June 2012

This seafood pie’s hearty filling and flaky crust are the ultimate indulgence.

BY LAURA AIKEN

SHOW BITS AND BITES

This year’s Bakery Showcase in May afforded me a wonderful opportunity to shake hands with many of the warm and friendly people in the baking industry. It’s always great to get out from behind my desk and meet some of our readers. Thank you to those who offered kind words of appreciation for Bakers Journal and who shared your enthusiasm and tales of your own adventures in baking.

Having just returned from Europain in March, my memory is still fresh enough to draw some definitive differences between what’s hot in Europe and what’s happening in North America. In France, local need not be shouted from the rooftops as a trend to capitalize on, as it seems to be a given. As we all know, local is one of the hottest statements to make about your product in Canada right now. I noticed Canadian exhibitors were quick to tell visitors if the product was created in our country. But, even more so than proclamations of location, health is really at the fore of baking here in a way that is beyond clean label, a trend which is big in Europe right now. Whole grains, fortification, natural sugars, organic ingredients, antioxidants, superfruits, sodium reduction, allergen awareness, gluten-free . . . the list goes on and on when it comes to the importance of addressing the nutritional and medical needs of our population with baked goods. I met one baker who mentioned she was taking nutrition classes. I wasn’t surprised, considering that incorporating a health component into goods is a huge edge in a marketplace facing two key health issues.

JUNE | VOL. 72, NO. 5

EDITOR | Laura Aiken editor@bakersjournal.com 416-522-1595 1-888-599-2228 ext. 250

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}Firstly, weight loss is a big factor, and I think it’s fair to say that consumers look for, and perhaps always will look for, a silver bullet to give them an edge in that department. Just look at the success and influence of Dr. Oz, whose show now has an enormous focus on diet tips and tricks. Secondly, the aging population has specific desires, such as functional foods that provide benefits beyond the traditional nutrients (although that market is certainly not limited to seniors).

Considering the enormous emphasis on the health market right now, Health Canada needs to get more involved in educating consumers and take more of a lead on some of the issues of the day.

Considering the strong emphasis on the health market right now, Health Canada needs to get more involved in educating consumers and take more of a lead on some of the issues of the day. We’ve heard this government department talk a lot about sodium reduction, but there’s a heck of a lot more going on in health and food than that. That’s not to say this isn’t an ongoing industry challenge, but our industry is driven by consumer demand, and consumers are demanding a lot more than just sodium reduction. Health Canada has said little on the subject of gluten-free products even though there seem to be more people purchasing the products and growing the market than the numbers of people medically requiring it indicate. The gravitation towards gluten-free is having some impact on bread sales, although just how much impact has not yet been determined, BAC president Paul Hetherington told me at the show. There are misconceptions in the market; for example, some believe that the gluten-free diet is effective as a cleansing or weight-loss tool, or that it is inherently nutritionally superior to diets that contain gluten. Health Canada should be clarifying these concepts for Canadians, considering the growth of the market and its impact on the bakery industry. / BJ

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briefly | Chocolate titans in antitrust lawsuit for alleged price fixing | Salt intake a health challenge for aging populations | for more news in the baking world, check out our website, www.bakersjournal.com

National food strategy can eradicate hunger: UN expert

OTTAWA – During a recent visit to Canada, Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur, advised Canada should be adopting a national right to food strategy.

“What I’ve seen in Canada is a system that presents barriers for the poor to access nutritious diets and that tolerates increased inequalities between rich and poor, and Aboriginal non-Aboriginal peoples. Canada is much admired for its achievements in the area of human rights, which it has championed for many years. But hunger and access to adequate diets, too, are human rights issues – and here much remains to be done.”

The UN human rights expert was nonetheless confident that the country could move towards establishing food systems that deliver adequate and affordable diets for all. He called upon the Canadian government to convene a national food conference to clarify the allocation of responsibilities between the federal level, the provinces and territories.

He highlighted three areas of concern that should be addressed in a national food strategy. First, a large number of Canadians are too poor to afford adequate diets. Second, more than one in four Canadian adults are obese, and almost two thirds of the population is overweight or obese, costing at least C$5 billion annually in health care costs and in lost productivity. Third, the situation of Aboriginal peoples raises specific concerns. Referring to the situation of fly-in communities in Manitoba and reserves in Alberta that he visited during the mission, De Schutter called for a reform of the Nutrition North Canada program that subsidizes retailers to serve remote communities.

De Schutter was encouraged by a number of local and provincial initiatives that seek to rebuild local food systems. De Schutter will present his final report to a forthcoming session of the Human Rights Council in 2013.

Qzina builds world’s largest chocolate sculpture

CALIFORNIA – Qzina Specialty Foods has broken a Guinness World Record for building the largest chocolate sculpture. The sculpture models an ancient Mayan temple and weighs 18,239 pounds, far surpassing the previous record set in Italy in 2010 by more than 7,500 pounds.

Qzina chose the Mayan theme because of the crucial role the culture played in the origins of chocolate. Francois Mellet, Qzina’s corporate pastry chef, was the lead architect on this massive project, and Stephane Treand, best craftsman in France, lent his artistic touch to the sculpture’s intricate design elements. Mellet and his team, spent more than 400 hours constructing this magnificent structure of solid chocolate that was created using an assortment of Qzina’s chocolate brands.

“We studied Mayan pyramids at great lengths to create an exact replica of the Temple of Kukulkan at Chichen Itza to honour the original chocolatiers,” says

Built proportionally to the ancient temple’s true size, the solid chocolate pyramid is six feet tall and its base measures 10 feet by 10 feet. The sculpture’s base alone weighs more than 3,000 pounds.

The chocolate pyramid will be displayed at the Qzina Institute of Chocolate & Pastry in Irvine, Calif., and will be available to view beginning June 4 when the institute and product showroom is officially open to the public. Qzina plans to destroy the chocolate sculpture on December 21, 2012 when the Mayan calendar comes to an end.

Richard Foley, founder and CEO of Qzina.

Bakery Showcase hits Toronto

Some of the members of the Canada’s Landmark School Challenge winning team from George Brown: from left, Chef Laura Bryan, instructor, and students Stephanie Mirabelli, Anna Quintos, Jennifer Bettencourt, Kirsten Pettit, Elise Hing and Ronalyn Velasco. Missing from photo: Chefs Blair Mastervick, Donna Sanche and Norbert Maushagen (instructors), and students Kevin Scherer, Katie Brock, Andrea Aguirre and Kristina Tiberio.

TORONTO – Bakery Showcase is over, but attendees won’t soon forget the sights, smells, and creative displays of talent they experienced at the Baking Association of Canada’s (BAC) Toronto show.

This year’s Bakery Showcase, held May 6-8 at Mississauga’s International Centre, was a tremendous success. Over three days, more than 4,400 attendees were treated to equipment and technology demonstrations, delectable products and networking galore on the trade show floor, courtesy of the more than 370 companies present showcasing their ingredients, equipment and technology. The BAC held their annual general meeting on the morning of May 6, and an evening welcome reception, and exhibitors showcased their products during daytime seminars on May 7 and 8.

A highlight of the show was the inaugural Canada’s Landmark School Challenge. Student teams from the baking programs at Niagara College and George Brown College faced off on the Bakery Showcase

Around the world

Here’s a look at what’s happening in the baking world at large.

Australia: An academic from the University of Sydney says chocolate manufacturers will face a serious cocoa supply shortage unless they work to improve the livelihoods of cocoa farmers. www.confectionerynews.com

United States: Starbucks Corp. annouced in April that it will transition

exhibit floor in front of attendees over two days of competition. The challenge: create a showpiece of a Canadian landmark, built entirely of baked goods.

The team from George Brown selected the Hudson’s Bay Company as their landmark, creating a timeline of the company that consisted of 30 kilograms of raspberry jam, 37 18x24 vanilla slab cakes, 22 pails of rum balls, 21 bags of breakfast cereal, nine buckets of buttercream icing, 90 pounds of chocolate, 10 kilograms of gingerbread, and six kilograms of pastillage. “We wanted to be different and so we chose a non-traditional landmark,” said Chef Laura Bryan of the George Brown Chef School. “It shows a lot of depth and creativity and the students went with it.”

Niagara College’s team chose to honour the Inukshuk in their showpiece, and highlighted elements of each Canadian province and territory. “Nunavut is the newest territory and we wanted to include key attributes from across Canada,” said team member Chelsey Hooker. The

extensive ingredient list for Niagara College’s work included more than 4,000 eggs, approximately 100 kilograms of fondant, 240 pounds of butter cream, 20 kilograms of white chocolate, eight kilograms of dark chocolate, 18 kilograms of marshmallows and a 25-kilogram bag of Rice Krispies.

The teams began Sunday, preparing the main elements of their pieces. The stunning works of art came together on Monday, and finishing touches were added Tuesday. Delegates of the show voted on their favourite piece before voting closed on Tuesday afternoon.

Paul Hetherington, president of the BAC, announced the winning team on Tuesday afternoon, thanking both colleges for their participation, and acknowledging the support of Bunge Canada as sponsor of the contest and G. Cinelli-Esperia Corp. for donating equipment. Hetherington presented each school with a $5,000 honorarium to recognize the efforts of the teams, and announced Cinelli-Esperia would donate a sheeter to the winning school and a mixer to the runner up. After much anticipation, George Brown was declared the winner, and both teams should be very proud of their accomplishments.

With the contest over, it was time to say goodbye the Bakery Showcase, but not without thanks to the BAC staff for their hard work in executing another successful event.

“The entire team has done just a fantastic job,” Hetherington said. “It’s great to see the industry turn out the way it does. It’s a tough environment for bakers, and this is an opportunity for them to learn about new services, things that can help them be more efficient in their own businesses.”

Watch for more coverage from the show in an upcoming issue of Bakers Journal.

away from using cochineal extract, a colorant made from the crushed bodies of dried bugs, in several beverages and food items by the end of June. www.nrn.com

The Netherlands: Cargill has added a centre of expertise to its cocoa processing facility in Wormer, Netherlands, and automated warehousing at the Port of Amsterdam following a €57 million ($82 million) investment. www.foodnavigator.com

Sweden: New research led by Dr. Susanna Larsson at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden has found that consumption of low-fat dairy foods could help to reduce the risk of stroke. www.foodnavigator.com

Italy: Ferrero has announced its short-term goals towards sourcing 100 per cent third-party verified sustainable cocoa by its 2020 target. www.confectionerynews.com

¦ technical talk ¦

BY DR. JOHN MICHAELIDES

THE SCIENCE OF FOOD SAFETY

Examining the many biological hazards that can compromise food safety and security

Food safety is at the top of many minds today as more and more people want to know exactly where their food comes from. In today’s world, the public effectively becomes aware of products that pose a danger to their health via government information websites, the media and other means. The various recently reported food poisoning outbreaks have enhanced this awareness. Food security has also received elevated attention since the events of 9-11 because terrorism can spread through the food system.

There are two aspects of food safety and security. One is the technical or scientific basis, which is the root cause of concerns relating to food safety and security. Two is the raft of programs that enable food manufacturers and handlers to protect food from contamination and reduce danger to the consumer.

}Biofilms can form on equipment surfaces when equipment is not cleaned and sanitized properly, harbouring pathogens that could contaminate food.

produces spores and a less severe toxin also causing food poisoning. The physical symptoms associated with pathogens that produce toxins normally appear fairly quickly. Bacterial pathogens can also

Pests are a major hazard because they can spread pathogens through processing facilities and contaminate raw ingredients, equipment and foods.

The different hazards that can cause food safety and security problems are usually categorized as biological, chemical and physical. Biological hazards originate from living things, such as bacterial pathogens, viruses and parasites.

Bacterial pathogens cause food poisoning in two distinct ways. First, they can grow in the food when the conditions are right and produce toxins that will affect humans and other animals. For example, Clostridium botulinum produces spores which will survive the normal cooking temperatures of food. When the food cools these spores germinate and grow, producing a powerful neurotoxin that will cause food-borne illness and may result in death. In order to grow, Clostridium requires the absence of oxygen. While this is good for many food products, it poses a problem for foods that are packaged in modified atmospheres. Similarly Bacillus cereus, which is normally associated with cereals,

cause food poisoning in the form of an infection. This type of food poisoning involves many of the pathogens we are familiar with, including Salmonella, Listeria, Campylobacter, E. coli and others. The symptoms for such types of food poisoning appear much more slowly. They normally infect body tissues, where they produce toxins that affect various organs and can cause prolonged and, in some cases, chronic, illnesses. Some are particularly dangerous to different population groups. For example, Listeria monocytogenes has severe implications for the elderly, pregnant women, infants and immunocompromised individuals. Pathogens from raw ingredients contaminate food because of insufficient heating, cross-contamination with handlers and equipment, or the processing environment itself. Biofilms can form on equipment surfaces when equipment is not cleaned and sanitized properly. These biofilms harbour pathogens that can contaminate food; some of which can be present in the processing environment such as wet floors, cracks and crevices,

and drains. For example, Listeria monocytogenes is known to persist in such areas with the potential for crosscontamination of finished food products.

Viruses are also another form of biological hazard and can easily contaminate food through handlers and pests. Pests are a major hazard because they can spread pathogens through processing facilities and contaminate raw ingredients, equipment and foods. Parasites can contaminate food through ingredients and water. For example, meat (such as pork) and fish may contain parasites that, if not adequately heat-treated, can survive and contaminate food.

Other hazardous substances of biological origin that can contaminate food include natural toxins, such as mycotoxins (from fungi) and shellfish toxins (due to accumulation of toxins from algae in shellfish). Aflatoxin is an example of mycotoxin, which is very serious and regulated in food products. Aflatoxin is produced by the fungus Aspergillus flavus This toxin is normally found in nuts and cereals that are improperly stored under high humidity conditions.

Allergens are another hazardous food contamination that may pose severe health problems. These substances of plant or animal origin are normally proteins. An allergic reaction occurs when the immune system reacts to specific proteins present in the food.

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The birth of a prize-winning pie | BY

LAURA AIKEN

MASSTOWN MARKET

Aperfect pie is one part beautiful pastry to one part delightful filling, all lovingly finished with a dollop of good old-fashioned story. The inaugural winner of Bakers Journal’s Ultimate Pie contest sponsored by BakeMark lives up to this pie promise with its Atlantic Canadian Seafood Pie, but such mastery does not happen overnight.

Masstown Market started as a farm stand in 1969 as a place for Eric Jennings to sell his produce. Over the next 40 years, bakery, deli, dairy, fish, alcohol, restaurant and gift sections hatched to form what is now a fullfledged food paradise for Nova Scotia locals and tourists alike. While Masstown may have grown, its roots haven’t changed. The market is focused on procuring and selling local fare that is stamped with the high quality of small-batch craftsmanship.

