Jim Belushi and The Board of Comedy
Doug Rauch Former President of Trader Joe’s
BY BRIAN HARTZ
IT’S TIME TO BRAG
Iknow, I know. I lived in Canada long enough to know that Canadians are not, in general, a boastful people – despite being responsible for myriad noteworthy feats across a dizzying array of human endeavours.
I could list some of those accomplishments here, but then there wouldn’t be space for any other content in the magazine.
However, there comes a time when hard work and sacrifice – and the achievements and success that spring forth from them – should be recognized, and that time is now. Bakers Journal’s annual Jake the Baker contest is in full swing, and we want to hear from you.
We want to hear how and why you got into the business of baking. We want to hear why you’re passionate about being the best baker or pastry chef you can be. We want to hear why your customers love your products and keep coming back for more. We want to hear how and why you failed, but also the lessons you learned from failure that made you even better at what you do and contributed to the success you’re experiencing today.
I like to think back to early 2015, during my previous stint as interim editor of Bakers Journal, when we were judging entries submitted for the inaugural Jake the Baker contest. We received dozens of amazing, heartfelt missives from bakers across Canada, making their case for why they should win.
Maybe “bragging” isn’t the right term for what those bakers were doing in their contest entries. After all, if you’re plainly stating facts and telling the truth, you’re not really bragging or boasting.
Whittling down all of those entries to a top three, and then a winner and runner-up, was one of the most difficult tasks I’ve had to do in my professional career. Luckily, I had some help from our sales manager, Stephanie Jewell, as well as a baking industry veteran who was able to offer expert insights.
There comes a time when hard work and sacrifice – and the achievements and success that spring forth from them –should be recognized, and that time is now.
Finally, somehow, we were able to reach a consensus: Daniel Vokey, owner of Patisserie Daniel in Victoria, B.C., was our winner. Vokey’s account of his struggles on the path to phenomenal baking-industry success connected with us, and when I reached him by phone to interview him after he won the award, he turned out to be a treasure trove of hard-won pearls of wisdom.
“When you experience failures in business decisions, they don’t always become failures, because you learn something,” he told me. “But if you are like an ostrich and ignore your failures, then they become problems.”
Truer, more inspirational words were likely never spoken. That attitude of learning from failure is also embodied by Joanna Schultz, founder and owner of Pikanik in South Surrey, B.C. Schultz was our runner-up for the Jake the Baker Award in 2015, and lo and behold, she took the close-but-no-cigar finish in stride, entered again the next year, and wound up winning.
Who will win the award in 2017? It could be you! Thanks to the generosity of our Platinum Plus sponsor, Ardent Mills, and Gold sponsor, Reiser, the Jake the Baker Award recipient will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Bakery Congress in Vancouver in April. He or she will also receive a cover story in Bakers Journal, a plaque, and a surprise gift from Jake the Baker himself!
So, what are you waiting for? Let’s hear a little bragging – it’s OK, really! Visit www.jakethebaker.com for contest details and to enter. Good luck! / BJ
MARCH 2017 | VOL. 77, NO. 2
INTERIM EDITOR | Brian Hartz editor@bakersjournal.com 727-575-7025 Mobile: 812-327-4770
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briefly | Quebec minimum-wage plan draws praise; Corporate chaplaincy service serves stressed-out workers; Globe Food Equipment hires new regional sales manager; Bridor makes big investment in Boucherville plant | more news in the baking world, check out our website, www.bakersjournal.com
Globe announces new regional sales manager
DAYTON, Ohio – Globe Food Equipment Co. has announced the addition of Ryan Feasel, regional sales manager, to its sales team.
Feasel earned his bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and his MBA from Indiana Wesleyan University. Feasel joined Globe with over six years of experience in the foodservice industry, primarily in business development with Steak N Shake, and six years of sales management with foodservice and convenience store distributor F. McConnell and Sons.
