The voice of the canadian baking industry
The ‘black and white’ of holiday baking during a crisis
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BY NAOMI SZEBEN
Twelve months ago, a colleague and I were staring at the news feed on television, which was breaking the first news of a pandemic flaring up on the other side of the world. We mutually agreed that it would flare, then fizzle, much like SARS had years prior. Months later, both of us laughed grimly that we should have held an office pool as to when we would actually find ourselves back at our work desks. Neither of us could have ever guessed that we’d be spending the majority of 2020 working from home.
It’s been a year of extreme highs and lows; many restaurants and cafés reported enormous losses. Bakeries for the most part were busier than usual, filling in requests for curbside orders, setting up online payment systems and organizing deliveries to meet the demands of COVID-induced stress-eating. Many bakeries learned to pivot, providing sundries and offering household cleaning products alongside their regular baked goods.
The year’s only constant was that food is comfort, and sweets still have a special place in emotional eaters’ hearts. The holiday season is a time where we are particularly aware of making or receiving goodwill gestures, and the tradition of buying or baking goods to make someone smile still holds true, even during a pandemic.
This last issue of 2020 looks at how the baking industry is the one industry that will bring a smile to anyone’s face. Many bakeries are thriving despite the pandemic, and Mary Macleod’s Shortbread is certainly one of those success stories. Though Mary Macleod herself had passed away, her legacy remains. Her bakery, now run by her daughter-in-law, is a Canadian business that lives to serve with a smile and to bring similar smiles to others’ faces. Macleod started with a dream and “lots and lots of butter”, so to build a cookie empire that is currently expanding into the U.S.
The holiday season is a time where we are particularly aware of making or receiving goodwill gestures, and the tradition of buying or baking goods to make someone smile still holds true, even during a pandemic.
The holidays, with Channukah and Christmas counted among them, are a time to share treats as a gesture of caring, enjoying them with friends and family. This means it’s a great time to start packaging your goods as a pandemic-friendly gift centre. Office parties? Promote platters of individually wrapped cookies and pre-sliced cakes. Sell hot cocoa kits of DIY mug cakes or hostess gifts. Some may see a pandemic, where others see opportunity. More than ever, bakeries can satisfy health-conscious clients and those looking for indulgence and comfort.
While we don’t know what challenges 2021 may bring, we can look back on this year and reflect on what we’ve learned. Is a crisis management system in place? Is your point of sale or online ordering system optimized? Clients are looking for healthier options during a time when public health never seemed more precarious. Meanwhile, they are also looking for something that soothes their inner child.
If you were unlucky enough to miss the live version of the California Raisin webinar on The Business of Baking with Raisins, you’re in luck: You can still access it online through our webinar tab on the website. You can learn how to make traditional Christmas stollen with a probiotic twist. It’s a pastry that satisfies the urge for reduced sugar, checks the boxes of those looking for treats made with natural yeast and, as always, provides a deeply luxurious, festive pastry.
No matter how you see the next year unfolding, Bakers Journal and I wish you and your business a happy, and prosperous New Year. Above all, I wish you and your bakery a healthy year ahead. Enjoy your pastry and good company in good health! / BJ
DECEMBER 2020 | VOL. 80, NO. 10
EDITOR | Naomi Szeben editor@bakersjournal.com 416-510-5244
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briefly | Queen Street Bakery expands; Palsgaard invests in expansion and Nielsen-Massey Vanillas appoints new CEO | for more news in the baking world, check out our website, www.bakersjournal.com
Nielsen-Massey Vanillas, the provider of fine vanilla extracts and natural food flavours, has announced that Jonathan Thompson has joined Nielsen-Massey Vanillas as CEO, in an announcement released today by the company’s board of directors.
“I am very pleased to be the next CEO of Nielsen-Massey Vanillas. This is an exciting time for the company and I look forward to working with the entire team to grow and scale the business”, said Thompson in a press release. “The Nielsen-Massey brand is world–renowned
for its legacy of over 100 years of uncompromising commitment to quality and is well poised to address contemporary market trends and rising demand for sustainably sourced, high quality, natural food products.”
Thompson is a veteran CPG executive with experience growing brands and leading top performers in high growth categories. Most recently he was general manager for the Isopure Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Glanbia Performance Nutrition, the global market leader in sports and performance nutrition and a division of Glanbia, PLC headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. During his tenure, he led Isopure through a business turnaround, returning the brand to profitable growth and establishing a presence in major retail outlets throughout the US and internationally. Prior to Isopure, Thompson held other executive roles at Glanbia Performance Nutrition and Optimum Nutrition, and also held various roles at Danone and Mars/Masterfoods.
Queen Street Bakery (QSB), a Canadian food startup in the gluten free industry, is announcing that it has secured a new strategic equity partner in District Ventures Capital (DV), a venture capital fund led by entrepreneur Arlene Dickinson.
Established in 2018, QSB creates allergen-free products from functional ingredients like chia flour and bean flour. Despite the restrictions of the pandemic, QSB has grown from just 50 stores in the GTA to over 1,000 stores Canada-wide. Their customers include leading Canadian retailers such as Loblaws, Sobeys, Whole Foods, Farm Boy and Choices Markets.
“While the love of bread is universal, the ability to consume it isn’t. Queen St. Bakery has created innovative products that consumers with gluten intolerance and personal preferences are interested in and have uniquely positioned themselves in the market” said Arlene Dickinson, general partner of DV in a press release. “We are delighted to partner with a company that doesn’t only create high quality products for those who already eat gluten-free, but an alternative for anyone who has an on-again/off-again relationship with bread.”
Giovanni Angelucci, founder and CEO of QSB, says that the gluten-free market has been a sleepy industry, ripe for innovation. He believes that gluten-free bread will be the new norm.
“We’ve replaced inflammatory ingredients like wheat, rice and corn, the base for both traditional and gluten-free bread, with ingredients like chia and beans”.
QSB also launched in food service with local restaurants, and are looking to partner with popular chains seeking a healthier bread for sandwiches and hamburgers.
From the latest in magnetic separators to humidity sensors, Bakers Journal keeps you “in the know.” for more on new products for the baking industry, check out our website, www.bakersjournal.com
Goudsmit Magnetics received a request from a chocolate garnish producer. Chocolate chips and granules can possibly contain tiny pieces of metal less than <1 mm in diameter, and Goudsmit Magnetics can help detect and remove such fragments.
Metal fragments are a common problem in chocolate and food production. Goudsmit Magnetics were asked if they could filter the pieces containing metal out of the product flow, without loss of product.
To achieve this, the company developed a high gradient separator with a strong magnetic conveyor roller, specifically for the food industry. This system achieves exceptionally high separation efficiency, not just for iron particles, but also for weakly magnetic stainless steel particles, such as AISI 304 and AISI 316.
The high gradient separator is more effective than a free-fall magnetic separator, because with the latter you have to slow down the metal particle before you can capture it. In addition to chocolate, the magnetic separator is also
suitable for other dry, granular products, such as herbs and spices.
The process itself is simple: A vibrating chute feeds the chocolate flakes and pellets onto the conveyor belt and distributes the products in a single layer over the belt. The conveyor belt turns around the magnetic roller that captures and carries away the metal-containing product. The clean product falls directly into the packaging machine.
Hygiene is of the utmost importance to the food industry. This is something Goudsmit Magnetics considered carefully while designing the HG separator. A quick release system makes removal and replacement of the conveyor belt quick and easy. The special open construction and covers that easily swing out of the way make the system easy to clean.
ECD BakeWATCH® announced an update to its popular Kill Step Calculator program.
The software revision, Kill Step 1.5.0, improves on simplicity and effectiveness for optimized productivity across global regions and integrates a new rule for accurate time above calculations throughout the profile. These enhancements add to an alreadyrobust, highly-effective solution for FSMA compliance data generation and reporting routines.
Developed and introduced in 2017, ECD BakeWATCH’s Kill Step Calculator automation software has seen wide adoption as the most thorough and simple method by which to collect required data and produce FSMA documentation for the post-bake HACCP. Integrating the BakeWATCH M.O.L.E.® thermal profiler and a Windows-based Kill Step Calculator, ECD’s system has streamlined accurate bakery D-reduction reporting productivity for bakeries around the world. Through automated data collection and individual dough channel validation, Salmonella D-reduction report generation is achieved without complex, cumbersome exports to Excel.
“Endorsed and used by AIB and in alignment with its Kill Step protocol standards, the BakeWATCH tool has become the baking industry go-to resource for FSMA compliance,” says ECD BakeWATCH Product Manager, Ray Pearce in a press release. “As the software has become more widely integrated, our commitment to continuous improvement to ensure ongoing robustness for simple Kill Step verification is more important than ever. These latest software modifications address two key functional enhancements.”