The bakery at Masstown has a storied history, at one point disappearing before making an impressive comeback. In 2009, the bakery expanded in size and equipment with the intention of boosting production, says Eric’s son Laurie Jennings, who owns and operates Masstown with his wife, Lisa (Eric is still very active in the business). The bakery is the second biggest department, he says (produce is first). Six bakers a day work seven days a week to create the still-from-scratch breads, doughnuts, cinnamon rolls and hundreds of other unique products made with local ingredients. Brenda Mcmullen, who has been with Masstown over 20 years and bakery manager for the last 10, and Jonie Johnson, are the hands behind the seafood pie pastry crust that pleased the Ultimate Pie judges so much. Mcmullen says the secret to her vegetable-based pie crust is all in the touch.

}The ultimate goal is to send people away with something they didn’t expect to get, whether it’s a smile, idea or recipe; that’s what they talk about and that’s what they tell their family and friends.

way I was mixing, you could stretch it from me to you,” she says with a chuckle.

Masstown was selling about 30 to 40 seafood pies a week until it won the Ultimate Pie crown. Now, Jennings says, the market sells about 300 a week. The local media, Atlantic television and Canada AM picked up the story. Jennings had a special new label made for the pie declaring it a winner.

“It’s how the dough feels in my hands, there’s a special feel.” Although, she says it took a while for her to master her magic touch. “The first few years, the

When Jennings first saw the pie contest advertised in Bakers Journal, he got to talking with his seafood manager Mike DeSaulniers, about what might make a winner. The market had a good pie-making reputation in Nova Scotia, making use of abundant Apple Valley apples and showcasing mincemeat at

Christmas. Their seafood pie was inspired by the thoughtful act of a gentleman named Gerald Legere, who owned a fish market and sold a lot of jarred clams to DeSaulniers. Legere, who has since passed on, brought a processed seafood pie to him to try and it sparked the idea for Masstown to make its own based on a local theme of fresh, quality ingredients. Seafood at Masstown is 90 per cent local, says DeSaulniers, with deliveries coming five to seven days a week if needed. The market’s location near the Bay of Fundy means that seasonally they can sell lobster, flounder, clams and some haddock nearly from their backyard. The Bay of Fundy is home to the Minas Basin, an inlet that boasts the highest tides on the planet. The Catch of the Bay fish market is a pretty new addition to the Masstown stable, having opened about a year and a half ago. DeSaulniers joined the team two years ago to help with the launch, which

Left: Chef Megan Anatol says trial and error was a key process in developing the pie’s creamy, chowder-like filling. Above: Mike DeSaulniers, seafood manager, and Megan Anatol with Masstown’s award-winning seafood pie.

involved building a 75-foot-high lighthouse that also features an interactive area where visitors can learn more about Nova Scotia.

Megan Anatol, manager of Masstown’s Catch of the Day Fish & Chip Boat, is the chef behind the seafood pie’s hearty filling. When it comes to recipe development, she says she likes to start with an idea or ingredient and work backwards. In the case of their seafood pie, the thought was to base it on traditional seafood chowder. On the technical side, Anatol found it challenging to nail down a seafood filling that could be baked and set yet remain creamy.

“It took trial and error,” she says. “Small batches, at most 12 pies at a time . . . It’s very rewarding to have a product that people buy as a gift or for a special occasion. Tastes are different here and I’m from Ontario so it’s great to come up with something that is crowd pleaser here.”

For Masstown, the seafood pie is more than just tasty. It represents the mandate of the business that started as a farm stand and grew to about 120 employees. Jennings was born in 1965 so he was just a tot when his father started out, but he learned about business early.

“I always had a little vegetable garden as a kid that I sold to Dad,” says Jennings. “I worked at the market but when I got out of high school I thought ‘no way’ and went to university.”

Jennings got a degree in science and biology and went to work in the corporate world, but came back in 1989 and married Lisa, who looks after the gift shop. He has teenage boys now, the first in university. Jennings loves the story behind things, perhaps a part of his nature evident in his early pursuit of science, but it’s certainly become a hallmark of his business acumen.

“The story and the quality and the story that goes along with it is something that somebody can’t replicate. Anybody can beat you on price or product any given day. Supermarkets used to sell bread for 99 cents and we’re not in that game.”

Jennings is surely succeeding at the game he’s in. Last year he counted over a million customers (by transaction), most of those families of some kind. The eastern economy is notoriously difficult to survive in these days, but Jennings is thriving. He knows you need to give people reasons to come and that’s why he dedicated space in the lighthouse to providing information about the area.

“My tongue in cheek notion of customer service is that the longer you stay here the more money you spend. Most people know about Cape Breton and Peggy’s Cove, so we have the opportunity to teach them something more.”

Jennings takes every opportunity to

turn a trip to the market into a story about Nova Scotia for people when products are ripe for the picking. At the height of apple season he brings out an old press from 1904 Eaton’s catalogue and makes juice from the 20 or so varieties Nova Scotia produces, brings in a band and has suppliers come in to sample their wares.

“The ultimate goal is to send people away with something they didn’t expect to get, whether it’s a smile, idea or recipe; that’s what they talk about and that’s what they tell their family and friends.”

What customers can always expect at Masstown is a commitment to local. It’s what the market has done since Day 1, and Jennings sees it as good business sense.

“I’d like you to experience the artisanship of the farm but it’s not always convenient. So, you can come here. We’ve got good quality products at a fair price that are unique and you can’t get just anywhere. It makes a lot of sense not just ‘cause we’re nice guys . . . . There should always be a win-win-win. We have to make some money, customers have to not mind leaving some money behind and our suppliers have to make some money. You don’t gain much by taking one of those out in the long term.”

Masstown’s seafood pie has become a bonus win for the team, who are basking in the success of a truly ultimate pie. / BJ

Masstown was selling 30 to 40 seafood pies a week prior to winning the Ultimate Pie contest. Jennings says the market sells about 300 a week since being crowned the Ultimate Pie.

Mike DeSaulniers, Masstown’s seafood manager, prepares the pie’s filling.

BRANCHING OUT IN SOCIAL MEDIA

Facebook and Twitter are so last year. OK, not really, but they have recently been overshadowed by some new new social networks and tools that may be useful to business owners. Pinterest, Tumblr and In stagram have been the latest buzz makers in the social-media world, but with new options popping up all the time, how can you tell which ones to use, and which to ignore? Bakers Journal spoke with Kat Tancock, a Torontobased social-media and digital consultant, and Chris Gostling, the CEO and creative director of Momentum Visual Inc., to bring you up to speed on the latest crazes.

A VISUAL FOCUS

Pinterest is a pinboard style of organizing and sharing a portfolio of images that link to external websites. Users can group image collections on different pinboards, categorizing them into groups and re-pinning photos and links from other users and the Internet to their own boards. The image should link to an outside source. Your website or Tumblr account are great options, says Tancock. Gostling advises organizing your pinboards into different categories to share varying elements of your shop. The ingredients that make up your menu items are a great place to start. Your ingredients pinboard could include a photo of the Italian sausage you make in house with a link to your website describing the story behind it. The site launched in March 2010 to a select group of people, and continues to run as an invitation only website, which can be a disadvantage. Users have to request e-mail invitations from the powers that be, or friends who are on Pinterest. This hasn’t stopped its growth, though: comScore, an Internet marketing research company, reported that as of

platform where users can post photos, videos, links and other forms of media to their blog, as well as follow other blogs and re-blog content from other users. Small businesses can use Tumblr to supplement their website, with more space to post photos of menu items and what’s happening in your store. “Tumblr is a little more similar to Facebook and Twitter,” explains Tancock. If one of your followers sees something they like on your Tumblr, they can reblog it to all of their followers, who will be able to trace the item back to your Tumblr. The young demographic (half of its users are under 25) means things can go viral very quickly, Tancock says. While it may not seem as popular as other

platforms such as Tumblr and Pinterst to a well-curated collection of art. “You should have just the right pieces that are going to engage people. Don’t jam it full of stuff, and give posts some room to breathe,” he says. “If used correctly, both Pinterest and Tumblr can really tell the passion of the story behind the brand.”

Instagram, on the other hand, is a great way to capture the goings-on of your restaurant and quickly share them, as Instagram can easily be linked to other platforms. Users can take photos with a smartphone (currently only iPhone and Android apps are available), apply a digital filter, and push it to other social-media networks. “The photo filters on it are a

ton of fun; you can capture the moment,” Gostling says. Instagram launched on Apple’s App Store in October 2010, and has steadily grown: more than one million registered users had signed up by December 2010, and as of April 13 (with thanks to its early April Android app launch), more than 40 million people were using Instagram. The app has made headlines recently: Facebook purchased Instagram on April 12 with plans to keep it independently operated.

}Although Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram are very visually oriented, Gostling views Pinterest and Tumblr as ways to tell a larger story while Instagram is more of a visual diary to capture the moment. Each of these tools can be linked to Twitter and Facebook accounts, allowing users to easily incorporate them into a daily social-media routine and efficiently post the same message across different platforms.

BRANCHING OUT INTO SOMETHING NEW

Lesley Mattina, pastry chef and owner of OMG Baked Goodness in Toronto, hasn’t ruled out using Pinterest or Tumblr altogether, but she’s concerned about being able to work them into her day.

“I felt maxed out, pre-Twitter, by Facebook. I realized I was able to slide Twitter in somewhat seamlessly and use them both,” Mattina says of her current social-media strategy. “I can see me getting in there and figuring it out, but it takes time and it’s not something I can

Gostling views Pinterest and Tumblr as ways to tell a larger story while Instagram is more of a visual diary to capture the moment.

do spontaneously.”

She is open to new things, though. “I’ve had really great rewards by having great conversations on Facebook and Twitter. Some new things I think I will see value in, and some things I definitely won’t.”

customers on Facebook and Twitter, asking if she should be on Foursquare. “The broad concensus was no,” she says. But with the right tools for your audience, Mattina knows the benefits of social media can be great: she says she has never paid for advertising, and social media makes up about 90 per cent of her marketing strategy. “I don’t measure [success] in terms of dollars and sense or actual numbers, but in terms of clients coming in,” she says, noting that not a day goes by without a customer commenting they’ve visited her shop because of something they saw on Facebook or Twitter. “I guess if I wasn’t getting those comments then I would know it wasn’t working, but because I’m consistently getting those comments I know that it’s working.”

REAPING THE BENEFITS

Incorporating social-media tools into already busy days can be challenging, and adding another platform to an already successful social-media strategy often comes with uncertainty.

IT’S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL

Mattina attempted to incorporate FourSquare, a platform where users check in and post their current location, earning badges, points and titles with the establishment they are checking in at, into her strategy. At the time, she didn’t find any value in it, and there was no demand from her clientele. About a year and a half ago, Mattina polled her

Social media became the perfect way for Caitlin Rush, an 18-year-old from Burlington, Ont., to showcase her self-taught talent and passion for cake decorating. A fan of the show Glee, Rush created a cake featuring the characters of the show for the season three premiere last September, and with the help of social networking, member of the Glee cast and crew saw her cake, which also caught the eye of the U.K.’s Sky television network. “The response has completely overwhelmed me,” Rush says. “It amazes me how far we can reach with social networks.”

Caitlin Rush’s Glee tribute cake garnered attention from some of the show’s cast and crewmembers via social media.

With the incredible feedback she received from her first tribute cake, Rush decided to take on another project, this time creating a cake in tribute to The Vampire Diaries. “When it was complete I uploaded it just in time for the midseason premiere, in January 2012,” she says. The show’s official Facebook fan page posted a photo of Rush’s cake after seeing it circulate the Internet, generating more than 150,000 views on Twitter and feedback from the show’s castmembers. “It’s so neat having the cast and crew comment on the cakes I’ve made because I admire what they do so much,” she says. “The fact that they took the time to write back to me just makes it all worthwhile.”

Tancock and Gostling agree that the ultimate goal is to be where your customers are. Mattina is on the right track: the best way to find out if you should be exploring new social networks is to research your clientele and find out which platforms they are using. When someone comes into your store, ask them if they’re using Pinterest or Tumblr. “If half of your consumers are on Pinterest, maybe there’s some value there,” Gostling says. “Try a bunch of things and see what engages them in speaking to them.”

Gostling emphasizes that the quality of the conversation is important. If you’re sharing the right info, your followers will likely pass the message along to their followers, creating potential new customers for you. Find out what kind of updates your followers like to read and analyze their response. Try a handful of things, Gostling says: text-only updates about what slices you’re serving from day to day may not elicit as many comments as a photo showing the huge order of specialty pies you’re preparing.

Once you’ve determined what works for your business, don’t stop. Reaching a certain number of followers is great, but Tancock and Gostling stress that interaction is the key. “As a restaurant owner you can’t always talk to everyone who comes into your store every single time, but with social media, you can connect with them a little more easily,” Tancock says.

Gostling agrees. “Success in socialmedia marketing is an ongoing conversation,” he says. “As soon as the conversation stops, you’re not successful.” / BJ

BY BRUCE ROHER

VALUATION OF A BAKERY

Price is what you pay and value is what you receive

Acommon misconception is that the fair market value of a bakery will be an amount similar to the price that would be paid for the business should it to be listed for sale. In fact, there can be significant differences between price and value.

Despite the differences between price and value, there are sound business reasons for conducting a valuation, either for income tax purposes (for example, an estate freeze) or for an actual sale of a minority interest or the entire business.

Sellers often ask business valuators to value the business so that they can get a sense of the amount they can expect to receive, or to assess the fairness of offers received from potential purchasers. Similarly, buyers ask business valuators to value the business so that they can offer an appropriate price and avoid the pitfall of overpaying for the business.

}factors, including the negotiating skills of the parties, financial strengths of the parties, type of purchaser (strategic versus financial) and the representations and warranties required by the parties.

Often, the valuator will not be able to identify strategic purchasers. These are buyers that are able to realize economies of scale as a result of the acquisition. For example, if Weston wanted to buy XYZ Bakery because XYZ produced a highly popular brand that it could not duplicate, it may be prepared to pay more than XYZ’s value, as it would not only be acquiring a brand to add to its portfolio, but it would realize synergies, for example, elimination of duplicate/ redundant expenses incurred by XYZ and elimination of a competitor. On the other hand, a financial buyer would not be able to realize synergies and as a result would likely not pay more than the value of XYZ.

The vendor of a business may be

The purchaser of a business may be prepared to pay a price that is higher than value to secure an agreement from the vendor not to compete.

It’s often been said that price matters to the seller of a business and value matters to the buyer. It’s important to appreciate that value is determined based on the following assumptions:

1. The sale will be for cash. However, in market transactions, the amount paid for the business may include cash and non-cash consideration (such as a vendor take-back loan, a share exchange, or future consideration if certain conditions are met).

