman Group, a research firm focused on food and beverage consumer trends.

“When the pendulum swings to either extreme, it really doesn’t leave anyone feeling well. Too much restriction is unsettling — for its own reasons — and too much indulgence is unsettling. So, trying to achieve more of an equilibrium is the desired path for most consumers.”

—Left Product innovation for indulgent baked goods usually starts with the ingredient choices.

Photo courtesy of Killer Brownie Co.

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P R O D U C T D E V E L O P M E N T: I N D U LG EN C E

In fact, NielsenIQ research revealed that almost a third (31%) of Americans said they have a totally different set of priorities than they did in 2019, and those priorities will significantly impact their buying decisions. In NielsenIQ’s Global Consumer Outlook report for 2022, 63% of consumers said physical wellness will be important to them over the next 12 months. And 65% of the respondents said the same thing about mental wellness.

Hartman Group research sees this playing out in food choices and how those puzzle pieces all fit together.

“As we become a health-andwellness culture, the thought around indulgences is that they’re an integral part of a balanced lifestyle,” Dr. Balanko said. “People have really embraced that notion of balance, and they’re thinking about health-and-wellness more holistically than ever before. The pandemic really solidified this notion that physical well-being is just as important as mental well-being, and those two sides can affect each other to a certain degree.”

Oftentimes, the word “diet” gives way to “lifestyle,” and that provides room for consumers to dig into a treat every now and then. And as people give themselves permission to indulge, they can be more discerning on what they consider to be worth it. For bakers producing decadent sweet goods, this becomes a key consideration in product development.

The first step is identifying the goals and strategies for a product or brand’s primary demographic. When it comes to eating well, what’s considered a worthy indulgence primarily depends on the camp in which its consumers

fall. Are they looking for a healthy indulgence with the right credentials?

Are they seeking nostalgia? Or is it a full-fledged extravagance that goes all-in?

As nostalgia leverages itself for justifiable indulgence, Northampton, PA-based Creative Crispies has turned a beloved homemade treat into a nextlevel consumer experience.

The bakery creates upscale Rice Crispie Treats in just about any shape imaginable, from balloons to clowns to donut and cupcake shapes, topped with icing, sprinkles or even messages written in edible screen printing. The Crispies are sold mainly through QVC, in boutique retail outlets, hotel and hospital gift shops, or direct-toconsumer on the company’s website.

“It’s a straight-up indulgence,” said Amy Kirby, Creative Crispies founder and CEO. Because people have different, very personalized ways of indulging, Dr. Balanko noted that even those consumers most committed to a healthy lifestyle still want to indulge.

It will just look quite different from the person on the periphery who hits the cookie jar or dessert bar more often.

occasion,” Dr. Balanko said. “But it might happen once every five years.

More and more, there are everyday or weekly indulgences that focus on premium ingredients and premium production practices.”

This is a huge area of focus for Miamisburg, OH-based Killer Brownie Co., which unapologetically produces some of the most extravagant brownies on the market with varieties like Triple Chocolate, marketed “for the serious chocolate lovers,” made with a layer of caramel sprinkled with chocolate chips and finished with more chocolate chips.

For Killer Brownie consumers, it’s not just an experience; it’s also a worthy one. And at the bakery, the conversation usually starts with the ingredients.

“We want consumers to come to us for a great indulgent overall experience,” said Chimene Ross, Killer Brownie president and chief customer officer.

“That means adding unique ingredients that also hit the target for our brand.

When we look at creating a product, we never skimp on ingredients.”

Ingredients are the primary factor for Creative Crispies as well. After much trial and error, Kirby has discovered nothing beats the real deal.

It’s all relative.

For example, one person may be more likely to regularly partake in an exotic treat with dark chocolate or goji berry not necessarily high on the sugars, and another might give in and sneak a Twinkie from the kids’ lunchbox stash every once in a while.

“We only use real ingredients, like real butter and sea salt,” Kirby said.

“And we only use Kellogg’s Rice Krispies. There’s a distinct difference in the texture of the product. I’ve tried to use generic or gluten-free cereal, but it just doesn’t create the same consistency.”

“That core health-and-wellness consumer might have a Twinkie on

For Kirby, that’s what leads to an “in the moment” type of experience.

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I N D U LG EN C E

63%

of consumers said physical wellness will be important to them over the next 12 months.

65%

said the same thing about mental wellness.

“This isn’t something someone would buy to put in their kid’s lunchbox,” she said, noting that gift-giving and events are a primary purchase driver for the product. “We get a lot of orders for birthdays and baby showers. Shapes like bears are very popular because they’re so versatile and can be applied to different types of occasions.”

With shapes like bunnies, parents can offer their kids that memorable experience of biting the ear off the Easter Bunny with a product that’s not only nostalgic from their own childhood but also a lighter alternative to a solid chocolate version.

Some ingredients like butter and sugar go in and out of fashion, depending on what direction the wind blows to sway the court of public opinion. Although sugar is vilified by many consumers,

Photo courtesy of Eli’s Cheesecake Co.

Cheesecake is experiencing tremendous growth, especially for the in-store bakery.

APRIL 2022 Q2

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when it’s on the ingredient list of an indulgent baked good, it fares better than some of the alternatives.

“Consumers think about sugar in different ways,” Dr. Balanko said. “For some, it’s just evil, and they try to avoid it at all costs. Others feel that it’s part of their daily life, and they’re just trying to be more mindful and intentional about when they have it. And then others see sugar as an elevated ingredient, and they’re looking for really high-quality sugar at those times when they’re ready to indulge.”

And while artificial sweeteners can be less desirable than sugar, natural and sustainable replacements like maple syrup or honey are seen as viable options on the ingredient list.

Similarly, butter has seen its share of ups and downs with consumer preferences. But as more people put real ingredients in the “permissible indulgence” column, products like croissants used with real butter are gaining popularity.

Creating an experience — and an unforgettable one at that — means the R&D has to be innovative. For decadent baked goods like brownies, that innovation often starts at the retail bakery level, where small operators are nimble enough to really go for extreme impact. Killer Brownie can take inspiration from that while considering how to realistically produce an impactful innovation at scale.

“We have some proprietary processes that help us take the experience you’d typically only expect in a small bakery and scale it to a national program,” Ross said. “We look first at all the ingredients and ask ourselves

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if we can fit it into our processes to scale it, and we also look at how that product will help our partnerships with current customers, so they’ll be able to expand it. Is it something that their customers will get excited about?

Ultimately, we want to create a product that makes our customers — retailers and bakeries — look great. We want the end consumer to get excited about coming into that location to buy the product.”

across dayparts and different eating occasions as well.

Data from NielsenIQ indicated that brownies are in fact generating that excitement in the perimeter, with the category seeing 18.5% sales growth as of Jan. 1, 2022, a significant spike from the flat sales the year before.

“We’re seeing the perimeter, with bakery items, is really skyrocketing,” said Heather Prach, director of education for the International DairyDeli-Bakery Association. “We’re seeing year-over-year that those numbers

That’s becoming visible in areas such as in-store bakeries, which are seeing marked growth as pandemic-related restrictions have significantly eased.

NielsenIQ’s January 2022 data showed that the overall bakery perimeter dollar sales were up 14% from a year ago, with sweet goods seeing an almost 28% increase and desserts with 14% growth.

are increasing. And with indulgence, we’re also seeing it in interesting places like croissants.”

Prach attributes that to creating upscaled versions of everyday items that so many Americans relied on throughout the eating at home that took place during COVID-19 lockdowns.

“If you go to a retailer today, they have expanded their shelf set to include more premium items,” said Paul Lapadat, CEO of Madison, WI-based Dessert Holdings. “That’s what consumers are looking for; they want really good food. If they’re going to indulge, they want to make sure that experience is a great one.”

Killer Brownie usually looks about 12 to 24 months ahead, based on industry trends and what the team calls a “product scorecard,” which looks at all the impacts of a new product.

But knowing what will get those consumers excited relies heavily on industry trends and forecasting, which is much more challenging these days given all the market volatility. For example, developing products that call for unique or exotic ingredients isn’t as feasible as it might have been two or three years ago before the supply chain was in a state of disarray.