Optima developed a new software application called “Remote Assist” which puts the company in real-time virtual contact with customers looking for technical support. The central Industrial IT department has developed the digital service and the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated its completion.
The current situation makes traveling difficult, and on-site service visits even harder. The new “Remote Assist” software allows Optima to remain in close contact with customers. “Thanks to our employees’ great commitment, we have succeeded in completing the new Smart Service even earlier than planned,” says Dr. Benjamin Haefner, Head of Industrial IT in a statement.
The primary function of “Remote Assist” is real-time communication for the rapid resolution of technical problems. If a problem arises during ongoing production, the Optima service expert can be immediately on the spot. The Optima expert is right at the heart of the production line within seconds via live video and audio transmission. This enables him to purposefully guide the operator, provide direct support with troubleshooting or carrying out urgently needed work, and so get production up and running again as quickly as possible. This can be done via all mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets or augmented reality glasses. Documents like videos and operating instructions can also be streamed live.
INGREDIENTS METRIC GRAMS
Yield 6 Stollen
California Golden Raisins 785 g
Orange, candied 200 g
Lemon, candied 100 g
Cherries, glazed 3 g
Almonds, slivered roasted 300 g
Rum, dark 210 ml
Rum, extract 6 g
Lemon, zest 20 g
Bitter almond essence 5 g
Total 1776 g
SPONGE
INGREDIENTS METRIC GRAMS COMMENTS
Yeast, compressed 225 g alternatively 75 g instant yeast can be used
Milk 785 ml
Flour, pastry 1,010 g protein content 8-9 %
Total 2020 g
DOUGH
INGREDIENTS
GRAMS COMMENTS
Fruit mix 1776 g from above
Sponge 2020 g from above
Flour, bread 1565 g protein content 12-14 %
Eggs, whole 365 ml
Sugar, granulated 225 g
Salt 28 g
Spice mix 20 g from above
Butter, unsalted 670 g softened
Raisin paste 600 g to be used as filling or smear
Total 7269 g
Fruit mix: Roast the almonds and allow plenty time to cool. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix with a wooden spoon. Cover and place in a warm place, stirring every two hours, until all the liquid is completely absorbed.
Sponge: Warm the milk to not more than 25°C and dissolve the yeast in the milk. Add the flour and work into a wet dough. Place the remaining flour on top of the sponge and rest in a warm place until the sponge rises to about three times its original size and breaks through the flour.
Dough: To prepare the final dough, combine all remaining ingredients except the soft butter and fruits in a mixing bowl. Using a dough hook, mix the dough in first gear for three minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the side of the bowl. The dough will appear dry at this point. Shift to third gear and mix for additional 8 minutes, gradually adding the soft butter until you have a well-developed elastic dough. Return to first gear and add the fruit mixture, carefully blending without
INGREDIENTS METRIC GRAMS COMMENTS
Butter, unsalted 453 g clarified and melted, see note #1 below
Sugar, vanilla as needed see note #2 below
Sugar, powdered as needed see note #3 below
Total 453 g
INGREDIENTS METRIC GRAMS
Cinnamon, ground 2.5g
Anise seed, ground 2.5g
Coriander, ground 2.5g
Cloves, ground 2.5g
All-spice, ground 2.5g
Cardamom, ground 2.5g
Nutmeg, ground 2.5g
Black pepper, ground 2.5g
Total 20 g
destroying the fruits. After mixing the dough temperature should be ideally 21°C. Allow the dough to bulk ferment for 30 minutes. Cover the dough to prevent the surface from drying out, avoiding an “elephant skin”. Apply two 3-folds (envelope folds), one in each direction, gently pressing the dough down. This will release the gases and supplies the yeast with new food. Repeat this step three more times, allowing the dough to rest 20 minutes each time.
After the third cycle is completed use a balance beam scale and divide the dough into 430 g pieces. Round the dough pieces, and allow the dough to bench rest for five minutes at room temperature, keeping the dough covered at all times, before rolling them to about 15 cm in length. Then, place a rolling pin lengthwise into the center of the dough log. Press firmly and roll the pin to stretch the piece into an oval that has two thick ends. When the desired proportion has been achieved, add the raisin paste in the center of the dough. Fold over one end so it rests just below the opposite end, forming two rims. Place the stollen on a parchment-lined sheet pan, and cover with a plastic. Alternatively, after shaping the dough into an oval, smear the raisin paste all over the dough and proceed to the folding of the Stollen. Proof at room temperature for about twenty minutes. Remove the plastic and gently compress the edges of the stollen with a rolling pin, be careful not to damage the rim. Bake without delay at 182°C for about 20-25 minutes, until they are light golden brown with an internal temperature of 82°C. Remove the stollen from the sheet pan onto a cooling rack.
Glazing: Brush the stollen immediately with the melted clarified butter, while the stollen is still hot. Multiple applications will be required to use all the butter, so be patient. When the stollen is cool, roll them in vanilla sugar and then dust them with powdered sugar.
Baker’s Notes:
1. Clarified butter is also called drawn butter. Simply defined, clarified butter is unsalted butter that has the milk solids and water removed
so all that remains, is pure liquid golden-yellow butterfat. The advantages of this type of butter are its long keeping quality (several months refrigerated) and its high smoke point (can be used in frying without burning).
2. Vanilla sugar: Use “leftover” vanilla beans from other applications Bury beans in an airtight container, cover with granulated sugar and seal
tightly. Use after a few weeks of infusion.
3. Powder sugar tend to dissolve when frozen, hawed, chilled, wrapped or in high humidity conditions. Products like “sweet snow” or “snow sugar” are made from dextrose rather than sucrose, which encapsulated to stop it from dissolving when used for dusting Stollen.
JESSICA HURAS
Three talented bakers from across Canada share the stories of their diverse culinary careers. Spanning from start-up bakeries to upscale resort kitchens, we find out what inspires these bakers and the role their heritage plays in their craft.
TAMMY MAKI, OWNER, RAVEN
Baking has allowed Tammy Maki to find a connection with her two families: one by birth and one by adoption. A Saulteaux Ojibwe Kwe from White Bear First Nation in Saskatchewan, Maki was adopted by a Finnish family in Ontario during the Sixties Scoop, a series of policies that saw thousands of Indigenous children taken from their homes and adopted out to white families from across Canada and the United States beginning in the 1950s.
Maki says one of her earliest memories is of making pulla, a traditional Finnish cardamom bread, with her adopted mother. “I always loved it,” Maki says of baking. “It’s very relaxing.” Maki worked in several different industries, often baking in the evenings and making wedding cakes for friends on the side, before turning to baking as a full-time career after what she jokingly describes as a “midlife crisis.”
}After graduating from Cambrian College’s baking program in Sudbury, Maki spent almost a decade working on the pastry teams of various west coast restaurants, including the Fairmont Banff Springs and Rimrock Resort Hotel. Ultimately, Maki says she wanted to strike out on her own. “I decided that it was important to meld who I am as a person with who I am as a pastry chef,” she says. In recent years, Maki has shifted into pastry consulting and offering custom orders via an online shop. She’s now refocusing her business on a style of baking that has deeper ties to her cultural roots. Rebranded as Raven Rising, her online bakery now specializes in chocolates and pastries made with Indigenous
”I want to incorporate traditional Indigenous ingredients. Not just regionally, not just Canadian, but on a global Indigenous scale.” — Tammy Maki, owner of Raven Rising online bakery.
ingredients. “I want to incorporate traditional Indigenous ingredients. Not just regionally, not just Canadian, but on a global Indigenous scale,” she explains. “I want to introduce them and educate people while they eat them so they can understand them better.”
Maki frequently works with ingredients like hand-picked wild rice, bison, as well as various seeds and berries, much of which she sources from other local Indigenous businesses. The result is creations ranging from sea buckthorn chocolates to bison pemmican and all-natural cookies made with fruit, whole wheat flour, and molasses. Maki says that her goal is to blend Indigenous
ingredients with classic pastry techniques and flavours. “I want to celebrate my heritage, but I also want to celebrate the other side of who we are as Canadians,” she says.
LENORE JOHNSON, OWNER, LENJO BAKES, KITCHENER, ON Lenore Johnson’s years spent baking abroad are the main source of inspiration for the imaginative pastries she makes at her Kitchener bakery, LenJo Bakes. Johnson says she has always been drawn to baking because of its capacity to open up endless possibilities with just a few simple ingredients.