2. Value is the highest price. However, in market transactions, this is often not the case as the price may be higher or lower than the value. The reasons for the difference can result from a variety of

prepared to accept a price that is lower than value. For example, the vendor may be concerned that many of the company’s long-term employees may be terminated after the acquisition. The vendor may decide to accept a lower offer if the purchaser provides a representation and warranty that no employees will be terminated for at least a two-year period after the acquisition.

The purchaser of a business may be prepared to pay a price that is higher than value to secure an agreement from the vendor not to compete.

3. The parties are informed and acting at arm’s length. In a market transaction, often one party has more information than the other, as could be the case where transactions take place between non-arm’s

ASK THE BUSINESS ADVISOR

QUESTION/ Now that a valuation of my business has been completed, should I sell the assets or my shares? TO FIND OUT THE ANSWER, GO TO www.bakersjournal.com AND CLICK ON THE ASK THE BUSINESS ADVISOR LINK.

Before selling your business, consult with a business valuator to get a sense of what you can expect to receive.

length family members. This may result in major differences between price and value.

4. There are no restrictions on sale, the parties are not under any compulsion to transact and they are acting in a prudent manner. This may not be the case in an open-market transaction as, for example, the vendor may be forced to sell in a short period due to health, financial or other reasons that may result in imprudent decisions. Again, this can lead to a difference between price and value.

In the valuation of a bakery, the valuator will assess the trend/quality of earnings and the risk factors of the business, including:

• number of years in business

• quality of management

• competition

• existence of customer contracts

• degree of automated equipment and state of facility

• location of facility and lease terms

• ease of duplication of products

• contracts with key employees and their tenure and existence of a union

• brand value

• ability to grow and innovate

Whether you are selling or buying a business, a business valuation can give you a good benchmark for negotiation. / BJ

Bruce Roher is a partner in the business valuations practice at the Toronto office of Fuller Landau LLP, Chartered Accountants. He can be reached at broher@fullerlandau. com or at 416-645-6526.

concepts for success ¦

BY DIANE CHIASSON

GET READY FOR SUMMER

Use the warm weather to bring new customers to your shop

Business usually slows down in the summer, as people leave town for holidays instead of shopping in your store. However, summer is also a great time to utilize the great outdoors to market your bakery.

Here are eight marketing tips to make your bakery sizzle this summer:

KEEP YOUR DOORS OPEN

Bakeries have the distinct advantage of being able to entice patrons with wafts of cinnamon and vanilla, or the scent of freshly baked bread. Take advantage of your natural (and free) marketing tool by leaving your front door and windows open and letting the scents draw in customers. If your products taste as good as they smell, you can convert an impulse buyer into a returning customer.

Hold a sidewalk sale outside of your bakery with irresistible treats that will draw passersby. Keep your table stocked and colourful to attract attention.

Who can resist a glass of fresh, ice-cold lemonade on a hot summer’s day? Attract more customers by setting up a lemonade stand outside your bakery, and use appropriate signage around the lemonade stand to

}Set up a table outside your bakery, and fill it with your freshest breads, muffins, pastries and other irresistible items that will make people stop and buy.

advertise the products you have inside your bakery to entice customers to walk in.

HOLD SIDEWALK SALES

Take advantage of the warm weather by selling your baked goods outdoors. Set up a table outside your bakery, and fill it with your freshest breads, muffins, pastries and other irresistible items that will make people stop and buy. Be sure to keep your table stocked, filled and looking plentiful. Attract attention by adding fresh, colourful flowers and produce to dress up the table, and be sure to include appropriate signage.

OFFER FREE SAMPLES

Stand outside your bakery with a tray of your products and offer free samples. This is a great way to build up a new customer base, or to flog your new products. This is also a good way to establish more personal relationships with returning and potential customers, as you take the time to hold conversations with people outside.

CREATE PICNIC PACKAGES

Cater to your customers who are going on a road trip or planning a day at the beach by selling picnic packages. Use different themes: create a picnic package that features cheese, charcuterie and a fresh baguette, or a picnic lunch of sandwiches, drinks and a bag of freshly baked cookies or dessert bars. Increase your sales by selling the picnic hamper, reusable crockery and cutlery, blankets, plastic wine glasses and other gear as well. Market your picnic packages by setting up an eye-catching picnic display in your storefront window.

SET UP AN OUTDOOR CAFÉ

Place a few bistro-style tables and chairs outside your bakery, and invite customers to relax, read the paper, and enjoy a slice of cake or a pastry with a cup of hot or iced coffee.

GIVE AWAY PROMO ITEMS TO KIDS

Take advantage of the high number of

parks during the summer by giving away free promotional items imprinted with your bakery’s logo, such as Frisbees, baseball caps, T-shirts, balls or other inexpensive items that could help spread your name around town.

USE BALLOONS

Balloons are an eye-catching, fun, and inexpensive way to draw attention to your business. They are synonymous with celebrations, so when people see balloons they immediately think that there must be something special happening at your bakery. Be sure to have enough balloons to give away to kids. Parents with small children will be more inclined to shop at your bakery just so that they can get their child a free balloon. Make sure your brand/logo is imprinted on the balloons, and the colours match your brand. Take advantage of the warm weather by opening your doors and offering customers new ways to interact with you and your shop. / BJ

Diane Chiasson, FCSI, president of Chiasson Consultants Inc., has been helping restaurant, foodservice, hospitality and retail operators increase sales for more than 30 years. Her company provides innovative and revenueincreasing foodservice and retail merchandising programs, interior design, branding, menu engineering, marketing and promotional campaigns, and much more. Contact her at 416-926-1338, toll-free at 1-888-926-6655 or at chiasson@chiassonconsultants.com, or visit www.chiassonconsultants.com

tricks of the trade ¦

BY MARIO FORTIN

CHEERS TO CIABATTA

Here are some great tips and guidelines for making authentic ciabatta bread

Ciabatta is a wonderful bread that was born in Lombardy, in northern Italy. Today, this bread has became almost as popular as the French baguette. Ciabatta is a bread with thousands of possibilities. Its homemade artisan appearance is original and does not pass unnoticed around the world.

In Italian, Ciabatta means “slipper.” In Italy, we make it in all the sizes because the bread is sold by weight rather than by unit. Here, our market is different and breads are presented in identical formats according to the weight in order to create a standard price.

}Ciabatta is not only wonderful on the outside. Inside, this bread stands out with its magnificently honeycombed crumb. One of the secrets of the success of ciabatta is its moisture content, which has to be between 75 and 80 per cent based on the weight of flour.

and deposit them on a cloth or pan according to the type of oven used. Ciabatta appears in several formats but the most popular are the individual portion (60 to 100 grams) or the big size of 200 to 300 grams. Some make it into a stretched out shape and call it a “ciabatta baguette,” which is not shaped but only stretched. Industrial bakeries use an automatic stress-free line to cut the dough, preventing shrinkage.

After the final fermentation, you will have to turn over the dough rolls by stretching them a little just before they are put into the oven. When dough rolls ferment, the face of the bottom is wetter than the top. That is why you turn them, so that the crust is very crunchy even if it is floured. We also stretch dough rolls to prevent ciabatta from having too much volume. This makes ciabatta part of the flat breads family.

Several methods of production exist.

The only way to make ciabatta at home is to mix the dough by hand, because bread making machines do not run fast enough.

The moisture content of ciabatta has to be between 75 and 80 per cent to give it a honeycombed crumb.

The original composition of Italian ciabatta is: wheat flour (usually not cleared), rye flour, water, yeast or (pre-ferment), salt, malt flour and sometimes a dough improver. The olive oil is added only to work the dough, which will be rather smooth and sticky. It is for that reason that it is best to use a plastic bowl coated with olive oil to deposit the dough for the first bulk fermentation.

In Europe, bread is bought not only every day but often at every meal. Here, some people add olive oil to the dough because we look for the longer shelf life needed because of the distribution chains. The oil is not necessary but it will help to prolong the life expectancy and will improve a little of the softness and taste.

Here are guidelines for making ciabatta. After the first bulk fermentation, pour the dough on an abundantly floured surface. From there you will cut breads in pieces of your desired thickness

The pre-ferments used to make Ciabatta are BIGA, poolisch, rye sour and natural sour, or levain, with varying fermentation times of 12, 16 or 24 hours before being added to the dough. The pre-ferments bring a more acid taste and flavour of fermentation. They also allow for the use of less yeast. The method of fermenting dough with a higher level of yeast will result in more of a yeast taste than the fermentation aroma.

The only way to make ciabatta at home is to mix the dough by hand, because bread making machines do not run fast enough. The flour absorbs so much water that it will make the dough difficult to get out. If we cut the water to have solid dough, it will not be ciabatta anymore, because water is the characteristic that marks this bread. The resting time brings the body to the dough.

Here are some definitions to demystify the differences between ciabatta, foccacia, fougasse and rustic bread, etc.

Ciabatta dough can be used to make foccacia, fougasse and rustic breads, especially if we have already added the

olive oil. We often find the same ingredients in the composition of these breads. Ciabatta can be used to make a sandwich, or individually shaped and formed into a baguette. Foccacia is round or oval shaped, flattened and garnished with olive oil and vegetables on its surface before baking. We serve it warmed as an hors d’oeuvre, whereas the fougasse is characterized by holes with vegetables mixed into the dough. Some consider ciabatta a rustic bread because of the flour, which gives it a rustic look.

The name ciabatta has become so popular that today we use the name with profusion to associate very honeycombed bread of different flavours:

• ciabatta bread rolls

• ciabatta made with olive oil

• ciabatta with black or green olives

• ciabatta with sundried tomatoes

• ciabatta with onions

• ciabatta with herbs

• ciabatta made with whole-wheat flour

Ciabatta can be bought fresh or frozen and keeps in a plastic bag. Warming an oven to 400 F / 205 C will restore its crunchy sound. We also use this bread under the press or the heating plate for the panini sandwiches. There are endless ways to enjoy ciabatta. Try one of them today! / BJ

Mario Fortin is an international bakery consultant and owner of FORMA-LAB, consulting services to Bakers and Suppliers. If you need technical information, send your question to info@forma-lab.com.

Global Baking Solutions

Fleischmann’s Yeast AB Mauri Baking Solutions

A SLICE OF SWEET SUCCESS

From start-up costs to health and safety regulations, the obstacles of starting a bakery are vast. Throw in motherhood at a young age, little experience and expensive facilities, and you’ve got yourself a full-blown challenge. But for Chrissie Boon, these obstacles were motivation to make the process easier for people like her.

Boon is an award-winning

cake decorator and the co-owner of Too Nice to Slice, a custom cake shop, and Icing Inspirations, a retail store selling cake-decorating supplies, in Kitchener, Ont. Boon’s interest in baking –and business – began at a young age, starting with Christmas cookies. “My mom’s next-door neighbour’s husband lost his job right before Christmas, and she wanted to buy Christmas presents for her kids,” Boon

says. The ladies sold packages of homemade Christmas cookies to come up with some extra money around the holidays. As Boon got older, she joined the ladies in baking, using her share of the money to buy Christmas presents for her friends in high school, and continued baking when she began university, studying psychology at the University of Ottawa.

Things don’t always go as planned, though. Boon

became pregnant in her first year, moved home from Ottawa, and enrolled part time at the University of Waterloo. But it was the cake decorating class she took at Michaels in 2004 that launched her career. “I took one or two classes and I came home and told my mom I was officially completely dropping out of university to pursue cake decorating,” Boon says. After much discussion, Boon and her mother agreed that she would stay in school

business.

Chrissie Boon and her husband Justin Kozak have successfully turned their small bakery into a multi-tiered

part time until she was certain. It didn’t take long. By the next semester, Boon and her parents knew this was the right decision.

The next steps seemed relatively painless. “I started taking just about every cake decorating class I could get my hands on,” Boon says. She completed her masters and elite certificates in cake decorating, and with the help of her then-boyfriend (now husband and business partner)

}Justin Kozak, started researching the ins and outs of operating a cake decorating business. Money, was, of course, a challenge: “A 20-year-old single mom who has absolutely no assets, no equity, and who is living in her parents’ house, has a terrible time getting any sort of business loan,” Boon says. “We have the support of family and friends like crazy, but we’ve tried to do it financially as much as we can on our own, and that’s a hard thing to do when you’re in your early 20s.”

Enter the next obstacle: the kitchen. “The more we found out about things, the more we realized I couldn’t legally operate a cake business out of my house.” Time was ticking: Boon had just attended a wedding show and booked 68

weddings. Health regulations vary from region to region, but in Kitchener-Waterloo, commercial kitchens are required for food-related businesses, and second kitchens in residential homes are not allowed. “We called every community centre and every church in the book, and nobody wanted to take on the liability of renting somebody their kitchen,” Boon says. The

In March 2010, Too Nice to Slice and Icing Inspirations moved to their current location – a 5,000-squarefoot former automotive factory building. “When we found it, we said, ‘What the heck are we going to do with all this space?’ “ Boon laughs. But between the retail part of her business and new ventures in teaching classes and hosting guest teachers,

Health regulations vary from region to region, but in Kitchener-Waterloo, commercial kitchens are required for food-related businesses, and second kitchens in residential homes are not allowed.

available kitchens they found weren’t cheap, charging from $35 to $75 per hour. “At the end of an eight-hour day, even the cheapest kitchen was approaching $300 a day to rent,” she says.

It didn’t take them long to realize this practice was much too costly. In October 2005, Boon opened her first storefront location – an 816-square-foot shop that served as the perfect venue to bake and decorate cakes and cookies by appointment only.

“I wanted to do more,” Boon says. “Even with the size of the shop, in order to pay the bills, I had to do so many cakes that it was exhausting, so we started selling supplies.” And so, Icing Inspirations was born.

Boon and Kozak knew their old shop just wouldn’t cut it anymore. After giving the new digs a facelift – “It was terrible!” – the new location opened over Victoria Day weekend 2010.

The new home of Too Nice to Slice and Icing Inspirations includes a 1,000-square-foot kitchen and a 1,000-squarefoot classroom (Boon will host five or six guest teachers this year, in addition to the classes she teaches). After moving, Boon says the initial goal was to get the classes, cakes and retail store back up and running, but with lots of room to grow, a long-term goal was to add affordable commercial kitchens available for rent. “We needed to find a

way for these people to be able to do it affordably, because not everybody wants to open a storefront, and the very few kitchens that are available for rent are just not at all affordable.”

Boon and Kozak brought this vision to life in November, completing three full commercial kitchens, and officially began renting them in January. They are already a hot commodity.

“The costs that we’re operating at just help us pay the rent for that section,” Boon says. Renting a kitchen at Too Nice to Slice costs between $5 and $13 per hour, making it affordable for people who find themselves in the situation Boon once faced. “One lady came in and booked all of her hours, three days a week, up until the end of December. Her invoice at the end of it all was less than what I paid in rent per month at the old location,” Boon says.