As regional sales manager, Feasel’s responsibilities include providing support to sales reps in the eastern region of the United States. Feasel reports directly to Globe’s vice-president of sales and marketing, Kevin Woods.
Quebec minimumwage plan draws praise
Quebec will institute a set series of annual minimum wage increases, providing restaurants with some certainty about a key component of their costs until 2020.
“We applaud the government for not bowing to pressure to increase minimum wage to an arbitrary number that would have hurt businesses, the employees they could no longer keep, as well as youth seeking first-time job opportunities,” said Restaurants Canada executive vice-president Joyce Reynolds.
The general hourly minimum wage will increase to $11.25 on May 1, 2017; $11.75 in 2018; $12.10 in 2019; and $12.45 in 2020. The hourly tipped wage will also increase on a set schedule.
Bridor invests $40 million to expand its Boucherville plant
MONTREAL – Bridor, a North American leader in bread and Viennese pastries for retail sale and the food service industry, is investing $40 million to double the size of its Boucherville, Que., baking facility. The expansion will allow Bridor to increase the plant’s production capacity by 80 per cent and generate employment growth in the area.
“The company has witnessed exponential growth in recent years and this investment shows just how committed we are to continuously improving our offering,” says Jean François Duquesne, CEO of Bridor, which employs more than 500 people in Canada.
“We are proud to combine our traditional European baking know-how with cutting-edge industrial technology. It’s our special edge that allows us to produce quality breads and Viennese pastries at a wide scale.”
Operating in Quebec for more than 30 years, Bridor works closely with suppliers and customers to offer innovative
Show & Conference
Produced by:
JULIE FITZ-GERALD
PICTURE PERFECT
Connecting with 120,000 to 150,000 customers per day might have seemed impossible in our presocial media world, but for some of Canada’s top cake-makers it’s a reality they enjoy daily. Instagram has become a pivotal platform for cake designers to showcase their works of art and is now playing a starring role in highlighting cake trends for the coming year.
Jenna Rae Cakes in Winnipeg is a boutique cake store that has amassed more than 150,000 followers on Instagram since opening its doors in 2014. Owned by twin sisters Jenna and Ashley Illchuk, the business has come a long way from when Jenna began making cakes in her apartment six years ago. “I started working with fondant and realized that I was pretty good at it and it started taking off, so I rented a commercial kitchen and it got so crazy that I had to either open a bakery or stop what I was doing, so I decided to open a bakery,” says Jenna, head cake designer at the popular cake shop.
Ashley, a graphic designer and photo stylist, has helped Jenna Rae Cakes skyrocket. With her background in photo styling, she has built the company’s brand and social media presence, promoting Jenna’s stunning cake designs to the world.
}Photography is one of the most important things to have under your belt. Constantly uploading photos, at least once a day, keeps you in touch with your fans.
Another self-taught cake designer and Instagram success story is Jyoti Nanra, owner of The Purple Cupcake based in Toronto. Nanra also began her business in 2014 and now boasts more than 121,000 followers on Instagram. Her popular designs have caught the attention of some big clients, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Grey Goose Vodka and Pussateri’s Fine Foods. It’s a big change from her days spent as an English school teacher, a job that she pursued for just a few months until her passion for baking took over.
Nanra works out of a commercial kitchen and has no plans for a bricks and
mortar location anytime soon. “My plan is to travel and work in different places around the world, so I don’t want to settle down in Toronto with a storefront yet. I enjoy doing custom orders and designing from my heart, something specifically for someone. I feel like if I had a storefront, I don’t know if my designs would be quantity over quality,” Nanra says.
Building her Instagram account has been crucial to her success. By mastering a photography style unique to The Purple Cupcake, Nanra says people could easily find her company on the social media platform. “Photography is one of the most important things to have under your belt. I had to find a way that
I could take a picture of something that people would want to repost. I wanted to create a feed that is pleasing when you’re scrolling through. And constantly uploading photos, at least once a day, keeps you in touch with your fans,” she says.