“You’re taking basic ingredients – flour, butter, sugar, eggs – and you can make almost anything,” says Johnson. “If you have those four core things, the sky is really the limit.”
Johnson initially viewed baking as a hobby, but in her third year of a math
degree at the University of Waterloo, she realized the career she was working towards would be too demanding to also allow her to follow her passion for baking. “I very quickly realized that with a full-time job, pursuing pastry was probably not going to be possible,” she says. “I decided I wanted to do what made me happy and that was baking”
After graduating from the pastry program at George Brown College in Toronto, Johnson travelled to the U.K. on a working holiday visa and spent several years working as a pastry chef in high-end hotel kitchens. Her next move took her to a winery in New Zealand, where Johnson also started to dip her toes into the world of small business. Working out of a shipping container kitchen space, Johnson began selling custom pastries and cakes via online orders. “It allowed me to flesh out the beginning stages of LenJo Bakes as a business in a real-world environment,” says Johnson. “I realized that I could do this, at least on a small scale.”
An opportunity to return to her alma mater George Brown as an instructor eventually brought Johnson back to Canada, and she also began searching for
a permanent home for LenJo Bakes. Eventually she found it in a rundown convenience store in northern Kitchener, which Johnson says both she and her new landlord believed could be transformed into something beautiful.
At LenJo Bakes, which opened in February 2020, Johnson says she enjoys introducing pastries, desserts, and baked goods that are popular in the U.K. and New Zealand to a new Canadian audience. “It’s bringing in these little things that we don’t really have the culture for here in North America but I don’t think it’s for lack of wanting it, I think there just isn’t anybody doing it,” she says. “This idea, which I’ve grown out of nothing, to see it thrive and for people to really catch the vision of what I’m trying to do, I’m really proud of that.”
Growing up, pastry chef Kimberely Vy constantly found herself surrounded by food. As a child, Vy says she often accompanied her mother to work in restaurant kitchens. Cooking was also at the heart of her family life at home. “All
the women in my family did a ton of cooking, so I was always surrounded by that culture,” says Vy. “We would have get-togethers with the family and big feasts would be served.”
After completing a diploma in baking and pastry arts at Calgary’s Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, Vy worked on the pastry teams at a series of Calgary restaurants and overhauled the pastry program at the Calgary Zoo, before joining Aura Waterfront Restaurant + Patio in Victoria, B.C as pastry chef.
Vy says the opportunity to work with executive chef Takashi Ito was one of her main motivations for making the move to Aura. “It’s a rare luxury to be able to work with somebody as a mentor who is fairly established in the culinary world and who also looks like me,” explains Vy. “It’s refreshing to work with somebody that just gets you on a cultural level.”
The flavours of Vy’s childhood often serve as an inspiration for the sophisticated desserts and pastries she develops at Aura. “We were kind of a big mixed bag culturally,” says Vy of her family, explaining that her parents are both VietnameseChinese and her mom was born in Laos and also lived in Thailand for many years. “Lots of flavours are inspired by Southeast Asian cultures: I like to do a lot of salty-sweet and salty-sour.”
She adds that while European baking tends to incorporate high-end nuts like hazelnuts, almonds, and pistachios, she’ll often opt to work with peanuts instead, which are much more prevalent in Southeast Asian cooking.
As a leader in the kitchen at Aura, Vy aims to combat the sexism and ageism she frequently encountered early in her career. “The way I lead my team is a direct cause of me being in those experiences and doing the opposite,” she says.
“Sometimes, as a person of colour, you can definitely deal with microaggressions,” she says of her previous roles. “A company might not realize what they’re doing could be harmful, so then having to educate them can be challenging. At the same time, I realize there’s value in educating an organization so that it doesn’t happen in the future.” / BJ
Jessica Huras is a Toronto-based food writer. Her work has also appeared in the Globe and Mail, Elle, Sharp, and TVO, among other major Canadian publications. You can reach her at jesshuras@ gmail.com.
NAOMI SZEBEN
Mary Macleod’s Shortbread shop moved online in 2018, and relocated into an industrial bakery facility, yet kept its homey, cottage feel.
Bakers Journal had a chat with the owner and CCO (Chief Cookie Officer) Sharon Grewal-Macleod, the late Mary Macleod’s daughter-in-law to discuss how the environment has changed for bakers. Moving into a more digital space didn’t worry the company. They applied to Export Canada for a grant to help them expand across the border as well expanding on their virtual sales.
“We had started making our push into the United States this past year. We really wanted to build our website for B2B and B2C in the U.S. market.”
}Grewal-Macleod added,“When the credit crisis hit back in 2008-09, we actually did much better, because people were giving food gifts and comfort gifts versus lavish dinners and expensive bottles of wine,” she reflected. “But, it could also be that people aren’t going to gift ‘things’. They might be gifting to charities or to frontline workers.” She adds that though Christmas sales projections are uncertain during the COVID crisis, certain sales remain steady. “We did have a lot of customers who were gift-giving to their staff members at times when they wouldn’t have otherwise done so. We had a lot of customers stocking their pantries with our gluten-free shortbread, in particular. So that’s something that we saw a spike in during the pandemic.”
The “black and white” of business has changed since the pandemic. Classic flavours like chocolate chip shortbread remains a constant during and after holiday giving.
Web-based transactions are driving the company’s business, using large, bright visuals to draw in potential and returning clients.
to go through everything, from looking at our benefits program to onboarding a few new staff members. It then became a question of what to do in this context, maybe doing a workshop program on reducing hours, since we had some staff who were afraid to leave the house and didn’t want to come to work. I certainly didn’t want to force anyone to come and not feel safe as they rightfully should.” By anticipating their customers’ needs, Mary Macleod’s Shortbread is creating a new client base through imaginative marketing techniques.
on individually wrapped cookies as a new packaging option, because you don’t necessarily want to send a big cookie jar to an office for sharing. As such, we can accommodate by individually wrapping them, if necessary.”
Web-based transactions are driving the company’s business, using large, bright visuals to draw in potential and returning clients.
Once the lockdown began, the company shifted its plans. “I think it was three days a week, when we just had meetings
“We’re really trying to push the message out there to that we’re still operating. We can send gifts to your clients’ houses,” offers Grewal-Macleod. “We just started
Despite the pandemic, the company is expanding, recently started selling their new boxes at Gelson’s in San Diego, with plans to move into other U.S. cities. However, there are no plans to increase their line of flavours. “We want to take the shortbread business to the next level and really get this delicious cookie out to more people. That’s why we’re expanding to come up with a lot of different recipes. I really just want to do more of less, focusing on our core flavours and to get them out to more people, because it’s such a delicious cookie.” / BJ
As 2020 draws to a close, BAC talked to both bakers and allied members on how they have been addressing the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure Canadians continue to get their favourite baking products. The following is how they responded to the questions we presented them.
PAUL NICHOLL OWNER OPERATOR DOBBIT BAKEHOUSE
Musquodoboit Harbour,
Nova Scotia
From your perspective, what is the state of the bakery industry in this environment? It seems the industry is generally doing well. There was a bit of a hiccup when the State of Emergency was declared mid-March but it did not take the industry long to respond and rebound.
How is COVID-19 affecting your day to day business? Dobbit Bakehouse is located 30 minutes east of Halifax along the Eastern Shore in a small town of about 5000 people. It is primarily an artisanal bakery offering breads, pastries, cookies, squares, coffees, tea, hot chocolate,
espresso, and so on. We closed for a few days to sort things out when the State of Emergency was declared.
The shop has a small eat-in area which had to close. This pushed my regular customers, especially those who were venturing out, to a new coffee shop with a drive through just 200m away.
Our regular walk-in customers dropped significantly until some restrictions were lifted just before Easter. At that time, walk-in traffic resumed but surprisingly with different faces. Now our biggest challenge is policing physical distancing guidelines since the shop is small and can only hold a few customers inside at a time. Others have to queue outside and 5% abandon altogether.
What strategies did you use to cope with all these changes? The tables were linked together and arrows placed on the floor to corral customers into a flow so we could serve one customer bubble while another was coming in to queue. A lot of signage was created to direct customers but most were so excited to see the products, staff had to remind customers of their responsibility to distance.
Plexiglass barrier was installed on the
main serving area, and a line of pre-packaged products were arranged on top of the secondary cabinet to act as an additional barrier.
In March schedule was reduced from daily to 3 days a week. Operational hours were also reduced from 10 hours to 8 hours. As some restrictions were slowly lifted, we expanded to 4 and then eventually 5 days a week in July.