Boon, who is the administrator for the Kitchener chapter of the Canadian Cake Decorators Guild, sees the importance of making kitchen rentals affordable from both perspectives. “A lot of cake decorators are my customers and they come in and talk about their struggles,” she says. “If they aren’t operating, I have no customers to buy

Left: The business’s commercial kitchen space has been available for rent since January, and is already a hot commodity. Right: Boon began Icing Inspirations, a retail store, in order to sell supplies to her fellow cake decorators.

my supplies. I understand why the rules are there, and I also understand the struggles of trying to deal with the rules because I’ve been in both situations.”

Between baking and decorating, teaching classes, operating a retail store,

travelling (Boon has demoed at the International Cake Exploration Societé convention and at different shops across the United States with Kozak as her assistant), competing in cake decorating challenges (most recently, Boon and Kozak participated

and won Cake Walk: Wedding Cake Edition on Slice TV) and raising their young family, Boon and Kozak’s hands are certainly full. But you’ll usually find them at the heart of it all, in the shop, interacting with customers: a part of the business they truly love.

“We have always prided ourselves on being the ones who deal with the good and the bad, and everything in between,” she says. “We’ve established ourselves as people who want to know their customers, and I think it’s gone over very well for us.” / BJ

PARIS IN THE SPRING

Paris-themed weddings are a hot trend this year. Geraldine’s Creative Cutters in Richmond Hill, Ont., has created the perfect treat to complement a Parisian event. “We sell chocolate moulds and cookie cutters of the Eiffel tower, and we thought, ’What is more French than French macarons?’” says Geraldine Randlesome, owner. The macarons are decorated in a spring theme. “The idea was born of Paris in the spring, as flowers are such a welcome sight after a cold winter,” she says. “We made the sugar flowers to go on the macarons and piped around the sides in either buttercream or chocolate to make them look like happy faces.” / BJ

GERALDINE’S FRENCH MACARONS

FORMULA

Ingredients

125 g nut flour

(almond, pecan or hazelnut)

225 g icing sugar

115 g egg whites (let sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes)

25 g granulated sugar

Directions

Grind the nuts and sugar in the food processor until very fine meal – then sieve. Whip the egg whites and sugar together on high until firm. Gently fold in the nut flour. On a silicone mat, pipe circles (size as desired). Let set to form a crust before baking. Bake 121 C (250 F) in a convection oven (150 C, or 300 F, in a regular oven) for approximately 10-12 minutes.

RECIPE FOR GANACHE

Ingredients

1/2 lb dark chocolate

1/2 cup whipping cream

Directions

Boil whipping cream and pour over chocolate, stirring until melted. Let sit until firm, then whip using a machine, and pipe. Dip the macarons into the chocolate, and when dry, place the sugar flowers and the sugar paste decorations on the dry macaron using a little chocolate.

Boon often hosts guest teachers in her classroom, like Rick Reichart of Cakelava in Hawaii.

Ayoma Fonseka, a student, covers a carved fish cake with fondant during an Icing Inspirations class.

Winners Galore at Bakery Showcase 2012

The 2012 edition of Bakery Showcase provided a winning opportunity for all those attending the three-day event May 6-8 in Toronto. The more than 4,400 attendees were able to take advantage of the offerings on the sold-out trade show floor with some 370 exhibits offering the latest in services, ingredients, finished product and equipment for Canada’s baking industry.

In addition to its largest ever trade show, Bakery Showcase delegates were also able to take advantage of 19 free presentations. One of the event highlights was the keynote address by John Klecker offering a perspective on industry trends but also challenging participants to improve the overall quality of their products offerings and store design.

The fun feature at this year’s event was the Landmark Challenge build off between the baking programs of George Brown College and Niagara College. Over two days these instructor-led student teams constructed two mammoth displays with the winner ultimately decided by the popular vote of attendees. See inside for more details.

Thanks to our Bakery Showcase Sponsors

Many thanks to all those companies supporting Bakery Showcase 2012

John Klecker provides the keynote address.

Canada’s Landmark Challenge a Great Hit and Success

The first ever build-off challenge between two of Canada’s leading baking colleges was a great success for Bakery Showcase attendees and the schools themselves. Over two days, both schools, using a variety of baking products, produced two awesome and inspiring displays.

This fun competition was eventually decided by the vote of attendees. However, it is fair to say that both schools and their design teams are winners based on their extraordinary performances.

BAC Says Thanks to Retiring

National Directors

BAC expresses its appreciation and thanks to Bob Grebinsky, Jean Luc Breton, Gottfried Boehringer and Rick Barnes for time and service to Canada’s baking industry as National Directors of BAC.

Federal Government Launches BAC Supported Food Regulatory Modernization

The federal government has recently launched a series of modernizations of Canada’s food legislation, regulation and enforcement, which are part of their commitment under the Food and Consumer Safety Action Plan, the Weatherill Report, the Red Tape Reduction Commission and the government’s overall Economic Action Plan. The changes address significant frustrations of the Canadian food industry over many years and achieve the advocacy objectives of many industry organizations.

Key among the changes are those provided in the federal government’s recent omnibus Budget Implementation Act. The Act includes amendments to the Food and Drugs Act that give the Minister of Health the power to issue marketing authorizations that exempt food, or the advertisement of food, from certain provisions in the Act. These changes finally mean that approval of food additives, chemical residue limits, processing aids, fortification, novel foods, allergen labelling requirements, dietary health claims, etc., will no longer fall under the extremely slow and cumbersome Canada Gazette process.

While BAC was one among many groups calling for a new separate Foods Act (carving food out of the Food and Drugs Act) these proposed changes now allow Health Canada to act on its decisions as soon as scientific risk assessments are done, publishing approvals through administrative lists and even allowing “incorporation by reference” where third-party (voluntary) standards can be used as the foundation of mandatory standards.

It should be noted that these changes do not in any way diminish the risk assessment of efficacy associated with the Health Canada approval process. Instead the changes will simply update a bureaucratic system made in the 1950s and modernize it to fit the needs of today.

New BAC Board of Directors Elected

At the May 6 Annual General Meeting the members elected Glenn Wilde from Harvest Bakery in Winnipeg as National Chair of BAC along with the following National Directors:

Chair

Glenn Wilde Harvest Bakery, Winnipeg MB

Directors

Martin Barnett Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo BC

Louis Bontorin Calgary Italian Bakery, Calgary AB

Dominique Bohec La Petite Bretonne, Blainville QC

Bill Coleman Coleman Foods, St. John's NL

Stephen Donaldson Canada Bread, Etobicoke ON

Michel Dion Lallemand, Montreal QC

Summit Luthra Weston Bakeries Limited/ Ready Bake Foods Inc., Etobicoke ON

Arthur Gunn Gunn’s Bakery, Winnipeg MB

Tom Mattes Del’s Pastry, Toronto ON

Christian Mitzel Qzina Specialty Foods, Vancouver BC

Pete Plaizier Start Fresh Inc., Edmonton AB

Kevin Rainey Sobeys Inc, Stellarton NS

Phil Robinson Dawn Products, Toronto ON

David Stanfield Farnell Packaging Limited, Dartmouth NS

(left to right) Rick Barnes, Pete Plaizier and Bob Grebinsky

Bunge Oils (Canada) Landmark Challenge Support Provides $10,000 Honorariums to Colleges

In addition to the acknowledgment of a grateful Bakery Showcase audience, both schools also received a $5,000 honorarium for their participation made possible through the generous sponsorship support of Bunge Canada. Bunge’s Bakery Showcase support was not limited to the Landmark Challenge and is greatly appreciated by BAC.

Landmark Challenge: And the Winner Is…

Team George Brown College:

Instructors:

Laura Bryan, Blair Mastervick, Donna Sanche & Norbert Maushagen Students:

Ronalyn Velasco, Anna Quintos, Kevin Scherer, Katie Brock, Kirsten Pettit, Andrea Aguirre, Kristina Tiberio, Elise Hing, Jennifer Bettencourt, Stephanie Mirabelli

Team Niagara College:

Instructors:

Peter Storm & Ruth Bleijerveld Students:

Robyn Matyas-Robertson, Chelsey Des Roches, Anita Armenti-Nadon, Nickolas Aubin, Chelsea Newall, Nathan Symons

G. Cinelli-Esperia Surprises with Donation of Landmark Challenge Baking Equipment

Life can be full of surprises and both Niagara and George Brown colleges received very pleasant ones as part of their participation in the Landmark Challenge. To support the efforts of the students during their two-day build off G. Cinelli-Esperia provided a 20 Quart Planetary Mixer and tabletop sheeter for their use. Well, and here is where the surprise comes in: at an impromptu moment, just a short time before the announcement of the Landmark Challenge results, Albert Cinelli offered to donate both pieces of equipment, one to each of the participating schools. “I was completely taken aback,” said Paul Hetherington, President & CEO of BAC. “The donation of some $10,000 in equipment was completely unexpected and overwhelming.” The sheeter was awarded to George Brown College, with the mixer going to Niagara College.

Craig Wright (centre), Marketing Manager, Bunge Oils (Canada), with Chelsea Newall (left) from Niagara College and Anna Quintos from George Brown on the presentation to each school of the honorariums.

Chelsea and Anna having a little fun before the presentation.

Top right: Paul Hetherington, President & CEO of the Baking Association of Canada, presents the first place trophy to Anna Quintos of Team George Brown.

ONTARIO CHAPTER

Student Tool Kit!

The Baking Association Ontario Chapter is dedicated to helping facilitate the success of baking students by providing the opportunity to get their education started off on the right foot. We are offering students entering an Ontario post-secondary baking program in September 2012 the opportunity to win a Baking Tool Kit (value over $500) loaded with many of the items they will need to get started.

The Tool Kit includes:

Chef’s knife

Paring knife

Serrated knife

Peeler

Wooden spoon

Ice cream scoop #10

Hand grater/microplane

Palette knife

Offset palette knife

Scissors

Hand whisk

Pastry brush

Pastry bag (14” or 16”)

Piping tips (plain tip #5 and star tip #6)

Scraper

 Spatula

 Teaspoons

 Measuring spoons

 Pencil

 Apron

 Side towels

 2 x 7” fluted tins

 Digital scale

Please provide a 500-word or less proposal that outlines how winning the Tool Kit will help enhance your education and career as a Baker. Please also provide proof of enrollment in a Baking Program at a BAC member college.

We are asking you to submit this by: 11:59 pm July 22, 2012 to bacontarioeducationcommittee@gmail.com

Successful applicants will be notified in August 2012.

JOE DYSART

SMILE, YOU’RE ON CAMERA

While YouTube has emerged as a marketing juggernaut for bakers, many are also discovering the free video-sharing service has scores of other uses that are also free for the taking. Employee recruiting, client communications, product/service how-tos and dissemination of business news are all increasing in popularity on YouTube, as the medium becomes the Swiss army knife of business communications.

“It’s really easy to use, has tremendous reach and accessibility and fits easily into our social media strategy,” says Darci Yeo, co-owner, Bliss Bakery & Bistro, based in Peachland, B.C. (http:// www.youtube.com/BlissBakeryandBistro). “It’s great because I can use other social media tools, such as Facebook and Twitter, to link back to the video on YouTube.”

Zeke Camusio, founder of The Outsourcing Company, an Internet marketing firm, agrees. “YouTube isn’t just a video-sharing site. It’s a social network. You can add friends, message them, join groups, create your own group and use the bulletin board to interact with the YouTube community.”

}“If you’ve never visited the YouTube Website, you’ve missed out on the hottest thing on the Internet today,” says Michael Miller, author of YouTube for Business. Indeed, one of the major reasons bakers are flocking to the free service is its unbridled popularity. Just a blip on the web’s radar five years ago, the video-sharing service has rocketed to one of the most visited sites on the Internet. In fact, YouTube now boasts more than three billion views each day. YouTube Mobile, its portable service, averages more than 400 million views per day.

turbo-charges YouTube’s promotional power by integrating videos with other promotions on Facebook and Twitter.

Since YouTube’s videos are generally viewed in a relatively small viewing screen, there’s no reason for bakers or others to endure painful budgets for video production costs.

And nearly 17 million people have connected to YouTube from other social networks, including Facebook, Twitter and the like, according to recent figures released by the company.

“Canadians are watching more than 25 hours of online videos a month, according to recent comScore reports,” says Gillian Fripp, consumer relationship marketing director for Kraft Foods Canada. Kraft is riding that trend by sponsoring a ”what’s cooking” channel on YouTube, which features more than

370 how-to cooking videos for download, free of charge.

“The what’s cooking YouTube channel really gives our consumers an opportunity to comment and create a dialogue,” Fripp adds. “Our goal is to make recipe videos easy and fun.”

Bakers also find YouTube’s low cost and ease-of-entry hard to resist. Virtually anyone with basic computer skills can upload a video to YouTube for free in a matter of minutes. And since YouTube’s videos are generally viewed in a relatively small viewing screen, there’s no reason for bakers or others to endure painful budgets for video production costs. In fact, the subtleties of high-end video production are generally lost on YouTube, according to Miller.

Darci Yeo, co-owner, Bliss Bakery & Bistro, says she

“So many people are afraid of videos – well, you shouldn’t be,”says Camusio. “Most videos that make it big are not professional productions. They’re just a guy or a girl who gets in front of a camera and talks about what he or she knows best. You don’t need expensive equipment or a professional studio.”

Plus, bakers are saving significant coin by shifting hosting responsibilities for their videos onto YouTube. Ordinarily, a company needs to pay bandwidth transmission charges anytime a website visitor views a video hosted on its home website. But when that same video is uploaded to YouTube’s servers, businesses never pay a bandwidth transmission cost – no matter how many times that video is viewed.

All told, the frothy mix of remarkable popularity, ease-ofentry and virtually non-existent costs has the wheels of innovation spinning at countles businesses as they continually find new uses for YouTube.

So far, here are the top 10 uses they’ve forged:

1. Marketing: This is, without doubt, the most popular business use of YouTube, and can be wildly successful. Even firms with shoestring promotional budgets have become overnight stars on the service, often with zany and off-the-wall marketing pitches.

Across all industries, one of the classics in the zany category is “Will It Blend,” a campy series from blender

manufacturer Blendtec, which proves the mettle of its product by blending some rather unorthodox items in its blender. Among the hapless victims of the series are an iPhone, a rake handle and 50 marbles. (Visit youtube.com/ blendtec to view the videos.)

The Blendtec videos are a great lesson for bakers who are looking to see how far they can take their humour on YouTube and harness that as an extremely effective marketing tool.

Even if you’re not looking to do comedy, YouTube’s marketing prowess is undeniable. “Although we bake everything on site in an open kitchen visible to our customers, we were astonished at how many people asked if the product was fresh or where it was made. We had a video professionally created to be used in house. YouTube became a natural extension of trying to get our message out about who we are,” says Yeo.