While initially Nanra’s traction on Instagram was gradual, she says she has seen a big uptick over the past year with several hundred new followers every week. And it’s the followers on these types of mega-Instagram accounts who will be placing orders and driving trends for 2017.
In Toronto, Nanra sees the next year being “a season of florals,” while in Winnipeg, Jenna is predicting an edgier undertone than in previous years. They both agree that bright colour palettes will be at the forefront of customer demand.
Opposite page: A cake made by Jyoti Nanra, owner of The Purple Cupcake in Toronto. Above, a cake made by Ashley Illchuk, co-owner of Jenna Rae Cakes in Winnipeg.
“I think people are going to start moving away from the blush and gold trend and move toward moodier colours and be a bit more fearless with their colour choices,” Jenna says. “Obviously wedding cakes will always be soft and romantic, but I think they’ll be edgier and outside of the box. That’s what I’m hoping for.”
So just how much will colours pop this
year? Jenna says to expect deep burgundies, emerald, royal blue, light blue and marble to be popular choices.
Last year’s love for metallics is still going strong and will continue throughout 2017. “I think metallics will definitely stay, because a lot of people like gold and silver leaf,” says Nanra. “When you’re using a colour palette, the metallic breaks it up and gives contrast on the cake, whether it’s gold leaf or metallic glitter.”
In Halifax, Jennifer Harrison, owner of Layers Wedding Cakes, is seeing the same trend. “Brides of 2017 love metallics and it has to be an edible element, not a ribbon or linen underneath the cake or cupcakes. Lustre dusts and vodka or lemon extract make a perfect cake paint that can be used for many different techniques,” Harrison says.
An accomplished cake designer, Harrison has been designing and creating wedding cakes since 2004 and has honed her craft with the likes of Wendy Kromer of Martha Stewart Weddings and Betty Van Norstrand, couture cake designer and sugar flower master in New York City. This year, Harrison is seeing brides and grooms exploring the idea of a wedding cake table. “There will always be the demand for the stacked wedding cake – elaborate or not, it is beautiful and always fits in – but a lot of our clients are requesting single or two-tier cakes and multiples of them. They want varying sizes and heights, always round in shape, and usually covered in buttercream with different textures and designs that are all complimentary to each other.”
Underneath the magnetic hues, exciting new cake flavours are pleasing palettes with every bite. Nanra’s most popular flavours include earl grey honey, vanilla salted caramel, pistachio rose, and chocolate raspberry crunch. At Jenna Rae Cakes, the most requested cake flavours are red velvet, lemon raspberry, and chocolate lovers.
Turning to speciality cakes, an unexpected demand for unicorn-shaped cakes is adding some whimsy to parties across Canada. In Winnipeg, Jenna receives orders for two to three unicorn cakes a week, while in Toronto, Nanra says it’s a trend she’s excited about. “Right now unicorn cakes are in and I absolutely love them and think they’ll stay for 2017. Whether they’re doughnuts or cakes, I think the unicorn is so fun and people love the idea,” Nanra notes. With enticing colour palettes, mouthwatering flavours and yes, unicorns, cake-makers across Canada will be redrawing the boundaries of cake design this year, spurred on by their throngs of Instagram followers. / BJ
Produced by:
Baker y Congress
Trade Show & Conference
2017
2 DAYS OF TRADE SHOW
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM Daily
To keep your business successful it’s important to stay on top of what is happening in the baking industry. Bakery Congress 2017 provides a host of opportunities to source new suppliers, connect with current suppliers, as well as discover new trends and products.
With almost 50,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space, the trade show floor is the place to see the products in action and meet the people behind them. For two days you will have the opportunity to meet face-to-face with the people who truly understand your business.
Visit the trade show floor to see unlimited possibilities in baking ingredients, equipment, services, technology, packaging and baked goods (fresh, proof & bake, par-baked, freezer to oven, thaw & serve) and much, much more!