With the advantage of the Atlantic Bubble, we saw very little difference in sales volumes nor customer counts compared to last year during the summer. As a member of Discover Halifax, the regional tourism commission, we began seeing customers from areas of Nova Scotia that decided to use this time to explore their own province for vacation. Also, being within an easy drive of the city, beach goers discovered our shop.
We increased our postings on social media to attract visitors to our shop.
The local Farmers’ Market could not use their normal hall this summer, and ended up setting up at a small park across the street from my shop. To facilitate those customers, I sponsored a crossing guard to assist folks crossing the busy highway separating us. This was well received and there is now public ground swell to have a cross walk permanently installed in the area.
We also capitalized on the Buy Local,
Support Local, or Bye-bye Local movement that has gained momentum since the pandemic began. The various federal and provincial government programs have been very helpful. Also the work done by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) and industry associations such as the Baking Association of Canada (BAC) have helped with guidance on everything from Best Practices to lobby work.
How are your employees dealing with this situation? Half the staff wanted to be laid off immediately and did not want to come to work. So scheduling changes were made. One baker was happy to come in at night when no one else was in the building. One baker was a former nurse during SARS and helped us establish protocols within the facility. We could only operate 3 days a week at this point.
With the changes in the customer area, additional cleaning protocols, and use of masks, those employees initially laid off, began to feel comfortable enough to return. That allowed us to open 4 days a week just in time for Easter. When a summer student returned in June, we could open 5 days a week in time to align with the relocated Farmers’ Market across the street.
Thinking of 2021, are you optimistic that business conditions will improve? I think the Atlantic Bubble has worked well. Assuming it is not compromised I have no reason to think business will not continue to operate well and perhaps improve. It is interesting that our bread sales have increased 40% during the pandemic. Many of the new customers were introduced to our products when people were opting to Shop Local and avoid the larger stores. Many of the new shoppers have continued with us and I am getting requests to wholesale our bread at smaller country stores in our area.
Selfishly, being closed 2 days a week has given me time to recharge, sharpen my saw, review my business plan for the next 5 years, and initiate some changes that have been on the “to-do list for a very long time.
EDOUARD POT PRESIDENT/GENERAL MANAGER PURATOS CANADA Mississauga, Ontario
From your perspective, what is the state of the bakery industry in this environment? To summarize it quickly: people continue to eat bread and sweet goods, but they changed their habits. Our bakery industry remains strong and healthy and its perspective are still great.
Our companies were able to adapt to the new demands of the business and to serve customers and consumers at any moment of the crisis, reflecting a great adaptability and a strong resilience. But impact is so different from one company to another, depending who are your customers, that it is hard yet to measure and to share a general positive message.
What we can see from a consumer point of view is that artisan and food service are directly impacted by the social restrictions. They had to find creative ways to preserve part of their business. On the other side, retail directly benefited from the in-house lock down, growing significantly the volumes of packed bakery items
with a longer shelf life. Summer did show us that being back to normal is something possible and we have a mission to support our artisan and food service networks.
Finally, from a consumer point of view, the pandemic is accelerating the already existing trend of health and well-being. In the future, we must accelerate our transition to clean(er) ingredients and local sourcing, but also offer better nutritional solutions for the same bakery items. This is our social contribution.
We offered more flexibility to our employees and focused more on the results than the tasks.
How is COVID-19 affecting your day to day business?
COVID-19 has a direct impact on our ability to make projects, the unknown becoming our daily reality. Which product will work? How to forecast? Which product should I keep in stock? Will my customer be able to pay? What about this strategic project?
The pandemic is disrupting the normal way of our business, leading us to structurally change our way of operating. Fastest decision process to accompany our customers, more focus on our (new) key projects, significant investment of the teams to manage the supply chain and secure the financial, we do the same, but we do it differently.
Having most of us at home, using new digital communication tools, to manage this deep transformation is an interesting experience: there was a quick and efficient adoption of this new way of working. But after 9 months, we can now say what works and what does not. And our main priority is now to build the real “new normal” day to day business.
What strategies did you use to cope with all the changes
COVID-19 has fostered? People first. Our teams are our main asset and make us strong in the market. We made sure everyone was safe and ‘’comfortably seated’’ to face the rollercoaster that was coming. We reinforced our internal leadership, multiplied formal and informal contact points to maintain and enhance our project management. And we took care of each other to maintain engagement and enablement at the highest levels.
Digital of course. Not only the great communication tools that allow us to keep our ability to create and execute. But also, in our way to operate, in order to continue building great relationships with our customers, sharing strategic market insights, developing new products and re shaping the customer service experience. The crisis gave us an opportunity to accelerate significantly our digital presence and efficiency, and it is just a start.
Health & Well Being as an obvious element of what our bakery industry must offer in the future. Our consumers are more educated, more demanding and they want to understand what is written on the labels, where does their food come from and what is the impact of what they eat. We have a unique opportunity to improve our contribution.
Customer centricity. We are all in this together and our com-
pany made sure to keep the closest possible contacts with our customers. Ensuring the best service, anticipating the volume moves, aligning on the priorities, accelerating the key projects: we monitored the crisis effects together.
How has the pandemic impacted your employees and what changes or measures have you implemented with them? This aspect is a massive change and it is just the beginning. Firstly, we secured our teams. Meaning that any employee who could perform his job from home was sent home. It allowed us to empty the workplace and offer better work conditions for the employees who still had to come to the office or the factory. We implemented a clear protocol to limit access and secure the workplace. This was quite an easy move as our industry is already familiar with strict protocols.
We offered more flexibility to our employees and focused more on the results than the tasks. Our management committee made sure to keep a close contact by organizing regular Town Halls and business updates. Our social committee did also a great work to keep the non-formal link with a monthly Happy Hour.
Adoption was quite quick and efficient, and engagement of our teams remain a great strength after 9 months. We focused a lot on enablement by simplifying the priorities and sharing regularly about the efficiency of our new way of working.
After a few months, we can say it works and we have a lot of positive to build on. As a matrix organization, our main challenge would remain the ‘’unformal efficiency’’. Now we can value the importance of the coffee breaks, office chats to solve the little things of the day to day business. Our future way of working will be a mix of digital and office presence for sure!
Thinking of 2021, what is your perspective on business conditions for the New Year? I remain optimistic here because I think we went through a lot already. A sudden end of the pandemic does not seem to be a short-term option and the safest is probably to accept that we will live with it in order to adapt our priorities and expectations. This will be our way to get back to normal.
From a consumer standpoint, we can expect an acceleration of the trends observed in 2020. But we can also build on the summer 2020: things were quickly back to normal. It is now our job to stimulate again the consumption with innovations & improvements that meet the new needs. Our industry can accelerate the adoption of these trends.
Yes, the business conditions will most probably remain challenging in 2021 with again an extreme volatility. Our industry needs to support the food service and artisan channels through the crisis, because they will remain a key component of our market in the future.
JACK KUYER OWNER AND OPERATOR THE VALLEY BAKERY Burnaby, British Columbia
From your perspective, what is the state of the bakery industry in this environment? It varies significantly. Bakeries doing business with grocery retailers appear to be doing
OK. Foodservice businesses are far more negatively impacted. Businesses in business corridors who rely on consumer going to and from the office are also being challenged.
How is COVID-19 affecting your day to day business? We limit the number of customers into our store to 4 at a time. We have an order system to allow for customer pick up at our rear door. We also have reconsidered our advertising and been restricting large ingredient orders.
What strategies did you use to cope with all these changes? Like everywhere else our employees are using either masks of face shields. We have barriers between customers and staff to maintain social distancing. Sanitation protocols have been increased and we limit employees in the staff room to two at a time.
Businesses in business corridors who rely on consumer going to and from the office are also being challenged.
How has the pandemic impacted your employees and what changes or measurers have you implemented with them? For the most part we have been able to retain our current staff. Initially we had some staffing challenges with sales team who were dealing directly with the customers but that has now improved. We also undertook training with staff on appropriate COVID safety protocols.
Thinking of 2021 what is your perspective on the business conditions for the New Year? I see the pandemic continuing to dominate until at least the end of February 2021 and possibly even longer. Some may question if it will ever go really away. There are certainly significant questions about the survival of small business and how long we can rely on government support programs to get us through the pandemic.
DUFFLET ROSENBERG FOUNDER & CEO DUFFLET PASTRIES
Toronto, Ontario
From your perspective, what is the state of the bakery industry in this environment? Certainly it is challenging. The reduction of foodservice and hospitality industries had a significant impact on commercial bakeries who were servicing those markets. The growth in the retail grocery sector has helped to make up for some of this. Certainly the industry was improving in the late summer and early fall as governments reduced the lock down restrictions.