2. Recruiting: Bakeries that already has videos touting their organizations as inviting places to work will find posting those same productions on YouTube is a no-brainer. “Don’t limit yourself to a single, long puff video,” Miller says. “Produce separate videos for individual departments, as well as to illustrate company values, employee benefits, facilities and the like.”

3. Product/service how-tos: These videos can serve a dual purpose for your bakery business, offering detailed instructions for novice clients and customers, while serving as a promotional spot for looky lous. A how-two video can also help place your YouTube video higher in search engine returns.

4. Company video FAQs: Any bakery can leap over the image of a faceless, industry player with on-the-fly videos, which feature charming customer service people answering frequently asked questions. Many businesses already have written FAQs on their websites, but there is something to be said for going the extra mile and offering the personal touch that’s inherent in the video medium.

5. News video clips: The beauty of posting your bakery business news to YouTube is that your information is not sliced, diced or in any other way whittled down to a mere shadow of its former glory by an editor at a news media outlet. You can post a three-minute video to broadcast news about your bakery, or you can go in-depth with a series of videos. Moreover, once you are sure you’ve posted the full story on YouTube, you can

Barry Yeo, co-owner, Bliss Bakery & Bistro, says the bakery’s YouTube video communicates to viewers that all products are freshly baked on premises.

YouTube’s free Insight tool allows you to run usage analytics on your videos.

repurpose those same productions and video press releases to the news media.

“All of the videos you have on your YouTube channel can be shared with members of the media and bloggers,” says Chris Sturk, who edits a blog for the Mequoda Group, a digital marketing consulting firm. “Supply them with links to the site and pitch them on story ideas. The goal in this process is to get your videos shared by the bloggers and journalists you reach out to.”

6. Focus groups: Many sophisticated users of YouTube are also using the service as a free testing ground for commercials they plan to run on cable and broadcast TV, and elsewhere on the web. For example, you can easily test a commercial you plan to run on your local cable station on YouTube.

7. Client communications: When an e-mail or friendly phone call simply doesn’t cut it, many businesses are posting videos to YouTube to connect with customers concerning project updates, personalized descriptions of new services and the like. The medium conveys the message that the company places a special value on its client or customer, and is willing to go the extra distance to prove it. Plus, such communications can be easily made private on YouTube by selecting the “private” option under its broadcast options. This ensures only the viewers you select get to see the video you’ve uploaded.

8. Employee-to-employee communications: As far as Google, the parent company of YouTube, is concerned, videomail could be poised to become the e-mail of this decade. In fact, Google has added Google video to its Google apps suite for business. It makes sense: why not zip off a response to a thorny problem using video, if it’s easier than trying to communicate in another medium? At the very least, videomail is a trend worth experimenting with and monitoring, either on YouTube, or via Google Apps.

Real Savings.

9. Employee training: Bakeries with multiple locations can benefit by posting training videos on YouTube, and having the appropriate employees dial in. By using YouTube’s private broadcast option, those companies can ensure the training videos stay internal. “Many companies find that YouTube is a fast and effective way to disseminate all kinds of employee information,” Miller says. “Done right, it gets information out there in near-real-time, with all the benefit of face-to-face communication.”

10. Savings on business travel: All the videos sent to employees and customers are also enabling business users to rack up substantial savings on business travel. Granted, there are plenty of instances where true face-to-face interaction is irreplaceable. But in many other situations, a video overture is a bulls-eye compromise between basic e-mail and an all-expenses paid business trip for one or more employees to multiple cities.

“Understand what you want the video to do for you. If you are using it to brand your business you may want to consider getting someone to professionally create the piece for you,” says Yeo. If it is more of a specific promotion, your customers are going to be more forgiving of bad sound and a shaky camera hand. Whatever you decide to do, jump in. It can be overwhelming, but the rewards are worth it.” / BJ

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan, New York. Contact him at 646-233-4089, via e-mail at joe@joedysart.com or visit www.joedysart.com.

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BY STEFANIE WALLACE

PUCKER UP

Arecent survey conducted by Culinary Visions Panel found that sweet and salty flavours still rank highest among the general population’s preferred flavour profiles. But palates are ever evolving, and more and more foodies are leaning away from traditional sweet treats in favour of bitter, sour and umami (a Japanese word meaning pleasantly savoury) flavours to tingle their tastebuds. With their bold taste, vibrant colour and plentiful benefits for baking (and possibly your health), sour cherries may be able to bridge the gap between the desire for a new experience and the longing for an old faithful ingredient.

Known as tart cherries in the United States, the vast majority of the world’s sour cherry production is in Europe, but there are several varieties produced in Canada. According to the 2006 Census of Agriculture, Ontario hosts 84 per cent of Canada’s total sour cherry area. More than 95 per cent of all sour cherries on the market are of the Montmorency variety, with bright red skin and pale flesh. “The colour [of Montmorency cherries] is more vibrant red than black sweet cherries,” says Julianna Pawlowski, retail sales manager at Cherry Lane farm in Vineland Station, Ont.

}The University of Saskatchewan has spent years developing several varieties of sour cherries.

While black sweet cherries are very high in sugar, sour cherries are better for baking because they do not have a high sugar content.

The University of Saskatchewan has been developing several varieties of sour cherries for years. The Evans variety was developed in the 1950s and produces a lighter-coloured fruit. In the mid-1990s, the university developed a dwarf shrub cherry plant that grows six to eight feet tall, allowing for mechanical harvesting. The Carmine Jewel was the first variety to be introduced in 1999, and the romance series, with varieties including Romeo, Juliette, Valentine, Crimson Passion and Cupid, were released in 2006. “They are very intense in colour, sweetness and flavour,” says Bruce Hill, president of Canadian Cherry Producers

Inc. (CCPI), the producer-controlled organization that was started in November 2006 to support the sour cherry industry in the Prairies. “Our production is just beginning on the Prairies now, and it’s not near the scale you’d see in Ontario or Michigan,” he says, noting that Michigan is the largest tart cherry producer in the United States.

“One of the criteria [of being bred in Saskatchewan] was that they had to be a short-season crop,” Hill says. “We haven’t been able to identify diseases or pests right now, because cherry fruit flies don’t like -35 C. That’s quite a benefit to us.” But, like any crop, there are still challenges. “We’re still seeing some problems with dieback in the

winter,” Hill says of a soil-borne water mould that causes root rot, which can infect and kill plants.

Regardless of the variety, Pawlowski and Hill agree that sour cherries trump sweet cherries in the baking department. “Sweet cherries don’t cook well and they lose their flavour quite readily,” says Hill. He adds that sour cherries the University of Saskatchewan produces have a very short shelf life, so they are quickly frozen after harvest to stabilize their complex flavour. “A baker will use very little because of the intensity,” he says. “When you think you should use a handful, you should be using half a handful.”

Pawlowski adds that while black sweet cherries are very high in sugar, sour cherries are better for baking because they do not have a high sugar content. “Usually black sweet cherries are used just to eat the way they are,” she says.

DELICIOUS AND NUTRITIOUS?

While there have been no studies proving this, both Pawlowski and Hill say the potential health benefits of sour cherries are great.

“There haven’t been any human trials, but there are different studies that have been done by the University of Michigan on mice and rats to show that it reduces the amount of inflammation due to gout and arthritis,” Pawlowski says. “There’s also melatonin in it as well, which helps to regulate sleeping patterns.”

“We can’t put that on the labels yet,” says Hill, “but because they’re so intense in colour, if the health benefit is related to the colour, they would be very high [in antioxidants].”

But, Pawlowski cautions, cooking sour cherries too much reduces their potential health benefits. “If there’s too much heat involved you lose the health benefits of the cherries,” she says. “You’re better just to drink the water you’re boiling them in.”

TESTED UNTIL PERFECT

If the name of her store isn’t a testament to her love of the ingredient, Kyla Eaglesham, owner of Madeleines, Cherry Pie and Ice Cream in Toronto, can quickly tell you some of her favourite ways to incorporate sour cherries into desserts.

“They’re good for saucy desserts: pie, naturally, and cherry streudel . . . don’t tell the apple people, but I think it’s the best in the world!” Eaglesham says. “Sauces are great as well – chocolate cake with a cherry sauce is brilliant,” she gushes. When using the fruit fresh or frozen, Eaglesham reinforces the

importance of respecting the pulp in the fruit. “Because it’s a pulpy fruit, it’s better as a sauce or in something where there’s a vessel of pastry for it,” she says, noting that an almond cake crumbled on top of phyllo pastry gives a sour cherry strudel a great flavour.

A huge advantage for Eaglesham is that there are great varieties of the fruit grown (fairly) close to home. “I think technically, they freeze well,” Eaglesham says. “You can have local fruit in your freezer and pull it out and bake with it.”

Hill adds that dried cherries can be excellent in place of raisins or dried cranberries, and Eaglesham agrees: “We’ve done dried cherries in fudge and dried cherries in biscotti, and they’re both fantastic.”

The varieties grown at the University of Saskatchewan are great for natural food colouring and natural food flavouring for other applications. “A couple of wineries out here are making sour cherry wine. The tartness of these cherries makes an excellent wine,” Hill says.

And cherry concentrate, which is a popular item at Cherry Lane, can be used for doughnut fillings or as a drizzle for ice cream or cheesecake, Pawlowski suggests.

Of course, incorporating such a niche ingredient into your menu calls for lots of development. “[Sour cherries] are highly acidic, so you really need to control your starch to thicken it properly,” Eaglesham says. “Use fresh ingredients always . . . use fresh flour and make sure you’re resourcing your starches from fresh sources.”

Eaglesham has mastered the art of

the sour cherry pie, but not without lots of experimentation. “It did take us a while to get the right ratio of flour to thicken it without taking away from the cherries,” she says, noting that flour is her starch of choice over cornstarch. “Another challenge is allowing the natural sugars in the fruit to do what they do,” she advises. “You have to really see your filling boiling; you’ve gotta take your time and let it get to the right temperature.”

When it comes to the flavour of her signature dish, Eaglesham believes that it’s not about balancing the tart flavour with sweetness, but complementing the flavour and letting it shine. “Everyone is schooled differently, but sometimes we think that if it’s tart, we need to add sugar,” she says. “But what I think we need to do is enhance the tartness, and then add ice cream or a liqueur that complements [the flavour] as a beverage beside the plate.” Eaglesham uses almond liqueur or bitter in her recipes to let the tartness sing, rather than sugar. “In a restaurant showing, I would say a sour cherry tart with a sweet digestif, like amaretto or Frangelico, would be a great dessert pairing.”

She’s certainly doing something right among the male crowd. “Men love sour cherry pie!” she exclaims. “It’s like the red Corvette of the pie world,” she says with a giggle. “So many people will come in and say my uncle loves cherry pie, or this is for my dad. I don’t know why it is – and not to exclude the women – but it’s a very familiar “dad” thing for a lot of people.”

And the demand for it is great. “Fortunately we haven’t had any big problems, where there was either a surplus or shortage,” Eaglesham says. She finds the ingredient to be fairly economical. “Apples are the most cost effective, but if you want to compare plums, peaches, blueberries and cherries, they all have their seasons and they all sit in a nice comfort zone that you can price your products at,” she says. At Cherry Lane, sour cherries aren’t as pricey as their sweet counterpart: a 30-pound bag of frozen sour cherries retails for $43, and a 22-pound bag of frozen sweet cherries retails for $42.

Whether you call them sour or tart, or use them fresh, frozen or dried, the bold flavour and vibrant colour of sour cherries may be just what you need to add a little extra oomph to your desserts. / BJ

Kyla Eaglesham, owner of Madeleines, Cherry Pie and Ice Cream, says ice cream or liqueur will enhance the tart flavour of the pie.

ACTING ON IMPULSE

Impulsiveness is generally frowned upon. From the time we’re small children, teachers, preachers and parents all tell us that good things happen when cooler heads prevail. Human beings, however, sometimes just like to do what feels good in the moment. It’s a character trait that retailers love because it has a positive impact at the cash register. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, recent studies estimate that about 40 per cent of consumer spending is impulse buying and that number may be even higher for food. A Dupont Study done several decades ago reported that impulse purchases accounted for 50 per cent of grocery store sales. There is, however, an art to the up-sell. You must choose your add-ons carefully; otherwise, you might just undercut your core business.

For customers who planned to come to your bakery, your strategy will be to offer items to purchase in addition to their expected purchase. You ideally want items that complement your core business, not cause the customer to buy it instead of your primary offering. A women’s clothing store will carry jewelry and scarves to bump up the sale. A wine store will sell corkscrews and stemware. As a bakery, you may wish to look at premium jams to go with your breads or coffees that pair with your chocolates. Cutting boards, beautiful serving plates and pie lifters would all complement your offering without taking away from the product itself. Assuming you sell birthday cakes, you should also carry candles, sparklers and balloons to make it easy for the customer to create an instant party. Single servings of cupcakes or brownies could entice an impulse purchase if they were shown with a shelf talker

Keep candles, confetti and party decorations at your store to make it easy for your customers to prepare for their party.

}Cutting boards, beautiful serving plates and pie lifters would all complement your offering without taking away from the product itself.

that simply said, “Why not take one for the road?”

For customers who hadn’t planned to come into your shop, it’s about intercepting and enticing them to come in and make a purchase. Smell is your friend here, as your most powerful seductress is a fresh-baked goodie beckoning customers towards you. The New York Sense and Smell Institute discovered that vanilla has a calming effect on shoppers. If your bakery is part of a mall or closed space you can take advantage of smell as your lure but if you’re a stand-alone store, words and pictures will need to tell the story. Fortunately, baked goods look great visually. Upon going into banking as a

marketer I used to joke about how I missed the days when I could put a glamour shot of a hot, steamy cinnamon bun on a poster and call it a day. Try enticing people to obtain a chequing account with a picture! Bakery-specific words that lure include: fresh, delicious, vanilla, chocolate, decadent, rich. Other advertising power words that punch above their weight include: new, imagine, you and discover. Try a simple chalkboard message on the sidewalk that combines as many of these enticing words as possible. For example: “Discover our new, decadent cinnamon bun” or “Delicious flavours of vanilla, cinnamon and cream cheese. You deserve it.” Once the customer is ready to buy an impulse item, there’s the question of price. There’s much debate on whether or not a sale price is the holy grail of impulse purchasing. While consumers may report that a discounted price makes them purchase impulsively, the

data from online shopping suggests otherwise. According to the Yankee Group (November 2000), 75 per cent of survey respondents indicated that a “special sale price” would motivate them to make a spontaneous purchase. The second most motivating factor reported was free shipping with 49 per cent of respondents. The study of actual purchases online revealed that very few impulse purchases were driven by promotions. The study looked at a cross-section of online retailers including pet stores, apparel stores and computer accessory stores. The researchers discovered that impulse purchases were for a variety of items, none of which were special promotions or products on sale. Impulse purchases were simply items that the shoppers thought of while shopping for other items. Remember, acting on impulse is usually done because it makes the purchaser feel good, so while price is an important consideration, it’s not necessarily the card you lead with. Choose items that make the customer feel better about their main purchase and make sure the price for the add-on is proportional to the purchase. This means that if it’s a $30,000 car, $15,000 hubcaps may be an easy sell. If it’s a $300 suit, the $40 scarf works as an add-on. However, a five-dollar loaf of artisan bread could easily drive a premium jam purchase of five to eight dollars given that the total spend for the customer is still under $20. There aren’t any hard and fast rules. You’ll need to look at your average sale and estimate how much extra a customer may be willing to spend without sacrificing your core business. If the impulse purchase is too attractive and priced proportionally high to your core item, you may see sales of your add-ons cannibalize your main offering.