Indulgence is a somewhat complex proposition that involves more than just consumer food choices. It is spreading

APRIL 2022 Q2

Photo courtesy of Creative Crispies

“In this current environment, we have to be more careful about developing a product with an obscure ingredient,” Ross said. “Typically, we love that kind of development, but we have to be more careful given the environment we’re living in right now.”

Nostalgia is a powerful driver for choosing an indulgent treat, such as an upscale twist on a classic.

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I N D U LG EN C E

Product sizes can link portability and portion control in with permissiveness.

Steven Charles – A Dessert Company, part of the Dessert Holdings portfolio of brands, specializes in high-end dessert products, including single-serve and portable, for retail and foodservice.

Dessert Holdings’ recent acquisition of Steven Charles added individual sizing options to the Dessert Holdings family, which also includes The Original Cakerie, Lawler Foods and Atlanta Cheesecake Company.

“These are worthwhile opportunities for consumers to reward themselves,” said Rebecca O’Hara, president of Steven Charles. “It’s the right size to indulge, it’s nostalgic, it’s flavor.”

This is also evident with the popularity of cheesecake (a big offering in the Dessert Holdings portfolio), which Prach noted a consumer preference for as well.

“Cheesecake is going wild these days,” Prach said. “People can put it out at a party, and the number of flavors are showing up in assortments.”

Chicago-based Eli’s Cheesecake has tapped into consumers’ love for cheesecake by offering its product in a variety of formats ranging from traditional cheesecake that’s sold in classic flavors, samplers or “build your own,” to portable items like cheesecake Dippers and Cuties.

Cheesecake, and Chocolate-enrobed Dippers, we offer elevated comfort food with clean a clean label in mind.”

“We look first at all the ingredients and ask ourselves if we can fit it into our processes to scale it, and we also look at how that product will help our partnerships with current customers so they’ll be able to expand it.”

Chimene Ross | president and CCO | Killer Brownie Co.

“Consumers want to treat themselves with an indulgent dessert, and cheesecake is the ultimate,” said Debbie Marchok, VP of marketing for Eli’s. “With more than 40 flavors, like Turtle Cheesecake, Basque

APRIL 2022 Q2

And as more consumers indulge at home and take on more challenges in the kitchen, Eli’s also sells cheesecake DIY kits direct to consumers with Valentine’s Day dipper kits and even a DIY wedding cheesecake that can serve up to 40 people.

Although retail sales for this indulgent dessert saw more than $481 million in 2020 and jumped by more than $100 million for 2021, according to IRI data, the thing about cheesecake is that it’s not necessarily a hub for innovation, especially with supply chain disruption impacting ingredient availability. Much of the draw — for consumers and producers — lies in its comfort.

“We aren’t seeing brokers or manufacturers come to the table with a lot of innovation,” Prach said, “because we’re almost in a survival mode. We’re seeing SKUs pare down, and we’re getting back to basics.”

Food culture has had some obvious influences over the past two years, but for the past few decades, it’s looked like a decoupage of nutrition obsession and epidemic obesity.

With more culinary self-awareness than at any other point in history, Americans may be ready to fit the puzzle pieces together so that health and indulgence could, conceivably, peacefully coexist.

“People aren’t afraid to indulge anymore,” Prach said. “It may not be an everyday eat, but if they’re going to go for it, they’re going all-in.” CB

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C AT E G O R Y O U T L O O K : P I E S

A slice of perseverance Total Pies

By Dollar Share

People

are

passionate

about

pie.

In fact, Datassential’s food and beverage insights found 78% of consumers said they love or like pie. The $2 billion category across shelf stable and frozen is one fortified not just by crust but also by strong emotions of nostalgia and comfort.

FROZEN: 28%

PERIMETER: 53%

CENTER STORE: 19%

Enhanced by tradition and longevity, pie is a product that over-indexes with baby boomers and retirees and under-­ indexes with millennials. However, relative to perimeter desserts in the cake and cookie categories ($5 billion and $2.2 billion in current sales, respectively), perimeter pies underperform in comparison ($1.1 billion current sales).

Long known as a dessert to be shared, pie is synonymous with celebrations and coming together to enjoy favorites such as apple, cherry, pecan and pumpkin, which receives an extra boost from the ever-lengthening ­p umpkin spice latte season. Consumed outside the home, pie is the third-most common dessert offered on restaurant menus, according to Datassential.

Source: IRI Total US - Multi Outlet w/ C-Store Latest 52 weeks ending Jan. 23, 2022

By the numbers, pies are ­ e njoying scattered growth in some sectors

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and seeing declines in others. Current sales of perimeter pies are $1.1 billion, a 5.5% dollar change vs. one year ago and a 5.6% change vs. two years ago. Center store pie sales account for $397.4 million, a 2.3% change vs. one year ago and a 16.1% change vs. two years ago. Current sales of frozen pie/pastry shells are $739.8 million, a 0.8% dip vs. a year ago, slowing a bit from the solid growth two years ago, which was an 11.3% change when stock-up shopping hit record levels.

Perimeter sales account for 50% of dollars, followed by frozen at 30% and snack-size pies at less than 8% in the category, which is a double digit decline from two years ago. The frozen category is lagging compared to the perimeter – up 1.9% vs. 5%.

Pie, like many other categories in the perimeter bakery, took a considerable hit during the pandemic. Department closures, low staffing levels and canceled celebrations quieted pie sales in the perimeter. Driven by a stocking-up mentality and an increased desire for indulgence, consumers looked for an alternative fix in frozen and center store.

By 2021, people were coming back to the store ready to partake in the fresh desserts from the perimeter bakery, with pies up 5% and holding steady. Frozen, on the other hand, has not sustained growth beyond the unique circumstances of 2020.

However, when it comes to online sales, frozen holds the potential to shine. ­ E-­ c ommerce is driving omnichannel growth in frozen pies, up 12%, a statistic in line with digital growth for food and beverage.

DOLLAR SALES ($ IN MILLIONS)

% CHANGE VS. A YEAR AGO

WHOLE PIES

$791.30

3.8%

ALL OTHER PIES

$143.14

7.2%

TARTS

$96.01

30.8%

INDIVIDUAL/ SNACK PIES

$83.67

-3.3%

DOLLAR SALES ($ IN MILLIONS)

% CHANGE VS. A YEAR AGO

$386.72

1.2%

TARTS

$6.04

606.5%

WHOLE PIES

$4.66

-17.3%

PERIMETER PIES

CENTER STORE PIES

INDIVIDUAL/ SNACK PIES

Source: IRI Total US - Multi Outlet w/ C-Store Latest 52 weeks ending Jan. 23, 2022

While 80% of dollars in the perimeter category are in store brand/private label, branded products also are making their

APRIL 2022 Q2

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C AT E G O R Y O U T L O O K : P I E S

Top Pie Flavors

by Dollar Sales Source: IRI | Total US - Multi Outlet w/ C-Store Latest 52 weeks ending Jan. 23, 2022

mark. Kansas City, KS-based Tippins Gourmet Pies leads the branded pie category with $9.3 million in fruit, vegetable and nut pie sales. This is a $585,415 bump from the brand’s sales a year ago.

Although some dessert categories are showing growth in smaller and snack-sized serving options, the pie category is generally not one of them.

In frozen, multi-serve is driving most of the sales in the category at roughly 84%. However, single serve is seeing more of the category growth, up 12%.

In the perimeter, snack-size pies make up less than 8% of the category and have seen a 3% decline. This is also down by double digits vs. two years ago. In the center store aisles, however, snack pies are growing slightly, up 1%.

For most consumers, an indulgent pie is still preferable to a healthy one, making sugar reduction a minor point of consideration for consumers. In this very small SKU, frozen pies have about $50,000 in sales in a $600 million category. No-sugar pies recorded slightly more than $340,000 in sales and a $1,000 sales change from one year ago.

The categories of no sugar, no sugar added and no added sweetener saw double-digit declines in 2021 after slight

APRIL 2022 Q2

1 Apple $ 6 7. 3 8 M I L L I O N 2 Pumpkin $64.49 MILLION 3 Nut $32.29 MILLION Vegetable 4 Other $16.96 MILLION

growth in 2020. Crossover products are also making minimal impact, providing limited size and form disruption to the frozen pie category. Cobblers and crisps are sizeable in the frozen category, but they are seeing declining sales.