DEMO FEATURE AREA ON THE TRADE SHOW FLOOR
Trade show visitors will have the chance to see hourly presentations on the trade show floor. The baking programs from both Vancouver Island University and Vancouver Community College, along with special guests, will be providing hands on demonstrations of a wide variety of bakery creations.
CONFERENCE PROGRAM
Registration required for Sunday and Monday conference sessions
SUNDAY APRIL 23, 2017
8:15 AM – 9:00 AM
BAC Annual General Meeting
(Members and non-members invited to attend)
The annual meeting of members provides a review of the Association’s activities over the past year as well as direction for the future.
Please note: only BAC members are eligible to vote.
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Employing Millennials: Today’s Challenges with Tomorrow Leaders
Today’s young workers are different. They have different experiences, perceptions and expectations about life and their working environment. So how do employers adapt themselves to this new labour pool? Our panel of baking industry members will share their thoughts and insights on merging the demands of a challenging bakery workplace with the new workers of today.
Panelists:
Mary Mckay, Head Baker and Co-Owner - Terra Breads
Jeffry Kahle, Pastry Chef - Fairmont Pacific Rim
Mark Burton, Pastry Chef - Four Seasons Vancouver
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Successful Retailing in Today’s Bakery Market
With a global presence, COBS Bread is one of the most successful franchise bakery networks in the world and has today expanded its retail presence across Canada. This session will provide a unique insight on how one of Canada’s most successful bakery retailers is focusing their approach via fresh and high quality products, marketing, community engagement and empowering entrepreneurs to be successful with ever changing consumer demands.
Presenter: Aaron Gillespie President, COBS Bread
SUNDAY APRIL 23, 2017
6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
An Evening at the Historic Terminal City Club
The BAC BC Chapter is delighted to once again present the premiere social and networking event of Bakery Congress. Just steps away from the Convention Centre, Vancouver’s historic Terminal City Club will host an evening of food, music and industry friends. The Terminal City Club is known for its excellent food and grand ocean views and is a perfect siteto wrap up the first day of Bakery Congress 2017.
MONDAY APRIL 24, 2017
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
What’s Happening and Where Do We Go From Here?
The baking business and regulatory world is changing rapidly. Carbon taxes, Cap & Trade on top of new nutrition labeling, new food safety, new trans fat, new front of pack labelling are just the start. And from the U.S. comes their own GMO labelling rules and a new U.S administration with demands to rewrite trade rules. Put this all together and Canadian bakers may very well have their heads spinning. This program will help to put these requirements and new rules into perspective.
Presented by:
Paul Hetherington, President & CEO - Baking Association of Canada
Johanne Trudeau, Director Food & Nutrition Policy - Baking Association of Canada
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Responding to the Changing Demands of Today & Tomorrow
The Canadian and indeed North American food marketplace is undergoing substantial change. Consumer and customers are demanding clean label, GMO free and reduced sugar, sodium and fat products. Environmental demands for reduced packaging and greater overall sustainability are also increasing. How are bakers handling the challenges of this evolving marketplace? Our baker panel will explore these topics and more!
Panelists:
Louis Bontorin, VP Sales & Administration - Calgary Italian Bakery Ltd.
Mickey Zhao, Pastry Chef & President - Saint Germain Bakery
Mara Cosh, Bakery Associate Coordinator - Whole Foods Market, Pacific Northwest Region
HOTEL INFORMATION
Please note the two official hotels for Bakery Congress 2017:
Coast Coal Harbour Hotel 1180 W Hastings Street Vancouver, BC V6E 4R5
Phone: 1-800-663-1144 and quote the group code CCC-GFC5724.
Pinnacle Hotel Vancouver Harbourfront 1133 West Hastings Street Vancouver BC V6E 3T3
Phone: 1-844-337-3118 or 604-689-9211, and ask for the “Bakery Congress” or “Baking Association of Canada” room block.