With a strong and strategic effort to increase impulse purchases, your bakery will quickly benefit from those additional sales. Just observe your clientele for clues as to what will work and at which price point. Whatever you do, don’t overthink it; just do it. It may end up being the best impulse you’ll ever have. / BJ

Michelle Brisebois is a marketing professional with experience in the food, pharmaceutical, financial services and wine industries. She specializes in retail brand strategies.

TIPS TO TAKE AWAY

1. Have lots of add-ons available. If you sell cakes and cupcakes, be sure to have candles, sparklers, balloons and other decorations available to offer your customer a one-stop shop for party supplies.

2. Promote single servings. Single servings of brownies or cake pops advertised with a shelf talker that reads “Take one for the road” could entice an impulse buyer.

3. Use buzzwords. Discover, imagine, and new are all buzzwords that should be incorporated to your signage. Combine as many as possible to maximize success.

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ATLANTIC CITY’S EXPO

Thousands of bakers, students and industry professionals turned out at the Atlantic Bakery Expo for two days of seminars, hands-on instruction, demonstrations, exhibits and networking opportunities.

The expo, which ran March 18 and 19, drew 6,582 attendees to the Atlantic City Convention Centre, where 150 exhibitors showcased their products and services. Registration for the biennial expo was up 20 per cent this year over 2010, the last time the show was held. For the first time ever, organizers expanded the show to include the deli and dairy sectors.

Walking the bustling show floor, we saw a number of products of interest to the small Canadian contingent attending this year’s expo. Here’s a roundup of a few products that caught our eye.

The hot item at Unox’s booth was the ChefTop oven. The stainless steel oven features auto-reversing motors, high performance fans with three speeds, dry air intake and forced humidity extraction, a drip tray and a cool touch door. (www.unox.com)

On a swing by the Heartland Sweeteners booth, Bakers Journal learned about Ideal, a no calorie, xylitol-based sweetener that maintains its sweetness in baking and cooking applications. During a demo on baking with alternative sweeteners, Chef Don “Ozzie” Godleski used Ideal to make a sugar-free fondant with a pliable texture and a mellow flavour. (www.heartlandsweeteners.com)

At the Par-Way Tryson Company’s booth, we discovered Vegalene’s allergenfree release spray. The company’s soy and gluten-free formula is designed to release foods cleanly and prevent sticking, especially in high-heat applications. Par-Way Tryson also offers a buttery cooking spray that is soy-free (but not gluten-free) and delivers rich flavour. (www.parwaytryson.com)

One highlight of touring around the show floor was getting the chance to study the Atlantic Bakery Expo Cake

Competition entries up close. All the entries were displayed on a long row of table running the width of the exhibit hall. Top honours went to Dorey Williams, of Sweet Nothings in Wyandotte, Mich., whose magical creation captured the top spot in the professional sculpted category, and took Best In Show.

Supplementing the trade show were morning education sessions covering everything from pricing custom cakes to time management for the busy bakery

owner or manager. Intensive three-hour hands-on workshops specializing in sculpting, fondant, gum paste flowers and airbrushing ran concurrently with the morning sessions, and demos scheduled throughout the day guaranteed that there was always something new for attendees to learn. The educational program also featured a series of sessions targeted at the dairy and deli segments, offering something for everyone. / BJ

Created by Dorey Williams, of Wyandotte, Mich., this fantastical design took top prize in the cake competition.

LEADING LESSONS

Before any leader can aspire to lead an enterprise, they must first master leading an organization of one. Some people are more naturally disciplined than others. For those who struggle with being disciplined, here are five disciplines of self-leadership to help accelerate your effectiveness and prepare you to do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done.

CONTROL TIME

The most basic expression of self-discipline is controlling your time so that you are focused on your highest and best use. The effectiveness of leaders is limited by allowing others to set too much of the agenda. The following practices will promote a greater ability to do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done.

• Predetermine time blocks for your most important activities.

• Do not allow meetings and conversations to extend beyond the appropriate time limit.

• Give an assistant or colleague some authority to assist you in executing your calendar.

• Protect one-hour blocks of uninterrupted time to execute your most complex work.

FUEL ENERGY

A primary reasons for allowing unsolved problems to be swept under the carpet is the leader’s lack of energy. Sustaining appropriate levels of energy will intercept entropy at an early stage.

The disciplines most commonly associated with fueling your energy often involve diet, exercise and sleep habits. Beyond these practices, build opportunities to engage in things that put wind in your sails in to your schedule.

TEMPER EMOTIONS

Passion is the natural reservoir of energy that propels a leader forward in the face of adversity. However, at times it is critical to practice the discipline of being dispassionate.

Being dispassionate allows a leader to

protect the environment from becoming toxic, and engaging in the wrong battles. A leader should fuel their energy by investing in their passion, but keep things from running off the rails by not pouring gas on a volatile situation.

FOCUS WORDS

The most commonly used tool in the arsenal of a leader is their words. Far too often we lack the right words at the right time. Why wouldn’t the wise leader make time to practice the discipline of focusing our words for the greatest amount of impact?

The discipline of crafting or outlining scripts for crucial situations will assist in making sure that the words that flow from your mouth achieve the purpose of the right words at exactly the right time.

USE POWER

The fifth important discipline that must be an ongoing practice for leaders is disciplining your power, particularly as it relates to knowing where your source of authority comes from. Are you building your power base from the positional role in the organization or your credibility with the people you lead?

The authority of a leader rests in the relationships they form with the people they lead. The risk most often encountered when influencing people where there is a personal relationship is not maintaining the authority to exercise your power.

All leadership begins with self-leadership. Master these areas of self-leadership and you will find you possess an uncanny ability to do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done. / BJ

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Rich launches ice cream-filled cupcakes

Rich Products Corporation recently added ice cream-filled cupcakes to its product offering. Sold under Rich’s Jon Donaire brand, these new cupcakes are offered in two cake flavours – yellow and chocolate. A rich, creamy vanilla ice cream is found at the centre of these moist and delicious cupcakes. And, the cupcakes come topped with a smooth, whipped topping, creating a perfect, handheld dessert solution. www.richsisb.com

Alphamalt Fresh keeps bread fresh longer

Mühlenchemie, a flour treatment specialist, has developed a new enzyme preparation capable of prolonging the shelf life of industrially produced bread by up to 15 days. Alphamalt Fresh prevents recrystallization of the starch that has gelatinized during baking and thus keeps the crumb soft for a longer period. This reduces the amount of bread that becomes stale.

If Alphamalt Fresh is combined with emulsifiers or enzymes that optimize the volume of the bread and the bread structure as it appears immediately after baking, an even longer shelf life of up to three weeks can be achieved. www.muehlenchemie.de

FWE introduces the Clymate IQ Baker

The Clymate IQ baker model is over-sized to meet the production requirements of bakeries, sandwich shops and pizzerias. Each shelf holds two 18” x 26” sheet pans, or three strap pans with four loaf pans per shelf. The Clymate IQ baker reaches set heat and humidity levels in just 30 minutes and keeps food at optimum serving temperatures through peak serving periods with minimal operator involvement. Featuring intuitive climate control, the Clymate IQ baker is easy to read and easy to set, with relative humidity settings between 10 per cent and 90 per cent and temperatures between 90 F and 200 F. www.fwe.com

CDN introduces new dishwasher thermometer

Designed with the culinary arts professional in mind, Staybowlizer is a device that is used to secure bowls of all shapes and sizes from unwanted movement across a diverse range of applications. The device’s design provides users two methods with which they can go about securing a bowl. The Staybowlizer is constructed using an FDAapproved food-grade silicone compound, which is heatresistant up to 500 F. info@staybowlizer.com

New Tortilla Grains Blend from Caravan

The CDN dishwasher thermometer (DW428) helps ensure proper sanitation of dishes, silverware, barware and more by providing minimum and maximum temperature readings of water during a dishwasher cycle.

The thermometer has a temperature range of 14 F to 200 F and a high IPX4 waterproof rating that deems it safe for running in foodservice dishwasher cycles for up to 30 minutes. www.cdnw.com

Caravan Ingredients introduces Tortilla Grains Blend, a specially formulated blend of grains and complementing ingredients for the production of tortillas and other baked goods. With softer and finer particulates, this product provides tortillas and other pressed or sheeted products a multigrain colour, appearance and flavour without damaging the integrity and functionality of the product. Tortilla Grains Blend works well in both small and large bakeries and can be applied to any baked good, particularly pressed or sheeted products such as tortillas, flatbreads and crackers. www. caravaningredients.com

Reactions can be mild to very severe. The most common reaction is the production of antibodies to the food by the body. Severe reactions can cause anaphylactic shock that may result in death.

Chronic reactions to food include celiac disease, which involves the gluten protein found in wheat, barley and rye. Other allergens include milk, eggs, peanuts and tree nuts. Different countries have varying restrictions with regards to allergens. It is important to understand the difference between allergies and food intolerances. Food intolerances do not involve the immune system. For example, lactose intolerance occurs when a person lacks the enzymes required to digest milk sugar, resulting in gas, bloating and abdominal pain. The agents that cause BSE, or mad cow disease, are another form of contamination of food, resulting from unsafe animal feeding practices. These agents are very difficult to eliminate once they contaminate food.

Chemical hazards can be the result of unintentional contamination of foods with

chemicals posing a health danger to consumers. The food production industry deals with many chemicals; starting from the field and storage, pesticides are used to control unwanted pests and can easily end up in food products. Many chemicals are also used as lubricants, cleaning and sanitizing agents that can contaminate food in processing facilities. It is important to segregate such chemicals in food processing facilities in order to minimize the incidents of food contamination. Preservatives and antimicrobial agents are also permitted in various food formulations,and the amount used in foods is regulated based on safety assessments. It is important that their application is accurate.

The third type of hazard in foods is contamination with agents, such as wood and glass, which can cause physical injury to consumers. Wood splinters from wooden pallets can easily end up in food products. Although more and more food manufacturers are switching to plastic, glass is still widely used due to its superiority in ensuring longer shelf life of certain products. Glass pieces from brakeage can end up in food, and glass is

very difficult to detect in food products. Metal contamination from machinery or other sources also poses a hazard, but unlike glass, it is easy to locate in food products with the use of metal detectors.

The forms of contamination discussed are all unintentional. The intentional contamination of food is termed food tampering. Food tampering is very serious because it may take place beyond the control of the food manufacturer – it can be carried out by unhappy employees, consumers or terrorists.

In the next article we will discuss the various programs of food safety and security that help companies produce and deliver safe food to the consumers. / BJ

For more information, or fee-for-service help with food technical and processing issues and needs, please contact Dr. John Michaelides at John Michaelides & Associates at 519-743-8956 or at Bioenterprise at 519-821-2960 ext. 226,or by e-mail: j.jmichaelides@gmail.com.

Bionterprise is a company of experienced professionals that coach and mentor emerging agri-technology companies from planning to startup to profitability and beyond.

Bonnie Gordon Bonnie Gordon College, Canada

Buddy Valastro Carlo’s Bakery, USA

Paris Cutler Planet Cake, Australia

Ron Ben-Israel Ron Ben-Israel Cakes, USA

Rosalind Chan ICCA, Malaysia Sugar Tiers, Canada

Cake design provided by: Ron Ben-Israel

2012 milling guide & directory

ADM MILLING CO.

7585 Danbro Cres., Mississauga, ON L5N 6P9

Contact: Debbie Bell, 905-819-7000

Fax: 905-819-9768

e-mail: debbie.bell@adm.com

Plants: 2 Montreal, QC; Mississauga, Midland, Port Colborne, ON; Winnipeg, MB; Medicine Hat, Calgary, AB.

Sales offices: Montreal QC, 514-846-8533; Toronto, ON 1-800-267-8492; Medicine Hat, AB 403-526-2876; Calgary AB, 403-2675656; Vancouver, B.C. 604-299-0710.

Products offered: A full flour and mix product line for the bakery, donut, muffin, food service, biscuit, pasta, frozen, in-store bakery, pasta and industrial segments. Other products offered are stoneground whole wheat, cracked wheat, graham and cereal bran and rye flours.

ANITA’S ORGANIC GRAIN & FLOUR MILL LTD.

43615 Yale Rd., Chilliwack, BC V2R 4J6

Phone: 604-823-5543

Fax: 604-823-5546

e-mail: john@anitasorganic.com

www.anitasorganic.com

Products offered: Anita’s Organic sells a wide range of certified organic and kosher flours, grains, seeds, pulses, cereals and mixes in retail, wholesale and bulk sizing.

Our milling strength is in fresh stone-milled whole grain flours. Our flours have not been treated with any chemicals such as pesticides or preservatives. We mill fresh every day and quickly turn the inventory. We are a great source for ancient grains and industry leading niche products as well as all purpose flours. Custom bulk milling orders in 1 metric tonne sacs are also one of our strengths along with export services.

Company comments: Anita’s Organic has been stone-milling for over twenty years in the Western Canadian market. Our aim is to take care of the customers needs before, during, and after a delivery. We believe in pure and simple ingredients that are fresh and full of natural nutrition. We are a versatile, efficient and friendly company ready to meet the needs of the organic baker and food company.

BRANT FLOUR MILLS

14 Brant Mill Rd., RR 4, Scotland, ON N0E 1R0 www.brantflourmills.com

Contact: Volker Storjohann, 1-888-484-2921

e-mail: info@brantflourmills.com

Plant: Oakland, ON

Products offered: Rye, spelt and corn produtcs. Organic and custom milling available.

Delivery: Shipped by truck throughout Canada and U.S.A.

Major customers: Bakeries and distributors.

FARINART INC.

1150 Rang Saint-Edouard, Saint-Liboire, QC, J0H 1R0

Contact: Simon de Groot

Phone: 416-770-2310

e-mail: sdegroot@farinart.com www.farinart.com

Products offered: Ecocert, Kosher and Halal certified. Farinart is a Canadian leader in the production of grain blends and flours both traditional and organic for bakeries and food manufacturers. Delivering top quality grain blends and flours along with innovative processing solutions, superior expertise, product consistency and best in class service. Distribution: We deliver across Canada and overseas.

