Systems Integration

The freezer-to-oven croissant concept is something that the team at General Mills has been working on for years now, with the classic butter variant first being released in 2021.

Even for a staple product like croissants, R&D is no walk in the park, with ample time taken to ensure the right product formulation.

“There was a significant amount of testing from the pilot plant to plant scale that went into this invention,” O’Connor said. “It took several years and many experiments to find the right freezerto-oven technology parameters and balance the amount of chocolate-tobutter ratios.”

The flat shape of the product in its frozen form was also an important factor in the development of the product as it saves valuable freezer space for operators.

“This process entails chocolate folded into the croissants to achieve the visual appearance,” O’Connor said. “After this step, the croissants are curled and pressed over a series of steps to make the croissants flat. Several experiments were conducted to dial in the exact processing parameters of how much to flatten and still maintain the final desired quality. The result is croissants that can be stored flat but still rise beautifully.”

Sweet goods aren’t only produced for the foodservice and supermarket sectors, nor are they strictly European in origin. Omaha, NE-based Panaderia Internacional connects with consumers seeking new and authentic flavor and product experiences.

Gabriel Gonzales, owner of Panaderia Internacional, noted that automation helps with certain aspects of vari - ous sweet goods such as brioche-like conchas and laminated goods including cuernos and bigotes . With high consumer demand for these types of products, having an automated line that can create conchas from start to finish would make a major difference in the ability to scale up.

“What we’ve come to understand is that just because there’s a machine that makes a specific product that you sell, you have to break even within five years to make it make sense,” Gonzales said.

This proves especially true when it comes to producing specific products such as Hispanic sweet goods and pastries. Gonzales has worked with A.A. Bakery to find solutions that can be adjusted for his bakery’s needs with customized accessories and other specifications.

When Gonzales purchased the bakery from his brother in 2016, Panaderia Internacional was a “very hands-on” operation with nearly everything being produced by hand. The choice to install industrial equipment helped keep the bakery running after labor came up short following the start of the pandemic.

Panaderia Internacional uses an A.A. Bakery pastry line to cut the dough needed to create the cuerno. Additionally, Gonzales uses a Rondo line to automatically fold bigotes , which reduces the amount of labor-intensive hand folding required to create the correct shape. Because the equipment had to be adjusted to manufacture Hispanic sweet goods vs. European products, the end result is visually different, which at times can present a challenge when marketing the products to consumers.

“From the tests we’ve been able to pull, we noticed that the cuerno is a little bit smaller and the legs are shorter,”

G SHOR boasts o er 50 ear e perience pro iding customized turnke solutions in handling, automation and dosing of po der , granules and liquids.

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- Flour Cooling System

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Gonzales said. “The cuerno we sell to the Hispanic people in south Omaha has significantly longer legs, like triple the size that this machine is pulling. So one of our challenges is figuring out how to get people to accept this product under a new shape.”

Understanding consumer expectations while staying true to the authenticity of the product — and the bakery’s heritage — is key.

In New Jersey, Banneton plays to its strengths with a concentrated product lineup including croissants in almond, chocolate and cheese varieties as well as cinnamon rolls. All of these items, according to Alex, are built from a 100% fresh butter croissant base.

To keep production running and grow the bakery, a strong relationship with equipment manufacturers is a must for Banneton. Victor shared that the company’s 30-year relationship with Rademaker has proven crucial. The bakery uses Rademaker’s laminating and makeup equipment to process the dough that makes its sweet goods and signature croissants.

While a good portion of the baking industry leans into automation for its manufacturing practices, some sweet goods producers are striking a balance between mechanics and manual labor. At family-owned Banneton, having a healthy mix of automation and manual work preserves the quality of the product while bringing an artisan touch to its commercially manufactured sweet goods.

“There’s a hand touch to our products that’s really obvious,” Alex said. “It’s not a ‘cookie cutter’ look all the time; it’s got tiny imperfections that give it a homemade look.”

Innovating classic products like croissants and cuernos can be challenging when it comes to balancing indulgent characteristics that consumers love with label claims they’re also keeping top of mind.

Banneton boasts a lineup built by clean, non-GMO ingredients, but the bakery is also making steps toward products with health-focused claims such as a multigrain croissant with 16g of whole grains per serving.

There’s also room for traditional sweet goods with rich, rooted history to innovate inside American consumer preferences. Panaderia Internacional is doing just that with a clean ingredient product to address the better-for-you trend that has been noted across the sweet goods sector and beyond.

The sweet goods category remains a staple in the baking industry, though there is no doubt that it is moving — slowly, but surely — toward elevating the product consumers know and love with the health claims they’re increasingly seeking. Innovating iconic, instantly recognizable sweet goods has proven to be an uphill battle, yet bakers of all sizes are making headway and transitioning the classic category into a new age. CB

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Vision Guided Robotics | Secondary Packaging | Turnkey Packaging Solutions

You make it. We it. End of line solutions for the bakery, snack and tortilla

BPA loads your and naked into cases and various secondary containers including your hffs machines, wrapper chain in-feeds and thermoform machines

You make it. We pack it. End of line packaging solutions for the bakery, snack and tortilla industries. BPA loads your packaged and naked products into cases and various secondary containers including your hffs machines, wrapper chain in-feeds and indexing thermoform machines.

to meet your bun/roll needs.

Pair any number of our slicers with the level of bagger to meet your bun/roll packaging needs.

Hand Bagger

loaded with a 110v blower motor for wicketed inflation

Great for clustered or very firm products can

Simple spring loaded design with a 110v blower motor for wicketed bag inflation. Great for clustered or very firm products. Average operator can operate bag between 10 and 25 bags/min.

Deluxe Hand Bagger

Air operated retractable tuckers designed for a more positive bag hold. This works great for really soft or hard to hand bag products. Uses compressed air. Average speeds run between 10 and 25 bags/min.

Model B Bagger

This is a hand-loaded automatic bagging system. Operators load flights with product as they pass by. Allowing for the bagging of most items with ease at average speeds of 30 to 55 bags/min.

Bsi Alps

Fully automated line that groups, slices, stacks, and bags most types of buns/rolls at average speeds of 35 to 55 bags/min. High Speed option allows for speeds up to 66 bags/min. Not all products run at the same speeds.