Accepted by consumers as a triedand-true category, pie manufacturers may find their hands tied when it comes to exploring new flavors and innovation. This is shown through new items that account for only 15% of sales in the perimeter, according to IRI. In 2020, innovation contributed to a slightly larger portion of sales, and the top flavors of the year were apple (toffee apple streusel), pumpkin and cherry. The 2021 top flavors were strawberry, apple and lime.

The frozen category has also d emonstrated limited innovation over ­ the past four years, with only 5.6% of the category dollars coming from new items. The less fruit-forward, more indulgent top flavors for new products in the frozen category included caramel, chocolate brownie cream, lemon and confetti birthday cake.

“People want the standards, and they also have their favorites,” said Melissa Attobelli, principal, strategic solutions group for IRI. “Lack of innovation in the

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category could be because consumers tend to return to their traditional favorites rather than seeking out something new.”

Then again, offering something that’s more innovative could be a way to ­accommodate consumers with a variety of dietary restrictions as well as highlight seasonality and holiday collaborations with local providers.

Others might argue that consumers who are looking to purchase unique pies and crossover products such as galettes, hand and slab pies, and cobblers are more likely to seek out an independent specialty pie shop rather than go to their local grocery provider. These are also the types of products that consumers are more apt to pay a premium for if the pie is made with unique or upscale ­ingredients or one that is marketed as a limitedtime offer.

“New flavors and forms of desserts, other than pies, are threats to the category as there’s been limited ­ innovation in the space over the past four years,” ­Attobelli concluded. “However, the category growth remains steady and ­c onsistent from a core offering and seasonal perspective, so expect the category to continue to maintain, if not continue to steadily build.” CB

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C AT E G O R Y O U T L O O K : B A G E L S

A little bit of ‘everything’ DOLLAR SALES ($ IN MILLIONS)

SALES CHANGE VS. A YEAR AGO ($ IN MILLIONS)

THOMAS’

$766.14

$25.5

PEPPERIDGE FARM

$25.72

$5.2

TOP BAGEL BRANDS

ACE BAKERY

$3.05

$2.5

AUNT MILLIE’S

$5.65

$2.2

In January, GrubHub released data on the most popular bagels in NYC based on what New Yorkers ordered from its service in 2021. Not surprisingly, the research failed to find agreement among New York bagel eaters when it came to determining the city’s top flavors.

But one thing was certain: There is a fiery passion for bagels everywhere.

Source: IRI | Total US - Multi Outlet w/ C-Store Latest 52 weeks ending Jan. 23, 2022

Total US sales for center store bagels were

$1.3 billion

and

$246.6 million

for perimeter bagels.

Source: IRI | Total US - Multi Outlet w/ C-Store Latest 52 weeks ending Jan. 23, 2022

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Bagels are a bakery product with the potential to elicit strong opinions, particularly from people in the Northeast part of the US. In an area of the country where finding a great bagel is a badge of honor, the quest to find the best never ends. And there’s a good chance even raw data on the subject won’t provide a satisfactory answer.

According to data from Google Maps, the top bagel-loving states are, not surprisingly, New York and New Jersey and — wait for it — Colorado. This information was based on orders for bagels from retail and independent bagel shops, but in wholesale, IRI research shows the strongest growth for bagels is concentrated in Texas, Florida, Alabama, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Georgia.

Center store bagels are growing across regions except in the Northeast, where perimeter bagels are overdeveloped.

Conversely, the perimeter is seeing

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C AT E G O R Y O U T L O O K : B A G E L S

DOLLAR SALES ($ IN MILLIONS)

% CHANGE VS. A YEAR AGO

% CHANGE VS. 2 YEARS AGO

$16,051.73

-1.2%

12.6%

CENTER STORE BAGELS

$1,260.44

4.3%

29.8%

PERIMETER BAGELS

$246.58

12.1%

1.2%

$36.40

-4.6%

9.1%

CENTER STORE BREADS AND ROLLS

FROZEN BAGELS Source: IRI | Total US - Multi Outlet w/ C-Store Latest 52 weeks ending Jan. 23, 2022

strong growth across regions, with the slowest in the Plains region at 2.3%.

freshness and variety of bagels that can be found in the perimeter.

and beyond. For some, the answer to this dilemma lies with the mini bagel.

Bagels have also been outperforming other center store bread and roll categories such as breads, muffins, flatbreads and pitas. Total US sales for center store bagels were $1.3 billion and $246.6 million for perimeter bagels.

The bagel remains a trusted go-to for breakfast and brunch, and at-home consumption remains high as many consumers continue with work and school from home. That said, despite its popularity, the category is also known for being somewhat of a one-trick pony. Unlike sliced bread, flatbread or tortillas, which are easily interchangeable, bagels offer a distinctive consistency — thick and chewy — and they also benefit from toasting, which limits on-the-go consumption.

The mini sector only does approximately $100 million in sales. However, minis bagels’ growth rate is slightly higher than the growth rate of center store bagels as a whole, up 6% compared to 4.3%. respectively.

While mini bagels can offer consumers an alternative to eliminate some of the bulk and calories, they may not meet the needs of someone in search of a traditional bagel, cautioned Melissa Attobelli, principal, strategic solutions group, IRI International.

However, those less-dense bagel thins could help the category better compete with the growing popularity of versatile flatbreads.

Center store mini bagels from Norwalk, CT-based Pepperidge Farm, a Campbell Soup Company brand, make up the majority of its bagel portfolio with mini ­varieties of whole wheat, plain and brown sugar cinnamon. The company also makes several traditional-sized options such as Plain, Cinnamon Raisin and Everything bagels.

From a growth rate perspective, perimeter bagel dollar sales are up 12.1% from a year ago, but center store is also showing decent growth with a 4.3% increase in dollar sales. Center store unit sales remain flat with growth driven by price increases, while perimeter units show strong growth similar to its dollar sales. Like other ­p erimeter bakery items, the bagel category is still working to regain ground lost to center store during the pandemic.

Refrigerated and frozen bagels are also seeing declines, perhaps because many consumers a­re choosing the

APRIL 2022 Q2

Because of its thick, chewy texture, the bagel is also less likely to become a stand-in for sandwiches, pizza or accompaniments for dips like hummus

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C AT E G O R Y O U T L O O K : B A G E L S

Horsham, PA-based Thomas’ Breads, owned by Bimbo Bakeries USA, recently introduced Chocolatey Chip mini bagels and regular size Apple Cinnamon bagels. The new products joined a lineup of regular, mini, thins and a seasonal pumpkin spice bagels. Fort Wayne, IN-based Aunt Millie’s offers traditional-sized bagels in plain, cinnamon raisin, everything and more varieties.

Simple and traditional, bagels are typically are “what you see is what you get.” But the bread’s classic roots don’t preclude the delicious addition of healthy inclusions. IRI shared that the category is demonstrating growth in products with health-and-wellness claims including non-GMO, organic, no high fructose corn syrup, gluten-free and low-­c alorie, usually in the 101-199 calorie range.

The category’s top health-and-­ wellness claims are kosher, doing $1.2 billion in sales; sweetener-free at $184.0 million in sales; no high fructose corn syrup at $182.1 million in sales; organic at $104.6 million in sales and low-calorie at $57.6 million in sales.

Dave’s Killer Bread, a Flowers Foods brand, is proving to be a standout player in the category. The company’s high-protein organic bagels have no high fructose corn syrup and are made with a grain blend of quinoa, spelt, rye, millet and barley. Available in Epic Everything, Plain Awesome, Cinnamon Raisin Remix and Boomin’ Berry varieties, the products garner public attention with consumers making TikTok videos bemoaning supply chain disruptions that have left the product missing from grocery shelves for months.