Delivery: 20 kg bags, tote bags and bulk products.

Company comments: We are a friendly and versatile company that can adapt to our clients’ requirements.

GLANBIA NUTRITIONALS (CANADA) INC.

PO Box 190, Angusville, MB ROJ 0A0

www.glanbianutritionals.com

Contact: Marilyn Stieve, Business Development Manager, 608-807-9688

Fax: 608-316-8504

e-mail: Nutrition@glanbia.com

Products offered: Whole flax seed, milled flaxseed, fine milled flaxseed, flaxseed bran, lignan/fiber complex, flax/fish oil blend. Major customers: Retail and Wholesale bakeries, food, beverage, nutritional and supplement companies.

Company comments: NOT ALL FLAXSEED IS CREATED EQUAL.

When it comes to flaxseed, nobody can compete with the quality or nutritional value found in our MeadowPure® line of flaxseed ingredients.

Whether you’re looking to enhance your project with flaxseed’s powerful antioxidant benefits or its abundance of essential Omega-3 fatty acids, our MeadowPure line of flaxseed delivers the nutritional and functional requirements your application demands. MeadowPure® Process – MeadowPure is a patented seed selection and cleaning process found exclusively at Glanbia Nutritionals. First, we work with contract farmers to select flaxseed that’s superior in colour, uniformity and flavour. The seeds are then processed using proprietary patented technology that protects the integrity of the flaxseed during all stages of production. The result is a superior flaxseed

that remains stable under a wide variety of food processing, distribution and handling conditions for up to two years after the milling of the seed. The full nutritional value of flaxseed is delivered where it’s intended – in the food products that reach consumers.

GRAIN PROCESS ENTERPRISES LTD.

105 Commander Blvd., Scarborough, ON M1S 3M7

Contact: George Birinyi Jr., Carl Griesser

Phone: 416-291-3226

Fax: 416-291-2159

e-mail: gbjr@grainprocess.com

Products offered: Over 3,000 items including a full range of whole grains. Hard/Soft Wheat, Triticale, Corn, Millet, Barley, Rye and Durum and organic products certified by QAI (Whole Wheat Flour, White Flour, “Ancient Grains” Spelt, Kamut, Quinoa, Seeds, etc.) Precooked and stabilized grains and flours, Whole Bean Flour, complete range of grains including Cracks, Flakes and Grits, Seeds (Sunflower, Sesame, Golden Yellow and Brown Flax), Beans, Peas, Lentils, Sugars, Nuts and Dried Fruit. Food processing also includes custom blending facilities for multi-grain formulas (Bread, Muffin and Pancake Mixes, etc.) packaging, granola cereals, toasted grains, Turbinado and Demerara Sugars.

Distribution: Across Canada and the United States.

Major customers: Bakeries, biscuit and cookie manufacturers, food service, bulk, health and natural food retailers and distributors and manufacturers.

Company comments: We pride ourselves as being the only stone flour mill in Canada to offer such a wide variety of products. Our product development team is ready to develop mixes and specialty grains for any application in the food industry.

HORIZON MILLING G.P.

Horizon Milling, a Cargill Joint Venture, is a leading bakery solution provider, offering a broad range of high quality flour, oats and bakery mixes/bases/concentrates to manufacturers, retail and wholesale bakery and foodservice. To learn more visit www. horizonmilling.ca

®ROBIN HOOD is a registered trademark of Smucker Foods of Canada Corp., used under license. 235 Nuggett Ct., Brampton, ON L6T 5H4

Contact: Elaine O’Doherty, 905-494-2600

www.horizonmilling.ca

Plants: Flour mills in Montreal, QC, Saskatoon, SK, bakery mix plants in Burlington, ON and Saskatoon, SK. Oat mill in Saskatoon, SK. Products offered: All purpose, bread, cake and pastry, durum, rye and other specialized flours, milled oat and bran products – many formulated specifically to customers needs, a variety of bakery mix products.

Delivery: To all of Canada by rail or truck. Minimum order varies.

Distribution: From plants, regional warehouses and local distributors, depending on product location.

Major customers: In-store bakeries, independent bakery retailers and wholesalers, food service operations, major supermarket chains and grocery stores, cereal processors, biscuit manufacturers.

HOWSON & HOWSON LTD.

232 Westmorland St., PO Box 390, Blyth, ON, N0M 1H0

Contact: Jeff Howson, 519-523-4241, Ext. 60

Fax: 519-523-4920

e-mail: jeff@howsonandhowson.ca

Dan Greyerrbiehl, 905-792-2962

Fax: 519-523-4920

e-mail: dgreyerbiehl@rogers.com

Plants: Blyth, ON

Products offered: Durum semolina, durum flours, durum whole wheat semolina, Atta flours.

Delivery: Bulk truckloads, bulk bags (750kg), 20kg bags, 40kg bags, 50lb bags and 100lb bags to Ontario, Quebec and United States.

Distribution: From Blyth, ON, Plant by truck or distributors.

Major customers: Manufacturers of dry pasta, fresh pasta, frozen pasta, and snack crackers. Assistance offered: Technical assistance.

Company comments: Howson & Howson Ltd. have been quality wheat millers for over 135 years. We are continuously modernizing our durum mill in order to supply our customers with high-quality durum semolina, durum flour and other durum products.

2012 milling guide & directory

INFRAREADY PRODUCTS (1998) LTD.

1438 Fletcher Rd., Saskatoon, SK S7M 5T2

Contacts: Mark Pickard, Atin

Parmar 306-242-4950

Fax: 306-242-4213

e-mail: info@infrareadyproducts.com www.infrareadyproducts.com

Plant location: Saskatoon SK

Certifications: AIB, OCIA, Kosher, Halal

Delivery: Bulk tote bag, 20kg, 25kg, 50lb and 55lb

Products Offered: Conventional and Organic – Pre-cooked Cereals, Pulses and Oilseeds in whole, bumped, flaked, meal and flour forms, Barley, Rye.

Customized Multi-Grain blends, Purple Wheat Products.

Major customers: Bakery, breakfast cereal, biscuit & cookie, cracker, baby food, food service, energy bar, snack food, soups and ready-to-eat meal manufacturers.

Company comments: Our brand promise is to provide measurably superior, innovative and nutritious food ingredients that have recognizable consumer benefit, in an environment of honest, open and transparent communication with all our clients.

KRAFT CANADA INC. MISSISSAUGA MILL

27 Reid Dr., Mississauga, ON L5M 2B1

647-258-1090

Contact: D. Welch, 647-258-1062, M. Duffin, 647-258-1051

Fax: 905-826-4852

Plant: Mississauga, ON

Products offered: Soft wheat flours for pastry, biscuits, crackers, tarts, waffles, wafers; hiratio cake flour; strong baker’s patent; food grade bran and wheat germ.

Delivery: Ontario and Quebec.

Major customers: Biscuit and cracker manufacturers, baking mix manufacturers, bakery trade.

Assistance offered: Flour technical service and up-to-date wheat market information.

Company comments: We specialize in consistent quality custom soft wheat flours, both bulk and bags, as well as food grade bran. We will manufacture a bulk flour to your needs and specifications.

NUNWEILER’S FLOUR CO.

Box 28009 RPO E. Kelowna, Kelowna, BC V1W 4A6

Contact: Ross Nunweiler 1-888-726-2253

Fax: 1-888-688-2288

e-mail: info@nunweilersflour.com www.nunweilersflour.com

Plant: Alsask, Sask.

Products offered: Organic whole grain wheat flour, organic whole grain dark rye flour, organic whole grain all-purpose and pastry flour, organic whole grain spelt flour, organic whole grain buckwheat flour, organic whole grain red fife flour.

Distribution: B.C. – Snowcap Enterprises, Snowcap Interior, Aarsen City Delivery.

Major customers: Retail and wholesale bakeries, specialty product bakeries, retail mass market and natural food stores.

Company comments: Our flour mill is a QAI certified organic facility located in Saskatchewan with sales and operations office located in British Columbia. We process only certified organic 100% whole grain flour in our low temperature, impact mill. There are no additives, preservatives or blending included in our flour. Only the whole grain is milled into our premium quality flour. Since 1988 we have been producing flour for consumers wanting wholesome and nutritional food.

NUTRASUN FOODS LTD.

PO Box 1695 Dewdney Ave., Regina, Saskatchewan S4N 4N0

Phone: 306-751-2040

Contact: Neil Moore, Marketing Manager, 306-242-2515; Cell- 1-306-281-3110

Fax: 306-751-2047

www.nutrasunfoods.com

Certification: NutraSun Foods Ltd. is certified Organic by Quality Assurance International (QAI), Kosher Certified and H.A.C.C.P. and ISO 22,000 Compliant.

Delivery: We deliver bakery products across Canada and the United States as well as shipments offshore.

Products offered: NutraSun’s high quality

2012 milling guide & directory

Organic and Traditional flour is milled from Hard Red Spring and Hard White Wheat. We are the exclusive miller of premium Snowbird White Wheat flour and also offer a variety of Whole Grain flours.

In addition to flour, we are continuously expanding our product line of organic and conventional bakery mixes and bases to include breads, muffins, cookies, scones, pancakes, cake and yeast donuts, and whole grain pizza crust mix or base. We also offer customized grain blends and organic and clean label dough conditioners. NutraSun offers a variety of packaging options for the industrial, bakery and retail markets including 10 kg, 20 kg and 50 pound bags, bulk totes, bulk trucks and bulk rail. Our retail packaging line uses re-sealable pouch packs for weights ranging from 600 grams to 2.5 kg.

Major customers: NutraSun serves industrial and retail bakeries as well as retailers selling consumer packed re-sealable pouches.

Company comments: NutraSun Foods is a division of Paterson GlobalFoods, a wholly owned Canadian company which has been serving the Canadian agricultural and food industry for over one hundred years. NutraSun is a fully modernized mill located in southern Saskatchewan, the heart of Canada’s Hard Red and White Wheat growing region. NutraSun Foods contracts directly with producers across western Canada in sourcing the highest quality grain to ensure consistency and quality for our flour and mixes.

P & H MILLING GROUP

Company comments: Canadian owned, the P&H Milling Group is Canada’s second largest flour producer. Built on the strength of eight mills, the P&H Milling Group is strategically located across Canada. For more information about our flour mills or any of our other products please contact the P&H Milling Group sales and service representative in your area.

P & H MILLING GROUP –ONTARIO REGION

3 Locations to serve:

P&H Milling Group - Hanover 252-14th St., PO Box 219 Hanover, ON N4N 3C5

800-265-5510 Ext.: 2266 Customer Service

P&H Milling Group - Cambridge 140 King St. W. Cambridge, Ontario N3H 4T3

800-265-0588 Dial: 1 for Customer Service

P&H Milling Group - Acton 45 Church St. W. Acton, Ontario L7J 1K1

800-608-7694 Ext.: 24 Customer Service

Contact Dan Vida, Regional Sales and Marketing Manager, 800-621-0588 Ext.: 6422 e-mail: dvida@phmilling.com

Products offered: Hard Wheat Flour, Soft Wheat Flour, Blended Flour, Heat Treated Flour, Organic Wheat Flour.

P&H Milling Group has a fleet of company owned and operated Trucks and Tankers to serve you better.

Product is available in bulk, paper bags or totes. Our products are available as private label or branded.

Other products include wheat bran, white whole wheat flour, rye flour, durum semolina, oat products, corn products, pea fibre and starch.

Company comments: P&H Milling Group is the amalgamation of Dover Flour Mills, New Life Mills, Ellison Milling and Parrheim Foods. Eight mills across Canada and a vast distributor network enable us to serve your bakery needs wherever you are in North America. The companies bring 300 years of combined service to the baking industry. Our experienced and skilled sales force is trained to assist with problem solving, new product formulation, commodity information and risk management.

P & H MILLING GROUP –HALIFAX

PO Box 2185, 730 Marginal Rd., Halifax, NS B3J 3C4 www.phmilling.com

Contact: Dave Bryson, 902-429-0622, 1-800-663-6837

Fax: 902-423-9075

e-mail: dbryson@phmilling.com

Products offered: Enriched flours, no-time flours, bread flours, natural flours, whole wheat flour, pizza flour, organic flour, cracked wheat, farina, wheat bran, whole grain; bread, cookie, muffin, cake and doughnut mixes and customblended mixes; cake and pastry flours, corn and dark rye flour, coarse rye-meal, rolled oats, oat bran, oatmeal and yeast. P&H Milling-Halifax also produces private label flour, mixes and bases.

Delivery: Serves Atlantic Provinces with company-owned bulk tankers and delivery trucks, containers and common carriers.

Distribution: Sells direct as well as through local wholesalers.

Major customers: Bakeries throughout Atlantic Canada and off shore.

Company comments: We mill our flours primarily from Canadian Western Red Spring Wheat known for its consistent quality and baking characteristics. P&H Milling-Halifax is committed to supplying competitively-priced, consistently high quality products, milled, blended and packaged to individual customer requirements for both local and international markets. In our R&D and Quality laboratory, a team of specialists assure that quality of every shipment, develop new products and work closely with our customers. Our management and staff are dedicated to quality products and service and are sensitive to the varieties of specific needs of our customers.

P & H MILLING GROUP –MONTREAL

380 Oak St., Montreal, QC H3K 3G2

Tel: 514-934-3234

e-mail: mduval@phmilling.com

Contact: Guy Boutet: 514-934-1443 or 1-866934-3234

e-mail: gboutet@phmilling.com

Fax: 514-934-5069

Products offered: Enriched flours, no-time flours, bread flours, natural flours, whole wheat flour, pizza flour, organic flour, cracked wheat, farina, wheat bran, whole grain; bread, cookie, muffin, cake and doughnut mixes and customblended mixes; cake and pastry flours, corn and dark rye flours, course rye-meal, rolled oats, oat brain and oatmeal and yeast. P&H Mills also produces private label flour, mixes and bases.

Delivery: Serves Quebec with bulk trailers, delivery trucks, containers and common carriers.

Major customers: Bakeries throughout Quebec and U.S. market.

Company comments: We mill our flours primarily from Western Red Spring Wheat known for its consistent quality and baking characteristics. P&H Milling-Montreal is part of the P&H Milling Group and is committed to supplying competitively priced high quality products to meet customer’s needs.

P & H MILLING GROUP –SASKATOON

75 – 33rd St. E., PO Box 160, Saskatoon, SK S7K 3K4

Toll Free: 1-888-313-6837

Contact: Jerry Dmytryshyn; 306-667-8016

Fax: 306-667-8129

e-mail: jdmytryshyn@phmilling.com www.phmilling.com

Products offered: Enriched flours, no-time flours, bread flours, whole wheat flours, organic flours, pizza flours, cracked wheat bran, Barley flour and pot and pearl barley. P&H Milling also produces private label flour for the retail and wholesale markets.

Delivery: Across Canada, US and off shore.