How is COVID-19 affecting your day to day business? We are spending a lot more time doing things that we used to consider normal. In the early days of the pandemic we were faced with labour challenges that were exacerbated by the some of the government support programs that were offered. Even application to business support programs is time consuming –but gratefully received.
Our business also has a multi ethnic work force so accurate and ongoing communications with them regarding COVID protocols is essential. Even our deliveries are taking longer as we comply not only with our protocols but those of our customers.
The reduction of foodservice and hospitality industries had a significant impact on commercial bakeries who were servicing those markets.
What strategies did you use to cope with all these changes? Employee safety was paramount so along with personnel protective wear we implemented temperature taking and health questionnaires for all staff before each shift. We used “town hall” meetings to explain ongoing social distancing and other safety protocols.
With the shutting down of foodservice and hospitality markets we refocused our efforts on grocery retail. As home entertainment and other gatherings have been restricted in size we also produced product in smaller serving sizes.
How are your employees dealing with this situation? Overall relatively well. Due to the availability of overtime some employees are actually benefiting financially from the situation.
Thinking of 2021, what is your perspective on business conditions for the New Year? Looking into the future or forecasting is highly challenging because there are so many unknowns. Will there be a vaccine? If so when and how effective will it be? Our focus going forward will be to maintain our product quality while continuing to innovate.
MICHEL DION VP STRATEGIC SALES LALLEMAND’S NORTH AMERICAN BAKERS
Montreal, Quebec
From your perspective, what is the state of the bakery industry in this environment?
Overall we see the industry as strong and stable. Foodservice is returning due to re-openings and this has corresponded to
an increase in demand for baked goods. We have also seen a significant increase in demand for yeast as a result of home baking by consumers.
How is COVID-19 affecting your day to day business?
Our initial focus was to ensure we were able to continue to produce and deliver product while ensuring the safety our employees and customers. We have and continue to regularly reach out to all our customers with a focus on being flexible to meet their needs. We implemented virtual working for all but the most essential workers as a way of keeping them safe. We have also increased and improved our internal communications with the use of Microsoft Teams.
What strategies did you use to cope with all these changes?
A lot of the focus was around communications. We increased virtual meetings with employees and focused on team collaborations. Regular virtual meetings with customers are also now the norm. Protective wear was provided and safety protocols put into place. In support of this we launched a specific COVID-19 website for employees. As we have facilities across North America our communications are in French, Spanish and English. Lastly we developed a motto for these times “Your health is everyone’s health” and remind our teams regularly of the need to be responsible to/ for each other.
How has the pandemic impacted your employees and what changes or measurers have you implemented with them? We have heightened the use of digital platforms in our focus on training and overall communications. Aside from the COVID-19 measurers we have a real focus on our employee’s mental health. The anxiety and unknowns created by the pandemic is causing much more stress for everyone. We are training staff to be more sensitive and responsive to employee needs. We are telling staff to be sure to take time for themselves and colleagues to have informal discussions about non work or COVID-19 related issues in order to have a break from day to day anxieties.
Thinking of 2021 what is your perspective on the business conditions for the New Year? We see 2021 starting off with a repeat of 2020’s ending with the overall situation continuing to be unpredictable. In face of this, flexibility and agility will be key to respond to new opportunities or challenges.
We also plan on taking what is working in 2020 and improving upon it. This includes safety measures with employees as there are a lot of learnings from COVID-19 that will need to be continued. There will also continue to be a focus on product R & D and further efforts to meet customer needs.
Many thanks to those who generously participated and shared their insights and to all the dedicated employees from across Canada – BAC thanks you. Social entrepreneur Fabrice Vil called 2020 a time of reckoning and of generational unlearning and relearning across industries and around the world. This is exactly what our members have done and will continue to do though 2021.
Below is the list of contracted exhibitors. The event has been postponed to September 27 & 28 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions. Baking Association of Canada would like to acknowledge the support of the companies below during these challenging times and we are looking forward to welcoming them back to the Bakery Showcase 2021 event.
AB MAURI NORTH AMERICA www.abmna.com
ABBEY PACKAGING EQUIPMENT LTD. www.abbeypackaging.com
ABELL PEST CONTROL www.abellpestcontrol.com
ABI LTD www.abiltd.com
ADM/MATSUTANI LLC www.fibersol.com
ADM MILLING CANADA www.adm.com
AGRICULTURE & FOOD LABORATORY – UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH www.afluoguelph.ca
ALPHA POLY www.alphapoly.com
ALTRO CANADA INC. www.altrofloors.com
AMF BAKERY SYSTEMS www.amfbakery.com
APPLE VALLEY FOODS INC. www.applevalleyfoods.com
ARDENT MILLS www.ardentmills.ca
ASTRONOVA www.quicklabel.com
AXIOM INDUSTRIAL SOLUTIONS www.axiomtrades.com
AZELIS CANADA www.azeliscanada.com
BAKEMARK www.yourbakemark.com
BAKERS JOURNAL www.bakersjournal.com
BANK BROTHERS SUSTAINABLE INGREDIENTS www.bankbros.com
BARRY CALLEBAUT www.callebaut.com/en-CA
BERTHELET FOOD PRODUCTS INC. www.berthelet.com
BETTENDORF STANFORD www.bettendorfstanford.com
BLENDTEK INGREDIENTS www.blendtek.com
BRITISH CANADIAN IMPORTERS LTD. www.bcimporters.com
BUHLER INC. www.buhlergroup.com
BUNGE LODERS CROKLAAN www.bungenorthamerica.com
BURNBRAE FARMS LTD. www.burnbraefarms.com
BURT LEWIS CANADA www.burtlewiscanada.ca
CAKERY DECOR www.cakerydecor.com
CALIFORNIA WALNUTS www.walnuts.org
CANADIAN MILL NETTCLEAN SUPPLY INC. www.canmill.com
CARMI FLAVORS www.carmiflavors.com
CHICAGO METALLIC BAKEWARE CANADA www.cmbakeware.ca
CHOCOLATE SMET CANADA INC. www.smet.be
CONOVEY www.conovey.com
CONTEMAR SILO SYSTEMS INC. www.contemar.com
CORBION www.corbion.com
CREATIVE POS LTD. www.creativepos.ca
CRS VAMIC www.crsvamic.ca
DAWN FOOD PRODUCTS www.dawnfoods.com
DEALERS INGREDIENTS INC. www.dealersingredients.com
DECOPAC www.decopac.com
DEMPSEY CORPORATION www.dempseycorporation.com
DOYON-NUVU www.doyon.qc.ca
DRADER MANUFACTURING www.drader.com
ECOMA ORGANICS LTD. www.ecoechoethical.com
ECONOLEASE FINANCIAL SERVICES www.econolease.com
ECOPACK www.ecopack.com
EDDE ALMOND PASTE INC. www.edde.ca
ENJAY CONVERTERS www.enjay.com
EQUIPEMENTS PRB www.equipementsprb.com
EUROGERM USA www.eurogerm-usa.com
FANCY POKKET BAKERY www.fancypokket.com
FARINART www.farinart.com
FCC www.fccfinancing.com
FINEBERRY FOODS INC. www.fineberry.ca
FME FOOD MACHINERY
ENGINEERING LTD. www.fmefoodmachinery.com
FOLEYS CANDIES www.foleyschocolates.com
FORMOST FUJI www.formostfuji.com
FORTRESS TECHNOLOGY, INC. www.fortresstechnology.com
FRANCE DÉCOR CANADA www.vixit.com
FRITSCH ca.multivac.com
G. CINELLI ESPERIA CORPORATION www.cinelli.com
GLOBE POS www.globepos.ca
GLOCO ACCENTS www.glocoaccents.ca
GRAIN PROCESS ENTERPRISES LTD. Website under construction
GREAT LAKES MILLING www.greatlakesmills.com
H. MOORE PRINTING SERVICES LTD. www.hmps-labels.com
HANDTMANN CANADA LIMITED www.handtmann.ca
HARLAN BAKERIESEDMONTON, L.P. www.harlanbakeries.com
HARVEST CORPORATION www.harvestcorporation.com
HERO AG www.herofoodservice.com