With better-for-you being a perennial trend, bagels featuring i­ ngredients that are lower in carbs, gluten-free or

APRIL 2022 Q2

Top Health-andWellness Claims 1

Kosher

2

Sweetener Free

3

No High-Fructose Corn Syrup

4

USDA Organic

5

101-199 Calories

$ 1 .1 7 B I L L I O N I N S A L E S

$184 MILLION IN SALES

$182 MILLION IN SALES

$105 MILLION IN SALES

$58 MILLION IN SALES

Source: IRI | Total US - Multi Outlet w/ C-Store Latest 52 weeks ending Jan. 23, 2022

veggie-based can become standouts in the category, Attobelli advised.

One player building on a base of simple, natural ingredients is Ace Bakery, a brand of Etobicoke, ON-based Weston Foods, which was acquired by FGF Brands in 2021.

Despite the extensive variety of inclusions that can be added to a neutral base, few are taking advantage of the power of the limited-time offering, something that could be an opportunity for manufacturers in the category, according to Attobelli. One exception to this rule is Thomas’, who offers a seasonal pumpkin spice variety.

Attobelli also highlighted a Taki-

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flavored bagel, made with the popular spicy Takis rolled tortilla chips from the Grupo Bimbo brand Barcel USA. The hot and spicy combo is on-trend and one tactic that could capture the attention of younger generations. Bagel spin-offs, minus the bagel, are also making an impact throughout multiple categories, with everything bagel seasoning gracing everything from dips and flavored bacon to ice cream.

“Bagel sales will probably remain elevated in 2022, but supply chain unknowns will likely continue to hamper the growth rate,” Attobelli concluded.

“As those issues dissipate, the category can likely expect continued growth.” CB

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C AT E G O R Y I N S I G H T: P I E S

The pie pushes onward

BY LIZ GOO DWI N

Few foods and beverages have achieved near synonymous association with the verb “to share.”

An after-work beer, a spaghetti noodle enjoyed Lady and the Tramp-style or a plate of nachos devoured as quickly as they appear come to mind, but the pie is the standout. Slices of pumpkin, apple, cherry and pecan (however you pronounce it) are cut and dispersed amongst family and friends during festive gatherings all year long. It’s a tradition enjoyed by all, whether eaten at Thanksgiving dinner or singing along with Don McLean.

This evergreen indulgence is being baked by pie producers around the country, eager to provide consumers with high-quality slices of all kinds. There are challenges from sheeting and dough handling to sourcing ingredients during a supply chain upheaval, but pie bakeries are pushing onward.

© Levi Guzman on Unsplash

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About 75 miles from the coast of Oregon, Willamette Valley Pie Company is one of those bakeries. The Silverton, OR-based business is in the heart of wine country, often deemed one of the best fruit growing regions in the world. The company sources some of that world-class fruit from about 30 local farms in the area, and 20 million pounds of fruit gets cleaned

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C AT E G O R Y I N S I G H T: P I E S

© Nishant Aneja on Pexels

and individually quick-frozen (IQF) at its berry plant each summer.

“In the late ‘90s we started processing that IQF fruit that was being grown on the family farm, and a couple years later we bought local pie manufacturing assets to start that production as a way to vertically integrate,” said Austin Kelly, CEO of Willamette Valley Pie Company. “We have really diversified the company now to where we are focused into that finished dessert category of pies, cobblers and crisps.”

Willamette Valley sells its products to restaurants and other foodservice outlets, but its big success is in natural grocer retailers. In addition to these channels, the bakery also sells its pies in the frozen section and through fundraising programs, which have raised millions of dollars for a multitude of nonprofits over the past 10 years. That’s a lot of pies — and it’s got to all get done somehow, even with the supply chain disruption.

“From a foreign material perspective, we actually use an X-ray to check the product because our pies are packed in an aluminum tin,” Kelly said. “We’ve been adding another production line, and it’s been very difficult to source another one of these due to all of the supply chain challenges.”

Robin Venn, president of Kansas City, KS-based Tippins Gourmet Pies — a leading pie production company with both branded and private-label products — is also going through supply chain challenges. The bakery is experiencing a hefty amount of demand for its pies, but equipment delays are impacting the speed at which the operation can not only expand but also improve its existing assets. And when it comes to pie production, speed is everything.

APRIL 2022 Q2

“Unfortunately, it impacts every piece of equipment that I am looking at,” Venn said. “It’s either about timing or it’s about quantity because everyone’s labor issues impact the delivery speed. We want to add more capacity, so I need to look at that automation. How do I get more of what I have, or can I improve the process with the same amount of people? Because I couldn’t go out and hire a whole new shift today.”

Just down the road from Tippins, Bradley Hunt, VP of Overland Park, KS-based Golden Boy Pies, is also facing delays when it comes to sourcing equipment and ingredients. And if he can track down what he needs, the prices create more hurdles.

“We try to buy direct as much as possible, but a lot of businesses are going to minimums that we can’t meet,” he said. “I haven’t had blackberries in six months, oils are harder to come by, and

78

not only harder to come by, but the price has just skyrocketed. And there’s only so much of that we can pass on to our customers.”

Despite all the challenges, Golden Boy refuses to compromise on quality. It’s something that Hunt’s dad taught him long ago.

“When he started this business 48 years ago, he taught me that no matter what you do, don’t waver on the quality,” he said. “If it’s inferior, we won’t use it. Of course, we try to buy smarter though to not pass on too much of that overhead cost to our customers.”

Willamette also has that mentality. Many of the bakery’s products are artisanal, which involves a combination of the human touch and robotic precision. That requires the operation to balance out which elements it can ramp up by the use of automation.

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C AT E G O R Y I N S I G H T: P I E S

“We hand-weave lattice, and that’s a process that is very slow and very difficult to automate, and no one has quite figured out how to do that perfectly,” Kelly said. “We are committed to being that premium product, so there’s a fine line about how much we automate to still have it have that premium look and feel.”

Tippins’ pies also maintain that handcrafted quality while utilizing automation that’s right for the operation, and the bakery always makes sure the ingredients are up to snuff.

“You’ve got to take care of the people who help your company run, and that’s not the person sitting at the top,” Hunt said.

“We also encourage our people through promotions in-house. We try to build up, and mistakes happen of course, but we learn from them and then move on.”

When it comes to the actual baking process, pie producers have several factors to deal with. For Willamette it’s temperature control for the pie crust.

That’s a delicate process, and one that needs to remain cold. © Hugo Aitken on Unsplash

“Our Tippins brand fruit, pumpkin and pecan pies are all clean label,” Venn said.

“People are looking for that, and they’re also willing to pay for that premium quality product.”

raised wages for its employees across the board. It’s not only to retain their staff but also let them know they matter.

Willamette’s premium value comes from how close the process is to being homemade. Instead of using a slurry, the company uses its IQF fruit with a dry mix of spices, sugar and flour and dumps that directly into the crust. Some of the pies have more than a pound of fruit inside of them, so just getting that fruit to sit and bake correctly can be an obstacle.

“Especially if we get smaller in size with our mini pies, getting that fruit inside can be a challenge,” Kelly said. “It cooks down when you bake it, but it’s a challenge that is specific to our method. We’ve had to make some modifications to our packaging equipment in-house because of that.

We’re okay with it though because it is such a premium quality product.”

Golden Boy also strives to make it just like grandma, which requires extra due diligence into making sure the process is running smoothly. The bakery uses a Colborne pie machine on the automation side, but people are still a big part of that process, which is why the team has

APRIL 2022 Q2

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C AT E G O R Y I N S I G H T: P I E S

“With many pressed doughs, you need to apply heat to make them do what you want, but with pie dough, you’ve got to keep it extremely cold,” Kelly said. “We’ve done a lot of work with cold presses that allow us to keep that dough temperature as cold as possible, which produces the best quality pies at the end of the line.”

Temperature also impacts the slicing process for Golden Boy. The company makes cheesecakes and other cakes in addition to pies, and uses an automatic slicing solution for those products, but for pies, it’s a bit more complex.

“When [my dad] started this business 48 years ago, he taught me that no matter what you do, don’t waver on the quality.”

Bradley Hunt | VP | Golden Boy Pies

“Our cheesecakes are frozen before we slice them, but for our pies it’s a bit more

difficult because we don’t freeze those,” Hunt said. “There’s also a difference with finding one that’s set up for pie plates.