HOTEL INFORMATION
WHO WILL EXHIBIT AT BAKERY CONGRESS?
Companies that manufacture, market, distribute & broker, baking ingredients, baked products (fresh, proof & bake, par-baked, freezer-to oven, thaw & serve), baking equipment, supplies, packaging, technology and services. For an up to date list of exhibitors visit www.baking.ca
Professionals from wholesale & commercial bakeries (intermediate and large volume), retail bakeries (independent & franchise), patisseries, grocery chains/ mass market/supermarket in-store bakeries, c-stores, food service establishments (restaurants, cafes, hotels, caterers), specialty & artisanal bakers, brokers, baking industry educational institutions, consultants, government buyers and more…. This is the ONLY baking industry trade show in Canada for 2017!
BAKERY CONGRESS 2017 PROGRAM
SUNDAY APRIL 23
8:15 AM – 9:00 AM BAC – Annual General Meeting
Separate Registration required – entry not included with trade show only badge 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM Employing Millennials: Today’s Challenges with Tomorrow Leaders (Panel discussion) 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Successful Retailing in Today’s Bakery Market 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM Trade Show
Separate Registration required 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM BAC BC Chapter Networking and Dinner An Evening at the Historic Terminal City Club
MONDAY APRIL 24
Separate Registration required – entry not included with trade show only badge 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM What’s Happening and Where Do We Go From Here? 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Responding to the Changing Demands of Today and Tomorrow (Panel Discussion) 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM Trade Show
Bakery Congress
Trade Show & Conference
2 Day trade show badge
(Does not include access to Conference Paid Program) (Sun. Apr 23 and Mon. Apr 24)
2017
REGISTRATION FEES:
(all prices include GST)
EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION RATE valid until April 03
*BAKER / RETAILER / FOODSERVICE SUPPLIERS
REGULAR REGISTRATION RATE from April 04 onwards & at the door
*BAKER / RETAILER / FOODSERVICE SUPPLIERS
$65 early bird/$85 regular rate 1 Day Pass (Sun. Apr 23 or Mon. Apr 24)
Conference Paid Program (includes 2 Day trade show badge)
Sunday April 23
BAC BC Chapter
Networking and Dinner
An Evening at the Historic Terminal City Club
$85 early bird/$115 regular rate 2 Day Pass (Sun. Apr 23 & Mon. Apr 24)
Attendee discount codes cannot be applied
$155 per ticket (limited availabilty) Attendee discount codes cannot be applied
*Valid only for those qualifying for the Bakers/Retailer/ Foodservice /Accredited Schools Category
Bakery Congress 2017 is produced by the Baking Association of Canada (BAC), the industry association representing Canada’s over $8 billion baking industry. BAC’s mandate is to further the interests of Canadian retail, in-store and wholesale bakers through advocacy and effective programs at the regional and national level.
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UNDERSTANDING SOURDOUGH
PART 2
In the last issue (see Bakers Journal, January/February 2017) I shared the results of a personal experiment I conducted with a sourdough starter (or levain) to determine just how resilient an established starter can be. Leaving two levains in my refrigerator, one for seven months, one for three months, I revived them with no problem over the course of four days.
To help me understand why this works, I had a discussion with Dr. Michael Gaenzle, one of a handful of individuals in the world who has a PhD in the microbiology of sourdough. Gaenzle explains that in a single gram of levain there are one billion organisms, and as long as you have one living organism remaining, the culture can be revitalized.
Now that I have determined that a levain is very robust and can be abused and returned to its full leavening power within a few days, I will now take you through the process of starting a sourdough culture.
As pointed out by Raymond Calvel in his book The Taste of Bread, many people try to make a sourdough culture with a variety of initial ingredients – such as yogurt, sauerkraut, or grapes – to kick-start the process. But by the time you have arrived at the point where you can ferment bread, there is no trace of that starter ingredient. A few classes can be found where a whole host of fruits are fermented to be used in a sourdough, but professor Calvel notes that it is really best to not use any other ingredient other than flour and water to make your culture.
