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BAKERIES
Full-time baking Baker & Baker, a specialist European bakery products manufacturer headquartered in the UK, has recently emerged as a standalone business following the separation of CSM Bakery Solutions. John Lindsay, the company’s CEO, reveals what this ‘next exciting chapter’ means for the company.
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A European leader in the bakery convenience market, Baker & Baker has recorded a turnover well in excess of EUR400m operating across 12 sites in seven countries, with more than 2,500 employees.
The bakery ingredients part of the CSM business had been long established, with many local brands in its continental European markets existing for many decades – over 100 years in some cases. By contrast, the bakery products part of the business was fairly ‘youthful’, rapidly gaining scale since the early 2000s to become around half of the combined business. The separation of CSM Bakery Solutions into the ingredients and bakery products as standalone businesses was a complex and lengthy process. It was formally announced in October 2020, with the formation of Baker & Baker in April 2021. Most of the manufacturing facilities were already dedicated to either bakery products or ingredients, which somewhat simplified the separation. “Staff and works councils had significant involvement in the process which has run smoothly with no disruption to the business and was completed to schedule,” the company’s CEO details. The process involved the creation of independent IT and business process systems, new legal entities as well as new branding for the Baker & Baker and CSM Ingredients businesses. Plans for a fresh start Baker & Baker now dedicates 100% of its time to bakery products and already enjoys the benefit of this focus, as it can review how it operates. “The creation of Baker & Baker provides an opportunity to review how the newly separate organization operates, with a drive to make processes simpler, reduce complexity and grow further,” he explains how the new company has set off operations. The largest part of the Baker & Baker business is within the retail channel, with an additional, strong market share within the traditional/artisan channel. Expansion is in the works, in addition to supporting the recovery of the foodservice segments, to also consolidate its growth in the countries where it is already present and enter new European markets. In the UK, the company aims
www.bakingbiscuit.com 03/2021
to build its employer brand as it is focusing on recruiting the right people who seek a career in the business. Baker & Baker will continue to build on its strong market share in the American sweet bakery segment: donuts, cookies and specialty muffins. It has also been working with Mondelez to manufacture and distribute a variety of products under the Cadbury, Oreo, Milka and Daim brands, while also supporting Mondelez with activations and marketing initiatives. “We are extremely proud of our exclusive licensing partnership with Mondelez. They are fantastic commercial partners, and we have only just scratched the surface in terms of the opportunities throughout continental Europe. Over the next 12 months, we expect to deliver new product innovation under our Mondelez portfolio,” Lindsay anticipates, and to grow the business to re-establish its pre-COVID growth momentum as a leading supplier of fresh convenient bakery products across Europe, in the next three years. The COVID-19 factor As with many manufacturers in the sector, the business felt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, recovery can be very fast, in Baker & Baker’s experience. This was the case in China, for instance, which was the first to be affected and where now demand has not only returned, but it is substantially higher than in pre-COVID times, Lindsay illustrates. As many European countries and regions prepare to loosen COVID-19 restrictions in the coming months, foodservice/out of home is increasingly important, and Baker & Baker is well placed to see growth return in the hospitality sector. “Clearly, hospitality and foodservice have borne the brunt of the challenges associated with COVID-19, and we’ve been working closely with our customers and partners to ensure they can rebound once the economies of continental Europe fully open up,” he shares.