It would be great to have a slicer with a piece that’s interchangeable, which you can go back and forth with.”

Despite these challenges, pie companies are persevering in figuring out how to give their customers what they need.

After all, everyone wants a piece of this American classic.

“We pride ourselves on being the pie manufacturer that will do what no one else wants to do,” Kelly said. “If someone says no, we say, ‘Call us and we will figure out how to do it.’” CB

© Valeria Boltneva on Pexels

APRIL 2022 Q2

82

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C AT E G O R Y I N S I G H T: B A G E L S

Bagging the perfect bake

Photo courtesy of New Yorker Bagels

New Yorker Bagel is finding success in many sales channels due to its high-quality product.

BY LIZ GOO DWI N

In a world full of division, the bagel is the great uniter.

break — or be sliced in half — it would be the bagel. Just don’t forget the schmear.

What else can coax the afternoon riser and the morning person into a bodega before 9 a.m., soften even the tensest of business meetings, or serve as an impeccable vehicle for both sweet and savory indulgence? If there was ever a bread to

From the Northeast all the way to California, bakeries are producing bagels by the thousands to satisfy consumers’ craving for a toasted morning bite, and it’s by no means easy. From tricky and sticky inclusions to mastering the perfect

85

bake time while factoring in the weather, there are many conditions to consider that make the world of bagel bakeries go round.

Long Island City, NY-based New Yorker Bagels has been in the game since the ’80s, and the team knows the challenges of good bagel baking — inside and out.

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C AT E G O R Y I N S I G H T: B A G E L S

Photo courtesy of Hometown BCN

The company’s journey began in a storefront in the West Village, and then the wholesale business exploded. Universities, hotels and restaurants all over the bagel capital of the world’s tri-state area were calling, signaling that it was doing something right. Now, a few decades later, the company is operating close to 60,000 square feet between its warehouse space and production, serving a plethora of foodservice channels in and around Manhattan.

“We started looking into doing more packaged items right before COVID started,” said Stefanos Evangelinos, co-founder of New Yorker Bagels. “That part of our business has blown up. Now, half of our business is packaged products delivered nationally, and half is local.”

New Yorker’s demand remains high across channels, although Evangelinos believes that the Big Apple has not yet truly returned to its bagel-eating prime with many consumers still working remotely. In fact, the bakery’s national packaged business is going so well that Whole Foods gave it a coveted supplier award for outstanding quality and innovation. He attributes that to having great partners like Formost Fuji on the packaging side and never compromising on quality when scaling up.

“We want to hold on to our old-school bagel shop roots as we expand, and we refuse to cut corners when we make things more streamlined,” E ­ vangelinos said. “Great baking takes time, so we need a lot more space to make our bagels right. Right now just getting the ingredients delivered is challenging. But time, quality ingredients and that magic New York water are what make our bagels great.”

Midwestern bagel bakeries are also feeling the pinch of supply chain challenges. Sam Wenzel, VP of operations for Chicago-based bagel chip and

“If you can make something that not only tastes really great but makes your customers feel good after they eat it, then they will come back without even thinking about it because it’s their stomach that will lead them there.”

Beth George | co-founder | BYOB Bagels

APRIL 2022 Q2

86

fresh bagel company Hometown BCN, said it feels like a broken record that keeps ­s pinning, but he emphasized that supplier partnerships have been a big help even in the hardest of times.

“I know it is a blanket statement, but everything we use has been more difficult to source,” Wenzel said. “Raw materials that had lead times of a week are being pushed back a month, and items that were around a month are now several months. But we do get a lot of assistance from our suppliers. Ardent Mills and Tardella Foods have both been a big help, especially with ingredients and R&D.” On the ingredient side, there’s a lot that bagel producers have to juggle when it comes to making different flavors.

Bagel dough is tough enough to master on its own, but when you start throwing inclusions into the mix, that’s when things can get really sticky.

“We could never get the chocolate chip bagel quite right, because apparently you can’t put milk chocolate in a 500-degree oven without the chips melting all over the

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bottom,” Evangelinos said. “Anything with dried fruit is also a sticky situation, from mixing to proofing to baking. You’ve got to be careful to keep a consistent amount of fruit to dough, and of course it gets all over the equipment, so you’ve got to be careful on when and how you run them.”

Wenzel echoed Evangelinos’ woes on the perils of inclusions. They’re delicious to eat, but a pain to make (and to clean up after).

“Any time you add inclusions to a recipe, it becomes a bit more difficult,” he said.

“You want the inclusion to maintain its integrity, but it also affects the production process and sanitation as well.”

Moving into savory flavors, beloved “everything” bagels also present hidden challenges. The dried onion and garlic granules can be a surprising hazard on the packaging side, slicing through the materials designed to keep the product quality fresh. And when the dough is at the mercy of the weather, humidity can throw another wrench into the process.

“On cold days those can get razor sharp and can cut through a lot of the packaging materials that we run through our lines,” Evangelinos said. “But on a humid day they can wind up super sticky. After decades we’ve worked out most of the kinks, but they were definitely trickier than some of those run-of-the-mill players like a plain bagel.”

With new trends sprouting in the blink of an eye, bagel bakeries have to weigh what capacity they have available to invest in new flavor or formulation ventures. And in an era where ingredient sourcing is more of an “if” than “when”, it can be difficult to pull the trigger on more exploratory varieties.

APRIL 2022 Q2

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C AT E G O R Y I N S I G H T: B A G E L S

“Some consumer trends can pop up overnight and are gone before you know it,” Wenzel observed. “We are currently developing a ketofriendly bagel that we are very close to launching.

The time to source raw materials from suppliers and the volumes that we anticipate using are the biggest challenge that we currently have.”

All things considered, locking that great bagel quality into a large-scale

operation is paramount for many producers around the country. Beth George, the “bagel boss” and co-founder of the consulting firm BYOB Bagels, knows this firsthand, and she has dedicated her career to helping entrepreneurs achieve their bagel dreams through business planning and formulation assistance.

Although most of her clients are on the retail side, she’s had her hands in several commercial operations. Her No. 1 piece of advice to commercial bagel producers is to have the same amount of patience

for figuring out your process as you do for a bagel: Both take time.

“It’s going to take time, it’s going to take R&D, but there is room to make great bagels en masse without compromising the product,” she said. “If you can make something that not only tastes really great but makes your customers feel good after they eat it, then they will come back without even thinking about it because it’s their stomach that will lead them there.” CB

Photo courtesy of New Yorker Bagels

APRIL 2022 Q2

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APRIL 2022 Q2

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I N T E R N AT I O N A L M A R K E T

The Dynamic European Business Model B Y A N N E F R E M A U X , B A K E R Y D I R E C T O R AT G I R A

Bakery chains are rapidly expanding across Europe, with Germany in the lead. While traditional chains are the dominant presence in this segment, coffee shops, sandwich chains and other business models are also on the rise, presenting more options for consumers all the way from Sicilian cities to Parisian promenades.

The boundaries are blurring between retail and foodservice, and in a growing industrial competitive environment, it is essential to understand which business model will have the most impact in the distribution and production of bakery products.

Girag and Associates (GIRA) recently published a new study on the business models of bakery chains in Europe, covering the 15 main European countries.

Businesses running more than 10 outlets are classified as chains in the research, and more than 400 bakery chains have been counted in this space, totaling about 42,000 outlets. This amounted to an approximate turnover of more than 13 billion euros in 2020. Germany sees the

highest number of outlets by far, followed by the UK, France and Poland, but the number of bakery chain outlets is growing rapidly across the continent.

Sandwich chains are in second place with their commercialized products, including Subway and UK-based Pret a Manger.

On top of these traditional bakery chains, there are more than 100 coffee shop chains, running almost 14,800 outlets. Their total turnover in 2020 was an impressive 6 billion euros. Branded coffee shops are growing more than 3% per year in Europe and are now offering fresh bakery products alongside traditional coffee.

Food to go, composed of fast-food type chains that focus on quick service, offer a small range of products. They specialize in grab-and-go sweet and savory snacks: a viable avenue for selling baked goods. Hungary-based Fornetti and UK-based Greggs are two examples of this type of chain.