Company comments: P&H Milling-Saskatoon is part of the P&H Milling Group. The mill began producing flour in Saskatoon on February 1st, 1949. We mill our flours primarily from Canadian Western Spring Wheat, known for its consistent quality and superior baking characteristics. We are strategically located in the heart of the Canadian Prairie wheat growing area.

P&H Milling-Saskatoon is committed to supplying competitively priced, consistently high quality products, milled, blended and packaged to individual customer requirements for both local and international markets.

P & H MILLING GROUP –LETHBRIDGE

PO Box 400, 1301 2nd Ave. S., Lethbridge, AB, T1J 3Z1

Contact: Bob Grebinsky, 403-328-6622

Fax: 403-327-3772

e-mail: bgrebinsky@phmilling.com.

Products offered: A complete line of spring wheat flours, soft wheat flours, rye flours and meals, durum semolina, durum atta and durum patent.

Distribution: Direct and distributor network covering British Columbia and Alberta. Direct delivery available throughout Canada and the US. Offshore shipping globally.

Delivery: Bags in 10 kg, 25 lb, 20 kg & 50 lb. Bulk by totes, truck and rail.

Major customers: Retail and wholesale

2012 milling guide & directory

bakeries. Pasta and food manufacturers. Foodservice and traditional retail brand private label.

Company comments: Located in Southern Alberta in the heart of the grain growing area and strategically situated on key distribution routes. Our strength is in our ability to consistently delivery flour that meets each customer’s specific needs.

PARRHEIM FOODS

(P&H Milling Group) 817 48th St. E., Saskatoon, SK S7K 0X5

Contact: Glenn O’Hara, 306-931-9911

Fax: 306-931-1655

e-mail: gohara@phmilling.com www.phmilling.com

Products offered: Pea flour concentrates (starch, protein, flour and fibre)-both conventional and organic. Barley flour and beta-glucan concentrated flour as well.

Delivery: Across Canada, USA and offshore Distribution: Direct from our Plant in Saskatoon

Company comments: Parrheim Foods, Saskatoon SK, is centrally located amongst the largest growing region of pulse crops in the world. Since 1989, we have been processing concentrated flours from peas and barley. Our pea protein is well accepted for its excellent amino acid profile and low allergenicity; our pea fibre for its high tdf content and our pea starch for its resistant and slowly digestible attributes. To ensure their functionality, all our products are naturally processed and no chemical or aqueous processes are used. All our products are non-GMO, and processed at our HACCP Certified plant in Saskatoon. We are proud to provide the highest quality products delivered in a timely efficient manner in the quantity (bags, totes or bulk) you require.

PERMOLEX LTD

8010 Edgar Industrial Cres., Red Deer, AB T4P 3R3 www.permolex.com

Flour and Gluten Contact: Randy Cook, General Manager, 403-347-7557

e-mail: rcook@permolex.com OR info@ permolex.com

Plant: Red Deer Alberta

Products offered: Vital wheat gluten and flour. Distribution: Red Deer, Alberta, Saskatoon, Sask., Seattle, Wash., Eastern Canada and the U.S.

PORT ROYAL MILLS

240 Industrial Pkwy. S., Aurora, ON L4G 3V6

Contact: Kresho Petrovich 905-713-1712

Fax: 905-713-0074

e-mail: orderdesk@portroyalmills.com www.portroyalmills.com

Plant: Aurora, ON

Certifications: SQF 2000, Certified Organic by Pro-Cert, Kosher Kashruth

Products offered: Custom blended whole grain cereals, stone ground flours, cracked, flaked, pearled and whole grains including: rye, spelt, barley, quinoa etc. Importers and distributors of other fine bakery ingredients.

Delivery: Direct throughout most of Ontario Major customers: Bakeries, cookie manufacturers, frozen dough plants, bakery mix manufacturers and food processors. Company comments: At our milling facility in Aurora, Ont., we meet the continuing demand for whole grain milling and custom blending. We at Port Royal continue to provide the highest quality products and personalized service to our customers with industry leading food safety standards.

PRAIRIE FLOUR MILLS LTD.

11 Janzen Rd., P. O. Box 301, Elie, MB R0H 0H0 www.flour.com

Contact: Canada: 1-888-99FLOUR; United States: 1-800-49FLOUR

Products offered: All major hard spring flours, high gluten and specialty bread flours and a line of organic flours. Kosher certified.

Major brands: P500 Enriched Bakers, P400 All Purpose, P500Q Short, Fermentation Flour, P1200 Whole Wheat, Organic White and Organic Whole Wheat

Delivery: By rail and truck across Canada and United States. Available bag size 10 to 1,000 kg bulk.

Major customers: Retail, wholesale and food service distribution and manufacturers.

RANDOLPH & JAMES

FLAX MILLS LTD.

401 – 13th St. E., Prince Albert, SK S6V 1E2

Contact: James Boschman, 306-764-1463 or 1-800-667-1176

Fax: 306-922-3529

Products offered: “Northern Edge” milled flaxseed, “Northern Edge” flax bread bases.

Distribution: Western Canada – BakeMark Ingredients Canada Ltd. Central Canada – John Vince Foods.

2012 milling guide & directory

Major customers: Scratch bakeries, large and small, frozen dough and par-bake manufacturers, bulk food, health food stores and pharmacies.

Company comments: All of our products are formulated with high linolenic acid flaxseed, milled for bio-availability and vacuumpackaged to ensure freshness. Contains no trans fatty acids.

ROGERS FOODS LTD. (FLOUR MILLS)

Contact: Brad Duggan; 604-992-7997, Paolo Santangelo; 604-798-8847

e-mail: info@rogersfoods.com

Products offered: A full range of hard and soft bakery flour including: Whole Wheat: coarse, fine, organic and stone-ground. White: bakery, unbleached, organic and pastry. Rye: light, dark

and coarse rye meal. Cereal Products: wheat bran, oat bran and 9 grain. Flaked Products: wheat, rye, triticale and a variety of cereal products.

Delivery: By truck – bags or bulk.

Distribution: Trailer loads – direct. Less than trailer loads through distributor: Snow Cap Enterprises Ltd. – Burnaby (604-515-3200) and Interior Division (250-546-8781).

Company comments: Rogers Food Ltd., operates British Columbia’s only commercialsize flour mills in Armstrong and Chilliwack. The company specializes in bulk deliveries and is able to offer overnight delivery to Vancouver, Seattle (WA) and Portland (OR).

SPEERVILLE FLOUR MILL

152 Speerville Rd., Speerville, NB E7N 1S2

Contact: Todd Grant, GM 506-277-6371, 1-866-277-6371

Fax: 506-277-1006

Products offered: Over 140 certified organic products: stone ground flours, cereals, pancake and baking mixes, multigrain products, cooking oils, dried fruit, low-gluten products, sugar, salt, baking powder, beans, nut butters and many other Maritime-produced products. Also

a line of non-organic stone-ground wheat flours.

Distribution: Atlantic Canada

Major customers: Bakeries, grocery stores, natural food stores, distributors.

Company comments: The only certified organic flour mill in Atlantic Canada celebrating our 29th in business. We provide even more of the highest quality products than before. Thanks to our loyal customers!

ALBION BAKERY SUPPLIES

THE BAKING INDUSTRY

Tel: (416) 252-4660 Fax: (416) 252-9993

25 - 8 Connell Ct., Toronto, ON M8Z 1E8

• BAG CLOSURES & LABELS

• BAG CLOSING EQUIPMENT • KWIK LOK TAGS

PIERRE GENDRON

Regional Sales Manager

254 Rue De Thebes, Laval, QC H7M 5P2

1-888-KWIK LOK (594) 5565

Cell: (514) 710-9364 • E-mail: pierreg@kwiklok.com

176 SHELDON DRIVE, CAMBRIDGE, ONTARIO N1R 7K1

TELEPHONE: (519) 623-5140 FAX: (519) 623-1421

1-888 KWIK LOK (594-5565)

R & D TEST BAKER – See 5-10 years experience (in bakery) dough making/batters ability, all around knowledge/oblique applications to take direction, train in R and D for World Leader. Days. Salary $35-40K. [Future] Visit Customers, trade shows, little travel. Food Industry Recruiters. Call to 11 p.m. PH: 416-733-2696.

ADMIN. ASSISTANT – Seek minimum 3 year business/inside sales experience, detailed, good numeracy and letter-writing; initiative; assist the owner. At N.E. Toronto. Salary $40-65K. Food Industry Recruiters. Call to 11 p.m. PH: 416-733-2696.

SALES REP ONTARIO – 3-5 yrs in bakery sales, or train if other sales experience/ oblique aptitude. Salary $40-50k, car allowance, benefits. Food Industry Recuiters: Ph: 416-733-2696 up to 11 pm.

EuROPEAN BAKERy/CAFE FOR SALE – In Manitoba. Only independent bakery in popular tourist town. Includes all equipment, furnishings and decor; everything you need to run your own business. Asking $139,000 open to offers. Please contact: birgirrob@gmail.com or call 204-6424662.

BAKERy FOR SALE – In the B.C. Rocky Mountains: Established, profitable business situated in a four season resort community. Asking $495,000. See website for more details/ pictures: www.bakeryforsale.ca or call me at: 250-999-9875.

ED’S BAKERy AND COFFEE SHOP FOR SALE – Turnkey operation, fully equipped, Kitimat’s only real scratch bakery in business for 32 years! Be Your Own Boss! Great time to invest in Canada’s Next BoomTown! Asking $199,900. For more info and pictures, contact Shannon Santos at 250-639-7005. www.kitimatrealty.com.

BAKERy FOR SALE IN BEAuTIFuL KELOwNA, BC – Wholesale business, family owned and in business Since 1949. Potential for growth. Asking $169,000. For more Information Please Call 250762-2277

BY STEPHANIE ORTENZI

OUR MAN ON THE GROUND

How to look into the future of your ingredient costs

The world of cocoa and its commodity futures felt a wave of disquiet in April. Johannes Kilian, one of its most influential players and cocoa-pod counter for the last 20 years, retired at 75.

As a job description, cocoa-pod counter is as analog as it gets. But when you think about commodity futures, you can’t help picturing someone in business attire sitting on the phone in front of a screen of flashing numbers.

That was Kilian for the 30 years before he decided to do field work. He even co-founded a commodity corporation that later became a global leader in hedge fund trading.

}Kilian worked in Ivory Coast, Ghana and Brazil, the world’s top three cocoa producers. In the field, scanning cocoa trees, leaning his head back to peer up into the sun, Kilian – and the many native teams of counters he trained himself – gathered real information that led to better crop and price forecasting. He is an inspired reminder that live bodies are gathering real data on the ground, often where governments can’t because they lack the resources.

A side note to what else is impacting the world trade in cocoa today (aside from finding a worthy replacement for Kilian) is the Ivory Coast’s new cocoa reform package tied to an International Monetary Fund debt-relief accord. The package was launched last November and is intended to get better prices for farmers, to increase production, to refurbish plantations, and to help the country repay debt accumulated during the war years.

World chocolate leader Barry Callebaut AG made a point of announcing that they would co-operate with the reform package because many exporters and importers had initially opposed the package and boycotted auctions, adding they believed there would be a comfortable surplus of cocoa this year, putting prices in a similarly comfortable position.

Callebault’s CEO Juergen Steinemann said as much when interviewed by the

Kilian was the single most famous set of boots in cocoa because he was peerless in how far he was prepared to travel inland, despite the dangers of war.

Bloomberg news service. The same report quoted a statement by London’s International Cocoa Organization, claiming that the supply of cocoa surpassed demand by 347,000 metric tonnes last season.

Kilian was the single most famous set of boots in cocoa because he was peerless in how far he was prepared to travel inland, despite the dangers of war. No one was as influential or as unassailable.

As one of his New York clients told Reuters: “Being an independent force, Hans [his nickname] went where his spirit took him. I would say he’s the only known independent pod counter in the world, certainly the most celebrated.”

Kilian is thought to have had 11 to 20 clients, among them manufacturers, dealers and commodity funds. And he did more than count. He reported on economic and political conditions, current events, prices and labour.

Still, in the end, it is only after the cocoa is harvested, and if the weather complies, and the price of gas co-operates, and the shipments are safely received at dock, delivered to the manufacturer and turned into chocolate blocks or pellets, and that invoice lands on your bookkeeper’s desk, that you can you know your real costs.

Your wholesalers may not give you a heads-up. I spoke to a couple of national distributors, but they were not forthcoming about how they handle passing on changes in commodity pricing.

And who wants to study futures markets? Well, actually, I like to. The fact that everything we make depends on what happens thousands of miles away, under conditions I can only imagine, is a constant fascination for me. I go here: http://www.indexmundi.com/

London’s International Cocoa Organization claimed the supply of cocoa surpassed demand by 347,000 metric tonnes last season.

commodities/?commodity=cocoabeans&months=60.

This page will show you what cocoa did over the last 12 months.

To give this data meaning, you might want to look at what you paid for couverture in March and December of 2011. You should have seen a drop of 35 per cent, because that’s what happened on the commodity market. Cocoa went from US$3,393 per metric tonne to US$2,200.

The site also gives you a look at other commodities significant to your business, like wheat, sugar, vegetable oil and crude oil. It’s extremely easy to use. You can click on the six-month link to look back over six months. You can do a five-year view. They provide an easy-to-read chart, but also actual figures. And information is posted regularly and promptly. It’s a non-partisan source of actual data, which is gold when it comes to an area where so many statements or pronouncements are based on intangibles – unless you were one of Kilian’s clients.

Heads up on another crucial ingredient of the coming months: vanilla is in trouble. A shortage is looming. Ask your supplier about it, and insist on a response. You’re entitled. Your business has tremendous value to them, and to you. / BJ

Stephanie Ortenzi (www.pistachiowriting. com) is a Toronto-based food marketing writer.

SucceSS

Successfully growing a business requires a great plan, careful management and passionate leadership.

If you’re proud of your recent bakery expansion, be it location, people, product or profit, you could be the recipient of our first-ever Growing for Success award.

innovator oF the Year

Are you a trend master, social media maven or ingredient aficionado?

If you own a cutting edge bakery, enter now and you could be our next Innovator of the Year!

entrY and PrizeS

To find out how to enter and what you can win, go to www.bakersjournal.com and click on BAKERS JOURNAL BUSINESS AWARDS.

DEADLINE: July 30th, 2012.

Contestants may only enter one awards category, either Innovator of the Year or Growing for Success. If

Good

listeners make good business partners.

As a Dawn customer, you have more than 90 years of bakery knowledge and expertise on your side. And as we make changes by adding new products and solutions to our services, we want you to know that you still have our undivided attention. We’ll continue to listen carefully to you and bring you our insights and resources to help you grow your business because we’re committed to helping you succeed. After all, a good partnership is more than just listening to each other, it’s about growing together.