A sourdough starter is composed of remarkably robust micro-organisms.
}You can start a successful sourdough culture with a wide variety of flours, or a variety of flour blends. From my experience, flours with many additives seem to lag in development time.
lifecycle. Other bacteria, which require a stable pH environment, are taken over by the lactobacillus sanfranciscensis. The L.S. grows at a faster rate than other bacteria.
flour and in the environment (known as microflora) lead to the fermentation, and this is achieved through enzymatic activity—the breakdown of the starch to a simple sugar from the amylase.
As the pH of the dough slowly lowers, the level of acidity increases. A natural selection of bacteria and yeast occurs. The pH needs to drop below six for the lactobacillus sanfranciscensis to begin its
You can start a successful sourdough culture with a wide variety of flours, or a variety of flour blends. From my experience, flours with many additives seem to lag in development time. Because of this I prefer to use an untreated whole-grain flour. The wild yeast and bacteria that are present in the
Organic whole-grain flours work very well – especially organic whole grain rye flour, as rye flour has a higher diastatic level, which means the availability of additional sugars in the rye kernel are made available for fermentation; thus, the sourdough seems to be more active earlier.
The process for making a liquid levain: Mix 100g flour with 100g water at 21 C and leave undisturbed and covered in a container for 24 hours. You will see little to no activity. Discard 160g, keeping 40g of the mixture, and then add 100g flour
and 100g water at 21 C and again leave undisturbed for 24 hours.
You will now see some fermentation. On the third day you continue with the same feeding schedule but will now move to twice-a-day feeding. Always keeping 40g of culture, discarding the rest, and adding 100g flour and 100g water with every feeding.
People often state that they don’t like discarding unneeded starter, but until you are on about day 10 the aroma and flavour are undesirable and need to be discarded. Beyond day 10 you can start to add the 200g of discarded culture to start forming your bread dough.
As the culture goes through the natural selection of bacteria, through days three to seven, the culture will have a very unpleasant aroma. But as the level of activity increases and the culture is on its intended journey to become a levain, the aroma will begin to improve, the level of activity increases and the aroma will start to be more desirable.
There are variables and obstacles to be aware of when making a culture. The ambient room temperature, the falling number of the flour (how enzyme active the flour is, as tested by the miller), missing a feeding, etc. For making a levain, understanding water temperature and your environment is key to your success. In the end, the levain likes consistency. So the more consistent you can be, the better.
But what happens when you get busy and miss a couple of feedings or just a single feeding? The protease enzymes diligently continue to break down the protein. If you miss a feeding, you will see the consistency of the culture get thinner. This is when on your next feeding you hold back 5-10g of water and add a dash of salt. The water will help to bring the culture to its correct consistency and the salt strengthens the protein, which also assists in bringing the culture to the correct consistency. As the culture becomes more and more active, water temperature plays a significant role in maintaining the culture’s health. One of the most important concepts is that sourdough culture requires feeding when it has reached its highest point and prior to it starting to break down and collapse. You will see a fissure across the top of the sourdough, signifying that it has reached its maximum height and it is ready to be used to ferment bread.
For example, my sourdough at home requires 8 C water for a 12-hour feeding cycle as my home is usually around 21 C. The sourdough is very active. If I were to use water at 21 C the culture would ripen in well under 12 hours and already be collapsing or collapsed. In our bakery the temperature is usually between 19 C and 20 C overnight as there are no ovens running, and as a result we use 10 C water in the bakery. If your bakery is warmer or cooler you need to determine, through trial and error, the ideal water temperature you require in your environment with the particular flour that you are using.
How do you know when your culture becomes a levain and is ready to use in a dough? If you are using a twice-a-day feeding schedule, the sourdough will be at its high-water line in 10 to 12 hours and will have risen approximately three times its original height.