The eight chain types

Bakery cafes also capitalize on being borderline restaurants and bakery chains, offering a more complete range of snacks and sandwiches. Popular European examples include Francebased Paul and Spain-based Granier.

GIRA identified eight chain business models that are impacting the production of baked goods throughout Europe. The dominant type is a classic or traditional bakery chain, often having blurred positioning between traditional bakeries and bakery-cafes. These types of chains sell traditional products, and bread is often at their core. Examples include G ermany-based K&U, Kamps and ­ Belgium-based Panos.

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Artisan chains, known as the “boulangerie” chains in France and “artisan guilds” in Denmark, are also revenue generators, as well as specialized chains that sell patisserie, donuts or American pastries. Low-carb and organic goods also enjoy sales success in specialty chains.

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Discount chains that focus on budgetfriendly options also provide an outlet for baked goods manufacturers.

Coffee shops are also joining the list as they develop ways to offer both sweet and savory products, although they primarily focus on coffee and cold drinks.

However, some chains are beginning to follow highly specific concepts. This includes stopping the sale of bread, at least for UK-based Gregg’s and Czech Republic-based Bagerati Boulevard. Others are exclusively providing to-go options or utilizing mobile kiosks, such as Hungary-based Princess, which runs kiosks exclusively at the Budapest subway.

Sustained growth The development of bakery chains has exploded in the past few years, building on their aim to diversify over the traditional bakery offerings with ­ p roducts like savory specialties, snacks and drinks. The growth was also fueled by the ­d evelopment of fast food and foodon-the-go alternatives. Moreover, new concepts such as artisan chains and bakery-cafes, with their opportunities for

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© William on Adobe Stock

The bakery product mix varies greatly among the chain types, and the range of grocery foods is increasing. The store atmosphere aims at differentiating the chains from artisan bakers, modern retailers and quick-service restaurants, with a cozy and welcoming feel. Moreover, chain brands are supported by strong communication to make them easily recognizable and build customer loyalty. Marketing is fairly similar for all types of chains, and they use in-store or local communication, their own websites, mobile apps, loyalty programs and, above all, any form of social media.

innovation, are also contributing to these models’ success.

The main factors driving the growth of the bakery chain sector include the offering of premium products or, on the contrary, inexpensive food-to-go items.

The development of savory snacks and regional, sustainable bakery concepts have also fueled growth, along with a rising demand for artisanal and locally produced products. The focus on traditional craftsmanship and the setting-up of foodservice/coffee bar services that also provide take-away assistance have also realized popularity with consumers.

This expansion of bakery and coffee shop chains has also been facilitated by franchise developments and access to financing opportunities, with support from sources like large industrial bakers, caterers or investment funds.

Road to success During the research, GIRA gathered information on more than 150 different

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bakery and coffees shop chains across the countries covered and identified 12 key success factors. Notable factors include location, both in the quality and diversity of current sites as well as future targets for new locations. Range of products was also critical, citing a mix of traditional and modern mobile options as a successful combination.

The value of money and a store’s attractiveness entice consumers to venture in and make a purchase. Locations that offer a range of services, including physical seats and omnichannel options, also earned consumer attention. Behind the scenes, control of supply chain as well as the ability to sustain a chain’s expansion through effective ownership were critical aspects.

Several bakery and coffee shop chains were scored for each key success factor.

Across Europe, chains that have reached high average scores are UK-based Gail’s, with its attractive neighborhood bakeries in affluent suburbs, vertical integration and innovative artisan bakery

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image; Czech Republic-based Bageterie Boulevard for its seasonal premium gourmet fast-food options and wide range of services, including a drive-thru and strong management; Denmark-based Lagkagehuset for its vertical integration, premium products, high customer loyalty, and growing B2B and B2C activities; and Hungary-based Lipóti Pékség for combining the profile of a classic bread chain and modern bakery-café chain, running several of its own plants to supply the outlets.

Competition over market share In many countries, bakery and coffee shop chains are key players all along the bakery supply chain, including scratch baking on the premises, buying and reselling fresh products, or baking bakeoff products. In 2021, the 15 countries under review accounted for 15% of fresh bakery product distribution, 2% of artisanal scratch bakery production and 13% of industrial bakery production.

The most important business models are classic bakery, coffee shops and sandwich chains, accounting for 70% of the total number of bakery and coffee shop outlets, and 62% of total fresh bakery turnover achieved by the chain sector. However, while artisan chains and bakery-cafes run a lower number of outlets, they have a significant share in fresh bakery turnover.

The connection between chains and the industrial bakery sector — and their degree of integration — has also been investigated. GIRA estimates that in 2021, about half of the bakery chains’ fresh bakery supplies are produced in their own central plants and delivered as fresh or bake-off to the outlets. In addition, these plants have started delivering

APRIL 2022 Q2

to external B2B clients including modern retailers and restaurants, which leads to a 13% share of bakery chains in total ­European industrial fresh and bake-off bakery production.

Therefore, expect to see increasing competition between bakery chains and industrial or artisanal scratch bakers. In addition, as some bakery chain plants do not operate at full capacity and are looking for more B2B clients, it’s likely that external deliveries will grow, and bakery chains’ own central manufacturing plants will become competitors of industrial bakers. They have the upper hand of offering local products, having valuable, direct contact with consumers through their own outlets, and even supplying retail stores or restaurants.

The strengths of classic bakery chains lie in their wide range of traditional products, their local origin and the fact that many have integrated on the supply chain with their own fresh or bake-off plants. Artisan chains make goods using a business model that has grown very rapidly, thanks to the high quality of products helped by on-site scratch production. Bakery-café chains offer a wide range of products, from c­ lassic bakery to complete foodservice solutions, in a warm store atmosphere. These different chain types have a wide array of positive qualities, making competition fierce.

Expecting the unexpected In some countries, the bakery chain sector has reached a plateau, and new growth drivers need to be found. Moreover, the COVID-19 crisis has made a significant impact on the product mix, from offer rationalization to the introduction of grocery products like ‘survival kits’ to bake at home. The move toward

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healthier or more traditional and local products, in addition to outlet closures during lockdowns, are also side effects of the pandemic.

The implementation of click-and-collect and deliveries has been the salvation for many chains during these uncertain times. But many chains are still far behind restaurants or fast-food outlets for online service offerings. The acceleration of the digitization strategy and development of CRM to increase customer loyalty will be future challenges.

The transition to omnichannel distribution will be key to making more contact with customers and increasing chains’ brand awareness. This can be achieved through deliveries of fresh bakery products to restaurants or r­ etailers.

B2C sales of packaged branded goods will also provide opportunities. This is already widely used by coffee shop chains with their own branded coffee but it’s far less developed by bakery chains.

New product development in bakery and coffee shop chains primarily concerns vegan and vegetarian lines, glutenfree products, plant-based options and pro-health lines, but also more premium recipes. Branded or exclusive products are also increasingly sought after.

As bakery chains of all types and sizes figure out the most effective business strategy, they are sure to offer European bakery producers several new revenue outlets and challenges, fueling the industry’s growth moving forward.

Commercial Baking has developed a cooperative ­agreement with the leading European / international baking journal baking+biscuit international from the publishing house F2M. This magazine is the English-­language sister to the acclaimed German language journal b ­ rot+backwaren and is published six times per year with 5,000 hard copies delivered per issue and thousands reading the editions digitally.

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BUSINESS INTEL

The ROI from DEI Looking at the hard data behind the benefits of meeting Black consumers’ needs.

BY J O R DAN WI NTER

Black Americans comprise one of the fastest-growing consumer demographics, with their purchasing power expected to nearly double from $910 billion to $1.7 trillion by 2030. But brands have been overlooking this group for decades.

Black neighborhoods have historically been targeted with discriminatory practices like redlining, hindering their ability to build generational wealth, have access to healthy foods and create thriving local economies.

By passing over these communities as a key target audience, many consumer-facing companies have lost credibility with Black shoppers because their products just aren’t tailored to their needs.

A new report from the McKinsey Institute for Black Economic Mobility suggests just how much these brands are missing out on … and how they can do better. Companies can tap into $300 billion of value annually by committing to racial equity goals and better serving the needs of Black communities.