HEUFT THERMO-OEL GMBH & CO. KG www.heuft-backofenbau.de
HONEY BUNNY INC. www.honeybunny.ca
IDÉAL ALUMINIUM INC. www.idealaluminium.ca
IMCD www.imcdca.com
INNOSEAL SYSTEMS, INC. www.innoseal.com
INTEGRAL HR SOLUTIONS INC www.integralhrsolutions.ca
IREKS NORTH AMERICA www.ireksnorthamerica.com
IVEX PROTECTIVE PACKAGING www.ivexpackaging.com
JOHN BROOKS COMPANY www.johnbrooks.ca
JUST INSTRUMENTS INC. www.justinstruments.net
KASCO CANADA www.kascocorp.com
KLR SYSTEMS www.klrsystems.com
KWIK LOK www.kwiklok.com
L & M BAKERS SUPPLY CO. www.lmbakersupply.com
LACTALIS CANADA www.parmalat-ingredients.ca
LALLEMAND INC. www.lallemandbaking.com
LBC BAKERY EQUIPMENT –CA LTD. www.lbcbakery.com
LENEXA MANUFACTURING COMPANY www.lenexamc.com
LESAFFRE CORPORATION www.lesaffreyeast.com
LIVA FOODS INC. www.livafoods.com
MARGARINE THIBAULT INC. www.nuvel.ca
MARSIA FOODS www.marsia.ca
MDC HOUSEWARES INC. www.mdchousewares.com
MILANAISE MILL www.lamilanaise.com
MIURA CANADA LTD. www.miuraboiler.ca
MIWE CANADA INC. www.miwe.com
ML PACKAGING INC. www.mlpackaging.ca
MOTIONTEK INDUSTRIAL INC. www.motion-tek.ca
MOUNTAIN VIEW COFFEE www.estatescoffee.com
NATU’OIL SERVICES INC. www.natuoil.com
NOVACART www.novacartusa.com
NUTRASUN FOODS www.nutrasunfoods.com
NUTRIART S.E.C. www.nutriart.ca
NUTRIGROUPE www.nutrigroupe.ca
O’DOUGHS www.odoughs.com
P&H MILLING GROUP www.phmilling.com
PACKAGING MACHINERY CONCEPTS LTD. www.pmcltd.ca
PAN GLO www.panglo.ca
PEERLESS FOOD EQUIPMENT www.peerlessfood.com
PETRA INTERNATIONAL INC. www.petradecor.com
PORT ROYAL MILLS LTD. www.portroyalmills.com
PROAX TECHNOLOGIES LTD. www.proax.ca
PRO-CERT ORGANIC SYSTEMS LTD. www.pro-cert.org
PROINGREDIENTS www.proingredients.com
QUADRA INGREDIENTS www.quadra.ca
RAISIN ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE www.californiaraisins.ca
RATIONAL CANADA www.rational-online.com
REDPATH SUGAR LTD. www.redpathsolutions.com
REISER CANADA CO. www.reiser.com
REMCO PRODUCTS www.remcoproducts.com
RF BAKERY EQUIPMENT www.rfbakery.com
RHEON USA www.rheon.com
ROMER LABS www.romerlabs.com
RONDO INC. www.rondo-online.com
RX MUSIC www.rxmusic.com
S.A. CHOCOLATE ALIMENTS INC. www.chocolatealiments.com
S. GUMPERT COMPANY OF CANADA LTD. www.gumpert.com
SAGE SOFTWARE CANADA www.sage.com/ca/X3
SATIN FINE FOODS www.satinice.com
SENSIENT TECHNOLOGIES www.sensientflavors.com
SHERIDAN ELECTRIC SERVICES LTD. www.sheridanelectric.ca
SIGNATURE FINE FOODS www.signaturefinefoods.com
SIMON & NOLAN ENTERPRISES INC. www.simonnolan.ca
SOULANGES MILLS www.moulinsdesoulanges.com
SPRAYING SYSTEMS CANADA www.spray.com
STERLING MARKING PRODUCTS www.sterling.ca
STORCAN www.storcan.com
TAWI CANADA INC. www.tawi.com
TIELMAN NORTH AMERICA www.tielman.com
TIMANI GLUTEN-FREE www.timaniglutenfree.com
TOPPINGS CANADA www.trtoppers.com
UNIFILLER SYSTEMS INC. www.unifiller.com
VALE PACKAGING LIMITED www.valepackaging.ca
VANILLA & SPICE www.vanillaandspice.ca
VANTAGE FOOD www.vantagegrp.com
VC999 Packaging Systems www.vc999.com
VEGA INSTRUMENTS, CANADA LTD www.vega.com
VEGFRESH www.vegfreshinc.com
VINCENT SELECTION www.vincentselection.com
W.D. COLLEDGE CO. LTD. www.wdcolledge.com
WEISHAUPT CORPORATION www.weishaupt-corp.com
ZEPPELIN SYSTEMS USA www.zeppelin-systems.us
Thank you for your support, see you in 2021!
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS as of Feburary 26th, 2020
Baking Association of Canada (BAC) would like to extend their sincere appreciation to the sponsors below that have supported the Bakery Showcase event. The 2020 event is rescheduled to September 27 & 28 2021 at the Toronto Congress Centre due to the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions. BAC is looking forward to bringing back Canada’s most important and effective baking industry B2B annual event Bakery Showcase next year.
Sponsors
BY DIANE CHIASSON
7 top new revenue streams for your bakery in the New Year; Your business can profit as it pivots!
Necessity is the mother of invention.” Bakeries must adapt to changing demands right away. I know bakery owners and managers have an inexhaustible ability to innovate and find new business avenues for the upcoming months.
Since most bakery operations have no dining facilities, “Social Distancing Desserts”, “Quarantine and Regular Meal Kits”, “Home Meals Solutions,” “Stay-atHome Happy Hour Hors D’oeuvres”, and wholesale bulk ingredients have shifted sales models.
}the stress of this pandemic continues, and simple desserts provides some level of comfort. You could offer kits that include everything your customers need to bake and decorate their favourite treats at home. Customers could buy or pick up cinnamon rolls, donuts, cupcakes, or muffins by the dozen that they could then take home, bake and decorate themselves or with their children. These kits eliminate your customers’ stress from going out to shop for ingredients. Offer Chocolate Chip Cookie Kits, Bread Starter Kits, and similar sets. Prepare some frosting bags and an assortment of sprinkles, toppings, along instructions. These are perfect for kids.
Bakeries are getting creative in finding ways to offer their goods and services safely...H\here are some top new revenue streams for bakeries in the New Year.
something or just pick up their orders. How about tantalizing your customers’ tastebuds with these bite-sized hors d’oeuvres treats on a tray? A lot more people are now having “happy hour” drinks at home. It’s a well-known fact that people are consuming more alcohol since the start of this pandemic outbreak. Most people eat unhealthy snacks while drinking. Why not offering an assortment of healthy, stylish hors d’oeuvres? Print some mini menu cards that you can easily put in shopping bags. How about some caramelized cauliflower tots, spinach artichoke zucchini bites, veggie dip, cucumber sushi made with red/yellow bell peppers, carrots, avocado, etc., as well as some baked bloomin’ onion, loaded stuffed potato skins, brussels sprouts sliders, and vegan antipasto skewers? You could also print some mini menu giving suggestions on pairing alcoholic drinks with your hors d’oeuvres.
Many bakeries are getting creative in finding ways to offer their goods and services safely. Several bakeries have come up with different menus or offerings to serve their customers better during this pandemic. Here are some top new revenue streams for bakeries in the New Year.
How easy is it to make some good old fashioned soups, veggie pizzas, or some healthy vegetarian dumplings, pierogies, patties, empanadas, knishes, or samosas? You already have the dough. Nothing beats a freshly roasted vegetable soup with a slice of home-made grain bread.
Start offering baked comfort food: Don’t be afraid to think outside the box when appraising potential home meal solutions clients, and make sure to integrate favourite local ingredients into your preparations. Be unique and creative.
Many people are stuck at home while
These meal kits or ready-to-eat meals arrive pre-cooked. Consisting of pasta, rice, vegetables, meat, fish, and poultry and often come with sauce or seasoning packets. Your customers will only have to heat the meals in a microwave or an oven. Some ingredients may need to be mixed, but no preparation and little to no cooking. Just heat and eat. You could sell vegan or vegetarian kits via pick up, take-out, or delivery.
I have seen many bakeries offering a selection of frozen treats. Your customers could quickly bake these treats at home by simply popping the batter in the oven and then decorate with the supplied frosting and sprinkles. Your options could include cookies, croissants, biscuits, and even pie or pizza dough. The dough is generally pre-portioned, boxed up, and parchment paper is included.
Nowadays, bakeries can often be where people quickly rush in and out to buy
6. START BULK TAKE-OUT OPTIONS
Most items in your bakery’s pantry can be repurposed into unconventional take-out options. Bulk meats, cheeses, eggs, condiments, etc., can be used for omelettes, charcuterie boards, sides a la carte, special sauces, and more.
7. SELL YOUR SURPLUS INGREDIENTS
If you have surplus inventory, consider selling your ingredients in bulk, either to other business or directly to your customers.