“Brands should remember that commercial opportunity and racial equity are not a zero-sum game,” said Shelley Stewart III, partner at McKinsey and co-author of the report. “This is a powerful lever in advancing Black Americans’ overall economic mobility, and it presents a huge market opportunity.”

Addressing the needs of Black consumers means understanding them first. When choosing a brand to support, Black shoppers emphasize trustworthiness, stated social mission, and clean and healthy products.

In terms of access to healthy foods — especially for historically marginalized communities that live in food

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deserts — baked goods and snack companies have a big opportunity to position themselves as a solution.

“Baked goods producers can differentiate themselves by increasing accessibility of their products in Black neighborhoods through e-commerce and brickand-mortar locations,” Stewart said. “They can also ensure their products are high-quality, affordable, and celebrate Black cultures and values.”

When looking at brands that outperform in this area, expect to see better-for-you options, a wider range of products and efforts to reflect Black consumers’ preferences. The McKinsey team found that Black shoppers are also eager to explore upmarket grocery options, including organic and specialty ingredients. Forty-three percent of Black survey respondents ranked availability of organic foods at the grocery store as important, compared with 36% of non-Black respondents.

Black shoppers were also more likely to be excited to explore products that are new to them. Baking companies can appeal to this demographic with trends they’re already seeing: international, spicy flavors with baked-in functional benefits. These kinds of products may check all the boxes for Black consumers, but when it comes to brand loyalty, the playing field is competitive. With 81% of McKinsey’s Black survey respondents willing to switch brands, this signals that they are dissatisfied with the current options. According to the authors, the leading cause is brands’ lack of visible DEI initiatives.

“For organizations to truly serve an increasingly diverse consumer population, it’s critical to employ a workforce that is representative of, and personally

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“This goes beyond just having Black faces in your advertising, but also your hiring and retention of Black employees, how your organization is spending its philanthropic dollars to support Black communities, investing in R&D to develop more culturally resonant products and working with Black-owned suppliers.”

Shelley Stewart III | partner | McKinsey & Company

and culturally connected to, the communities in which it operates,” Stewart said.

workforce, hiring from the communities in which your company operates is a good start, but the next step is employing decision makers, leaders and marketing professionals who can speak to those communities.

Bringing Black workers into management roles with decision-making power can be transformative, and help foster a company culture where employees from diverse backgrounds feel a sense of belonging. These are the kinds of values to show, not just tell.

Representation matters. For companies that take an authentic approach to DEI, building a more diverse organization could lead to a larger share of Black consumers’ wallets. Nielsen research suggests that Black shoppers are 58% more likely to expect the brands they buy to speak up about social issues and are 37% more likely to buy from that brand when they do.

But this work is easier said than done.

Companies can champion their commitment to racial justice with products and supply chain, too. This could look like investments in R&D and product design to make sure you formulate the right products to meet Black consumers’ needs. Especially when considering issues of access and quality, a first step could be ensuring that the full range of products offers good value for the price. This could also include a deep dive into where you’re sourcing ingredients and other raw materials, and choosing to support more diverse suppliers.

Stewart says companies can build a relationship with Black communities by understanding — and finding solutions for — their pain points. That requires ongoing investment in racial equity, inside and outside the organization. To ensure companies are authentic in their efforts to better serve Black consumers, Stewart suggested taking a more holistic approach.

“This goes beyond just having Black faces in your advertising, but also your hiring and retention of Black employees, how your organization is spending its philanthropic dollars to support Black communities, investing in R&D to develop more culturally resonant products and working with Black-owned suppliers,” he said. “These systemic changes will signal to consumers that you’re seriously and authentically investing to meet their social and cultural needs.”

McKinsey illustrated a direct relationship between diverse representation and spending power. And as the industry moves into the future of work, companies that celebrate diverse employees and consumers will always come out on top.

“Done right,” Stewart said, “these efforts can create a lot of value by meeting Black consumers’ needs, earning their trust and loyalty, and unleashing economic value for historically marginalized communities.” CB

These are just a few examples of strategies to build a more inclusive organization. When it comes to

APRIL 2022 Q2

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Features IN House The largest, most important grain-based food industry event in the America’s returns this year, with a variety of special features designed to put the latest baking trends and new strategies in your wheelhouse. Join the global baking community for these experiences, at the place where a full range of innovations, critical insights and unbeatable networking opportunities are all BAKED IN.

IBIEducate IBIE’s world-class educational program features 100+ sessions focused on current industry challenges and opportunities.

Artisan Marketplace See inspiring demos celebrating the art of bread, pastry, chocolate and more.

BEST in Baking Awards Discover suppliers & bakers leading the way in the industry’s most paramount topics.

NEW! Sanitation Pavilion Discover solutions from trusted partners who specialize in sanitation at this dedicated area on the show floor.

it’s all baked in REGISTER NOW. BakingExpo.com

Solutions Seamless Pan Stacking, Unstacking Stewart Systems, a Middleby Bakery brand, presents its Rack N Stack system with laser guided vehicles (LGV). The new design provides a modular solution that is flexible for pan storage and retrieval, automatically tracks inventory and handles multiple production lines, all while reducing pan wear and damage. www.stewart-systems.com

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SUPPLIER SOLUTIONS

Sanitary Product Feeding Benchmark’s InFlightAC solution is a feeder that uses autonomous carts, which queue on the underside of the system, to receive randomly spaced product and times it to the flights of a packaging machine. The individual reception provides an extreme sanitary advantage and is especially ideal for fragile and irregularly shaped products. www.benchmarkautomation.net

Easy Spraying and Flocking Unifiller invites bakeries to switch from single-use aerosol cans to its environmentally friendly Uni-Sprayer. The solution is meant for oil spraying and beyond and can be used to spray pan-release oil, egg wash, milk, simple syrups, jams, fillings, sauces and more.

It can also flock bread and wraps with condiments and sauces. www.unifiller.com

Suite of Automation for Fresh | Frozen Bread RexFab is bringing its global basket and case integrated systems, including stackers, unloaders and loaders with dollies, to North America. The systems are built for reliable and precise performance and can save bakeries upwards of $600,000 a year on downstream labor costs while also increasing productivity. www.rexfab.com

Mixing Solutions with Hygienic Versatility VMI presents its new Phebus planetary mixer, bringing versatile hygienic design and comfortability together. Its touchscreen interface enables 100 recipes to be stored for ease of use and reproducibility. It can create 200 liters of cookie dough, bread and creams, and its tools are easily interchangeable due to the attachment system. www.vmimixing.com

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SUPPLIER SOLUTIONS

Accurately Deposit a Range of Products Axis Automation’s Apex Series LD Depositor lets bakeries accurately deposit a range of dense aerated mixes, batters and doughs. It offers simplified tooling for faster changeovers and intuitive controls, making it easy to access, modify and create recipes for different products. It can frost cakes, deposit batter and more. www.axisautomation.com

Protein Solutions for Sensory Challenges Glanbia debuts its new protein solutions for extruded snacks, inclusions and more. Its new BarPro 100/120 Milk Protein Concentrate and its BarFlex 100 Whey Protein Concentrate were designed to deliver an exceptional texture without the inclusion of high quantities of starch. Semi-finished extruded crunchy pieces are also available. www.glanbianutritionals.com

Watch BPA’s Watch BPA’s TechTalk TechTalk E s E s B h 1413 B h 1413

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Bulk Bagging that Reduces Material Waste National Bulk Equipment presents its bulk bag filling system, designed with a cantilevered bag support framework and several automatic elements. The solution also eliminates costly material waste through a base-weigh scale system that adjusts upstream material supply and delivers accurate bag filling. www.nbe-inc.com

Versatile Bread Production with Minimal Oil Multivac Fritsch debuts its new Progressa Bread line, an automated solution for a variety of bread products. The compact mechanism is gentle on dough and uses minimal oil, allowing the machine to be cleaned quickly. It can process pre-proofed doughs as well as dough with high rye or water content. www.fritsch-group.com