You could set up a small area near and around your cash area for take-out food or shopping at your mini bakery mart. / BJ
Diane Chiasson, FCSI, president of Chiasson Consultants Inc., has been helping foodservice, hospitality and retail operators increase sales for over 35 years by providing innovative and revenue-increasing food service and retail merchandising programs, interior design, branding, menu engineering, marketing and promotional campaigns. Contact her at 416-926-1338, toll-free at 1-888-926-6655 or chiasson@chiassonconsultlants.com , or visit www.chiassonconsultants.com
Pastry chefs and bakers bring joy to homes, especially during December.
Classic, traditional baked goods that our grandparents may have enjoyed in their childhoods still remain, with a few twists along the way.
One treat synonymous with Christmas is the fruit cake. At Grandma’s Traditional Fruitcakes, in Red Deer, Alberta, Cynthia
Baumgardt started what she thought would be a seasonal, home based business. The first year she considered herself successful when the local community purchased 200 of her fruit cakes. Today, 31 years later, Grandma’s Traditional Fruitcakes sells between 8000 to 10,000 per year.
“The recipe for the dark fruitcake is from my side of the family. The light fruitcake recipe is from my husband’s side,” Baumgardt says.
Wrapped in shiny red foil, just like a gift, the dark fruit cake contains molasses, dark brown sugar, dark raisins, along with citrus peel and cherries, both green and red.
“The spice blend is a secret,” she says. “The light fruit cake has pure vanilla extract, almond flavouring, golden raisins, citrus peel and cherries.” Customers can also choose to order cakes infused with a simple syrup, made with alcohol.
And what would a holiday gathering be without shortbread? Scottish born, Helen Buchan owns the thriving Mrs. MacGregor’s Shortbread in tiny Pictou, Nova Scotia, population 4000. Armed with her maternal grandmother’s shortbread recipe, she has built a thriving business, that proudly displays the MacGregor family tartan on the box, as well as a beaming photo of herself.
“The classic shortbread is the
top seller. It outsells everything else. People love the buttery flavour,” says Buchan. “Number two is the maple shortbread. I make this by replacing the granulated sugar in the original shortbread recipe with maple sugar,” she reveals. Round out the number three spot is lavender lemon shortbread. In October, November, and December sales boom. “We sell as much in those three months, as we do the whole rest of the year.” In that fourth quarter, the little kitchen uses 800 pounds of butter to bake their shortbread.
Over at High Tea Bakery, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the Imperial cookie reigns supreme. And, if the creation sounds like a classic cookie from Europe, well, guess again. “It a 100 per cent Winnipeg creation,” laughs owner Belinda Bigold, who in 2003, opened the business with her mother Carol.
Stubbe Chocolates bring European flair to edible centrepieces and treats.
choose from sugar cookies that are almost more like a butter cookie or a gingerbread cookie made with molasses.”
tooned Christmas classic.
Over in Montreal, pastry chef Patrice Demers at Patrice Patissier, gives the Bûche de Noël a contemporary spin. “We put mousse in a mold, then we insert a small cake into the center and another one on the bottom. This is frozen before being cut. This way we can add many textures.”
}Just what is the Imperial cookie? It’s an almond shortbread cookie, with a raspberry preserve filling and pure almond icing. It seems everyone from Queen Elizabeth to Bon Jovi have enjoyed it. Within the three to four weeks leading up to Christmas the bakery sells over 25000 of this variety of cookie alone.
High Tea Bakery offers a seasonal collection of cookies. Think eggnog cream cheese cookies, chocolate peppermint thumbprints, nutmeg logs and even a sticky toffee pudding cookie. Bigold is thrilled that even enthusiastic bakers choose to top up their dessert platters with purchases from her bakery every year.
The bakery’s hand decorated cookies are beautifully designed. “We have three collection each year: the Christmas collection, the Hanukah collection and the Snowflakes collection,” says Bigold. “Customers can
At Stubbe Chocolates, in Ottawa, Ontario, fifth generation German chocolatier Heinrich Stubbe takes the traditional gingerbread house and turn its into a 100 per cent chocolate masterpieces. Each is hand cut and crafted. Customers request personalized features, like their street
500 every year. The recipe was originally given to Stubbe, by his teacher, when he was a young apprentice in northern Germany. “Then, once I moved to Canada, I had to adapt it again, because the flours here are so different. So, it’s modified-traditional,” he concludes.
His stollen contains orange peel, almonds, and golden raisins, as opposed dark, so as not discolour the dough.
In October, November, and December sales boom. “We sell as much in those three months, as we do the whole rest of the year.” In that fourth quarter, the little kitchen uses 800 pounds of butter to bake their shortbread.
number, outdoor light fixtures, and mailboxes resembling the ones at their own homes. So detailed are these chocolate creations that only three can be made per day.
“We have a high demand, and we want to make sure everyone is able to take home something special, so we also have molded chocolate homes. Each is hand painted and contains 10 truffles,” says Stubbe. The shop also makes chocolate Christmas trees. The center is a cone of chocolate, with an assortment of chocolate truffles around the outside, available with 40, 60 or 85 truffles.
Stollen, the German Christmas cake, is a seasonal favourite. Sales reach over
This fruit and nut mix is marinated in rum and white wine, for 14 days.
Also, in Ottawa, pastry chef Elina Olefirenko, of Elina Patisserrie, recently designed the Mayan Treasure Christmas Cake, for Mercadito restaurant. “I wanted to create something both vegan and gluten-free, while incorporating ingredients from different regions of Mexico, like coffee, prunes, walnuts, and chocolate.” says Olefirenko.
Made from gluten free flour and glazed in chocolate, it’s topped with handmade dulce de papaya and caramelized orange zest. The result is a cake that is entirely original, yet looks like a jewel fes-
Customers can pre-order three types of Bûche de Noël. First, there is the ever-popular chocolate. “In the center of the dark chocolate mousse is an almond cake, with Amaretto chantilly. It’s made with Avril, an Amaretto made with Quebec maple syrup,” says the pastry chef.
Next, is the coffee hazelnut made with hazelnut praline mousse. A log of cake, is soaked in espresso and rolled, with milk chocolate and coffee chantilly, then placed inside the mousse. “At the bottom is a moist hazelnut cake, with crispy praline flavoured with coffee.”
This year’s creation blends white chocolate mousse infused with chai tea. Inside are two layers of a brown sugar cake, with an apple cranberry jelly in between. As a decorative element Demers says, “Sliced apples are gently poached in pure cranberry juice. We place them in the bottom of the mould before pouring in the mousse.”
Fruitcake, cookies of all kinds, chocolates, European specialties, twists on classics and new contemporary creations. Canadians can enjoy a sweet Christmas thanks to talented pastry chefs and bakers across the nation. / BJ
Karen Barr writes about arts, culture and cuisine. She is a graduate of George Brown College and is a Red Seal pastry chef.
• Front Cover Story • Travel to Bakery Showcase 2021 *see website for specifics
Fruits and vegetables are often used in the bakery industry to add visual appeal and flavour to baked goods. However, the high water activity of fresh fruits and vegetables makes them highly perishable and difficult to store in a manufacturing setting. Drying and milling fresh fruits and vegetables into powder or flake form is one way of preserving them in a more shelf stable format, thereby reducing waste from spoilage.
There are many benefits to using the powdered form of fruit and vegetables in baked goods, including increased shelf stability and ease of use, added flavour and colour, and increased nutritional value. Fruit and vegetable powders can be used in a variety of bakery applications, including sweet goods and yeast-raised products. Many different varieties of fruit and vegetable powders available. One can create sweet decadent cakes and muffins using apple or carrot powders or venture to the savoury side and bake with broccoli, onion or jalapeno, just to name a few applications. Fruit and vegetable powders can be incorporated into just about anything created in bakeries! Some examples include breads and flatbreads, crackers, muffins, cakes, cookies and doughnuts.
Fruits and vegetables are typically high in fiber, which can have an effect on the batter or dough viscosity as well as the finished product attributes.
}One can create sweet decadent cakes and muffins using apple or carrot powders or venture to the savoury side and bake with broccoli, onion or jalapeno, just to name a few applications.
When creating with fruit and vegetable powders, there are certain considerations that need to be taken into account:
In terms of usage, fruit and vegetable powders can typically be pre-blended with the flour component of a formula. Usually, replacing around 10 per cent of the flour with fruit/vegetable powder is a good usage level to start with. The percentage can then be adjusted based on the desired flavour, colour, texture, or nutritional targets. When determining usage level it is
important to take into consideration if the powder is made from pure fruit/ vegetable or if it contains a carrier. If it contains a carrier the usage level may need to be increased to get the same flavour impact. It is also important to take into account what type of fruit or vegetable powder is being added. Some powders, for example from citrus fruits, can have an effect on pH, which may limit the amount that can be added into a product. In chemically leavened products, like cakes, it may interfere with leavening and formula adjustments (such as additional sodium bicarbonate) may be needed.