More PRODUCTION. Less WASTE. More SAVINGS. Less DOWNTIME. We design and manufacture processing and portioning equipment to bakeries and food plants worldwide. www.unifiller.com 1 888 733 8444

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Sanitation with Tool-Free Maintenance Peerless offers its revolutionized EZ Klean Gate, providing increased sanitation, efficient sealing and designed with tool-free maintenance. It has lightweight components with a self-cleaning metal detectable slide, providing superior sanitation for bakery needs. It is retrofittable on existing mixers and comes as a standard component on new mixers. www.peerlessfood.com

Operator-Free Topping Moline presents its side-load precision T-Toppers that can be equipped with bulk ingredient delivery. The systems are ­o perator-free and have fast, accurate cycle rates for the most demanding spot-topping applications. They utilize interchangeable dispensing shafts that can handle anything from fine salts to large chocolate chips. www.moline.com

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Rotary Dividing for Pizza and Bread Dough Handtmann’s 442-1 servo driven rotary dividing solution for pizza and bread dough scales with +/-1% accuracy at industrial volumes, ideal for operations that produce a large range of premium products. With the VF 800 divider, the single lane solution delivers higher yields without oil, in a short product path and with exceptional dough quality. www.handtmann.us

Food Safety Begins and Ends with AZO. DON’T LEAVE QUALITY TO CHANCE. AZO engineers design and install components and complete systems for bulk material handling requirements. From small, family-owned businesses through the world’s best-known industrial and consumer products companies, AZO has the right solution.

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Ilapak International presents its Delta 6000R fully modular flowwrapper, which incorporates a new high-speed long dwell sealing system for bakery MAP applications up to 150 ppm. It can be connected to different feeding systems and configured to meet the specific needs of a particular ­p roduct, and is ideal for wrapping tortillas and wraps. www.ilapak.com

Batching Weighing Bulk Material Handling

Learn more at: www.AZO-Inc.com

Commercial Baking Channel Our multimedia collection is full of videos, podcast episodes and more, where you can get a deep look — and listen — into the exciting shifts happening in the baking industry.

TechTalk with Jason Stricker, Shick Esteve Jason Stricker, Shick Esteve’s VP of sales and marketing, discusses how ingredient automation solutions can help alleviate workforce issues like labor shortages. www.shickesteve.com

TechTalk with AMF Bakery Systems and AMF Workhorse Bobby Martin, global products systems leader for AMF Bakery Systems, as well as Colin McShane and Tamara Corey, executive product manager and engineering manager for AMF Workhorse, explore the benefits of AMF’s automation services. www.amfbakery.com

TechTalk with Grant Olmes, Brabender Technologie Grant Olmes, regional sales manager for ­B rabender Technologie, takes a deep dive into the benefits of automated ingredient delivery with both volumetric and gravimetric feeding. www.brabender-technologie.com

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COMMERCIAL BAKING CHANNEL

Jorge Zarate on IBIE 2022 Commercial Baking catches up with Jorge Zarate, SVP of global operations for Grupo Bimbo and vice chair of the 2022 IBIE planning committee, at the American Society of Baking’s BakingTECH 2022 conference.

He shares how being back at in-person trade shows is building momentum for this year’s Baking Expo.

Valerie Wayland on top industry trends Commercial Baking catches up with Valerie Wayland, director of technical services and regulatory affairs for Flowers Foods, at BakingTECH 2022. Wayland shares her insights on some of the most important trends being discussed at the conference.

Kathy Sargent on how necessity drives innovation Commercial Baking catches up with Kathy Sargent, senior director of technical services at Bimbo Bakeries USA, at BakingTECH 2022. Sargent explores how her team is staying nimble in the face of widespread global ingredient shortages.

Rod Radalia on being back in-person Commercial Baking catches up with Rod Radalia, VP of innovation for Aunt Millie’s Bakeries and American Society of Baking chair, at BakingTECH 2022. Hear his thoughts on returning to in-person tradeshows and where the industry is headed with the latest trends and innovations.

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COMMERCIAL BAKING

COMMERCIAL BAKING CHANNEL

Meet Josh Allen, the guest for Season 3 of the Troubleshooting Innovation podcast.

APRIL 2022 Q2

Episodes The Art of Bread Making as Storytellling A Business Case for Sustainability Unconventional Metrics in Production The Improv Rule: ‘Always Say Yes’

Photo by Liz Goodwin | Commercial Baking

“EVERY TIME I OPEN THE OVEN, I’M STILL ENCHANTED

BY THE TRANSFORMATION THAT TAKES PLACE.”

Allen is an award-winning artisan baker, founder of Companion Baking in St. Louis and Tiptree World Awards Sustainability Hero. Tune into the podcast now to hear his recipes for success.

Producing Bread with Intention The Chef’s Perspective

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A special look inside innovation at AB Mauri Commercial Baking editors visited AB Mauri North America, a global leader in yeast and bakery ingredient products, in St. Louis to learn how their technical staff both analyzes and improves quality control measures in commercial bakery operations. www.abmna.com

COBOTS, ROBOTS & AUTOMATION Robotic Packing . Smart Conveyors . Robotic Decorating . Tray Management Equipment automation built to help you with: BAKER-BOT Versatile, userfriendly Cobot.

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SUBSCRIBE Fresh insights on trends and innovations

Ad Index The following advertisers appear in this issue. We encourage readers to reach out to these companies through the listed website or email for further information. This index is provided as a service to readers and advertisers, but Commercial Baking does not assume any liability for errors or omissions.

Please send any updates or corrections to info@avantfoodmedia.com.

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107

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104

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Brabender

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Rexfab

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MIWE

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MoistTech

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Moline

Unifiller

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VMI

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Zeppelin Systems USA

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It’s time to perform rather than just spend.

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113

COMMERCIAL BAKING

THE LAST WORD F R O M TA S O S K AT S A O U N I S

The Risk | Reward Calculation The word “entrepreneur” is synonymous with passion, risk and vision. It’s something you are, not something you’re taught. It’s your DNA. It takes courage to accept risks and learn from failure.

When I started Bread Man Baking Co. in 2017, I took a massive risk, but I was driven by the passion to share my love for clean artisan bread.

Our first production facility was 4,800-sq.-ft., and I was certain it would give us five years for slow growth. I was wrong … it lasted two and half years. I knew we had to reinvest to not only to execute my vision but also continue that growth trajectory. The question was: How much space did we need?

So, I built it.

But how would we maintain our quality in a 40,000-sq.-ft. space with all new equipment? We hired smartly. I had a talented artisan baker who was leading our operations, but he didn’t have experience with a bakery this size. So, I took another necessary risk. I hired a plant manager who was lean certified with 25 years of experience with companies like Grupo Bimbo and H-E-B. We married artisan baking with commercial manufacturing, and our product quality has never been better.

The answer was clear but complicated. We needed adequate space for immediate and future growth, the ability to scale and increase output and capabilities, and, most importantly, preserve and maintain the product quality our customers expected.

This meant moving into a space 10 times bigger than the original: the biggest risk thus far.

And the customers are coming.

I visited other bakeries to learn from more experienced owners. I spent months working on financial projections, budgets and a sales pipeline to justify the investment.

There were countless sleepless nights weighing the pros and cons and predicting every possible outcome. Then I remembered the advice from one generous bakery owner who opened his doors to me.

We invested in talent and equipment with quality and growth at the forefront. Was it risky? Yes. Would I recommend it?

Or do it again? Absolutely. CB — After 22 years in management consulting, Tasos Katsaounis left his corporate career to start Houston-based Bread Man Baking Co., baking bread from his Yiayia’s recipes. Since then, Bread Man has grown to become a supplier to top hotels, chefs and retailers across the country.

He looked me in the eye and said, “Build it, and they will come.” My first reaction was, “You’re crazy!” But the more I thought about it, he was right.

APRIL 2022 Q2

114

Re:

Redefine Your Expectations for Preservation

We believe food preservation is about more than simply cutting costs. It’s about keeping food out of landfills, reducing waste and ensuring sustainable practices. It’s about keeping consumers safe and healthy and doing what’s right for the planet. If you think improving the way we make food improves the course of nature, you think like we do.

Together we can redefine preservation.

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