Another factor that should be taken into account is the fiber content. Fruits and vegetables are typically high in fiber, which can have an effect on the batter or dough viscosity as well as the finished product attributes. Fiber has a high water holding capacity, therefore the use of fruit or vegetable powder tends to increase batter/
dough viscosity. The finished product will also tend to have a higher water activity, which may increase shelf life (in terms of texture) by keeping the product moist over time. Cakes made with fruit or vegetable powders also tend to have slightly lower volume, and firmer crumb. Cookies on the other hand, may have a slightly harder bite and reduced spread. Depending on the desired level of fruit or vegetable powder, some formula adjustments may be needed to counteract these affects. For example, additional liquids may be needed to adjust batter viscosity.
Overall, powdered fruits and vegetables offer bakeries an easy and convenient way of incorporating fruits and vegetables into their products while minimizing the risk of raw material spoilage. It is a great way to add a special impact to a line of products through different flavours and colours, while also enhancing the nutritional value. / BJ
Michelle Amyot is the Research and Development Specialist, Bakery at Caldic Canada Inc., and Kate Tomic is the Customer Development Manager, Bakery at Caldic.
COVID-19 has impacted the way we’re viewing food and this season’s holiday trends.
We’re seeing plant-based and organic desserts, indulgence, modern twists on traditional foods and bread from scratch making their way into seasonal holiday trends.
The pandemic has increased the desire for functional foods that help control and preserve health, with a focus on immunity. We see this making its way into seasonal holiday trends in the form of plant-based and organic desserts.
We’ve seen an increase in the use of pureed fruit and veggies used together in desserts. The most obvious use is in carrot or zucchini
cakes, but one that we expect to see more of is a beet and chocolate cake. The sweetness of the beets works really well with the chocolate. The flavour is intensified if you roast the beets instead of boiling them before using them in a recipe. Organic also plays an interesting role here. Consumers perceive organic as a healthier option and throughout the pandemic, they have been turning towards organic at a higher rate according to The Canadian Organic Trade Association. They are also looking for food safety reassurance -- organic certifications have been a great way to solve for this need for consumers.
We’ve also seen an increase in consumers leaning into indulgent items and eating food for the pure joy of it. COVID-19 has created a rising need for joyful experiences.
Indulgence will be a key trend this holiday season. Anything with real butter, real cream and dark chocolate will satisfy this trend. It’s a great time of year to enjoy the good things, treat yourself and use higher end ingredients. Look towards single origin chocolate with a high cacao percentage to take desserts to the next level. Play around with chocolates from different regions to see the variety of flavours that exist within an ingredient. Use it in a dark chocolate espresso torte for the ultimate chocolate treat. The espresso highlights the deep rich flavours of a single origin chocolate. Top it with a mirror glaze and serve it alongside macerated raspberries for a truly indulgent dessert.
Holidays are about family and tradition, and we don’t expect that to change. This year, we’re
still seeing a return to simple, familiar and comfortable foods, especially in times of turbulence. However, we’re also seeing modern twists and new techniques that align with today’s tastes, needs and preferences, make their way into tried and true heritage traditions.
One of the most interesting things that I’ve seen lately is treating Challah bread like a Babka. Layering in chocolate and cinnamon to a traditional Challah bread and then splitting and twisting it like a Babka before braiding it to get rich layers of chocolate running through the dough. The enriched dough of the Challah combined with the chocolate makes for a decadent treat.
Consumers have been baking a lot of bread during the pandemic. This holiday season, we’ll continue to see sourdough and banana breads remaining strong favourites, with the addition of Irish soda bread as a rising trend. Bread trends plays into a lot of the other factors we just mentioned – indulgence, comfort, nostalgia. Sourdough bread in particular is interesting from a bakery perspective because it hits on many qualities consumers are looking for – artisan, back to basics and variety. There’s a seemingly endless number of ways you can use sourdough. Irish soda bread will be popular for these simple, back to basics reasons as well. / BJ Kirk Borchardt is an Industry Chef for Ardent Mills.
BY JANE DUMMER
Holiday spirits soar with seasonal baking; Limited-edition treats can create excitement with small twists to baked goods.
This holiday season, more than ever, I predict people will be celebrating all things festive including baking. Who does not love getting into the merriment of the season with candycane ice cream? Eggnog for only two weeks out of the year – why not? Every year people wait with anticipation for seasonal items like panettone and fruitcake, plus twists on classics or limited editions with festive flavours like peppermint, gingerbread, cinnamon, spiced rum, and dare I say pumpkin spice!
}One of my holiday favourites is panettone. Is panettone a seasonal bread or cake? Jenny Longo, Director of Private Brands at Longo Brothers Fruit Markets Inc. says, “Both really! Panettone is a cake-like bread, we classify as a seasonal cake. We bring in panettone prior to Canadian Thanksgiving, with most of the imported cakes arriving mid October to early November. Panettone is served as a dessert with sweet wine or prosecco. Today we see multiple uses: toasted in place of bread for breakfast, to make French toast or other desserts.”
owner’s grandfather. Also contributing to panettone’s incomparable light and airy texture, is the fact it’s hung upside down for 24-36 hours to cool-dry after it is baked.
Curious about the history, Violante describes, “There are various legends circulating regarding the origin of panettone. Probably the most famous involves a botched dessert at the Christmas meal in the home of a Milanese aristocrat. A young baker’s apprentice named ‘Tony’ of course, convinced the chef to make a replacement dessert with whatever ingredients were left in the kitchen – flour, butter, candied fruit, raisins. And boom! The Pane di Tony literally ‘Tony’s Bread’ in Italian was born. The rest is history. The crowd went wild and panettone became the ubiquitous treat to end a meal around Christmastime in Italy. Now, I don’t know if that’s true, but I do know
Offering seasonal baked goods from Thanksgiving to Christmas gives operators the chance to change up the shelves and menus.
that Milan is the undisputed capital of panettone and it’s enjoyed in large quantities during the holidays, not only in Italy but all over the world.”
Gluten-free Candy Cane Mousse adds elegance to allergy-free desserts.
Recently, retailers started displaying panettone with non-traditional ingredient like candied pumpkin or apples and cinnamon. Daniel Violante, Vice President Sales and Marketing, Excelsior Foods Inc. explains, “A traditional, authentic panettone recipe includes only butter (no margarine), raisins and candied citrus peel. One other important ingredient is the mother yeast (or starter). This has a huge effect on the overall flavour and texture of the cake. Our supplier uses a 90-year-old starter that dates to the
Offering seasonal baked goods from Thanksgiving to Christmas gives operators the chance to change up the shelves and menus, plus creates an urgency and renewed interest with their customers. Debbie Gust, President, WOW! Factor Desserts explains, “We’re selective on what we launch for seasonal desserts, recognizing it’s a busy yet short time in foodservice. Launching a dessert that creates interest from Fall to Christmas is one thing but having a dessert that can be plated for different occasions is helpful when there is still inventory on hand in January. For example, our year-round White Chocolate Gift box can easily be dressed up and plated for Christmas, but it also works well at Valentines, and other celebrations.”
WOW! Factor Desserts has eleven seasonal flavours, nine of which are
limited editions (two desserts offered year-round including the Warm Ginger Caramel Spice Cake). Guest says, “Our new Candy Cane Mousse was a big hit in 2019 due to its individual serving size, taste, and it’s gluten-free! It checked off many boxes for use on menus and it’s delicious. For years, we’ve been asked to launch full-size Yule Logs. Brand new to our line-up this season, we have two new flavours: chocolate and sugar cream. The Festive Chocolate Yule Log is chocolate cake, crunchy chocolate crumble and silky-smooth chocolate mousseline rolled together. The Festive Sugar Cream Yule Log is a classic vanilla cake, with cream fudge furled together and garnished with exquisite vanilla mousseline and caramel dollops. We’re excited about these new products, as they fill a gap in the marketplace, and we know they’ll be well-received.”
It’s such an indulgent time from October to early January with deliciousness selling out quickly! Which seasonal favourites will you offer your customers to promote holiday cheer this year? / BJ
Jane Dummer, RD, known as the Pod to Plate Food Consultant, collaborates and partners with the food and nutrition industry across North America. www.janedummer.com
FRITSCH is part of the MULTIVAC group