You can use a once-a-day feeding schedule, but you have to reduce the portion of levain you are keeping; instead of 40g, you only keep 20 to 25g, depending upon your room temperature. You also have to lower your water temperature to ensure that at the 24-hour mark your culture is still at the high water line. I find that a 24-hour feeding cycle results in a levain with slightly lessened leavening power.
You can also maintain a three-times-aday feeding schedule wherein you would increase the portion you keep; instead of 40g, you would keep 55 to 60g, and depending on your environment you would increase your water temperature with a goal of having the culture be at its high-water line in six to eight hours.
Seasonally you will come across temperature fluctuations in your bakery, so you have three main variables to adjust: increase or decrease your water temperature; increase or decrease the portion of levain you hold back to feed the next batch; or, in hotter conditions you can add 0.1 per cent salt at a starting point to also slowdown the culture. Remember to decrease the weight in salt that you add to the feeding from the final dough formula.
Embrace and enjoy your sourdough experience. / BJ
Alan Dumonceaux is chair of the baking program at NAIT School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts in Edmonton. He can be reached by email at adumonce@nait.ca.
Award Winning Pastry Chef Takes Wedding Cakes To A Rocky Mountain High
Dennis Meyer started in the pastry business as a clean-up kid at age 15. Who would have guessed that 40 years later, this same hard-working kid would become an award winning pastry chef with the best place in Denver to get a wedding cake?
Meyer, an Indiana native, is the proud owner of Das Meyer Fine Pastry Chalet in Arvada, Colorado—voted best wedding cakes in a Denver poll several years in a row. Though Das Meyer offers a variety of pastries and cakes for all occasions, they specialize in wedding cakes, and make over 1,000 wedding cakes per year.
“The whole family is involved in the wedding business,” said Meyer. “My wife Elaine and two daughters, Hillary and Rachel work with the customers; son Zachary works as a cake decorator; and two granddaughters have joined the business as well. Meyer stated that his success starts with great personalized service, high quality and attention to the details. It has helped the business gain the great reputation it has today.
Each Saturday, future brides can come to an open house to sample a multitude of wedding cakes, and can watch every aspect of a cake’s creation. “With all this variety, taste is everything,” said Meyer. “I use B&V® flavor from International® Bakers Services (IBS) in most of our cakes. The BLOV® flavor is excellent in our home-made butter cream.” He also uses the CINNA-BUTTER in their cinnamon rolls and a whole spectrum of flavors in their gourmet cookies.
Meyer likes to use IBS flavors because they always offer a natural tasting flavor with no artificial edge. “In this business, a good name is earned—not purchased,” said Meyer. “You have to earn repeat business in the service and quality you provide.”
If you want flavors that keep your customers coming back time after time, turn to International® Bakers Services. We have the flavors your customers deserve.
Contact us toll-free at 800-345-7175, by fax at 574-287-7161, or visit our website at: www.internationalbakers.com International Bakers Services, 1902 North Sheridan Ave., South Bend, Indiana 46628.
PROFESSIONAL CAKE DECORATING
SECOND EDITION
Professional Cake Decorating is a must-have resource for professional and aspiring cake artists, baking and pastry students, drawing on years of experience from master cake designer and IACP Award nominee Toba Garrett.
This Second Edition has been completely revamped with gorgeous new photography and a fresh new design. The New Skills have been reorganized into a user-friendly, step-by-step format, and line art and photos throughout the book provide a visual reference for each new technique. The book begins with an introductory chapter on all the fundamentals of the cake designer’s art, from covering a cake board to assembling and icing a layered cake to stacking cake tiers with pillars or columns.
Subsequent chapters cover decorating techniques including Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced Piping Skills, The Art of Writing and Painting, Royal Icing Design Skills, Hand Modeling Skills, Pastillage Construction, Gumpaste Flowers, and much more.
¦ concepts for success ¦
BY DIANE CHIASSON
6 IDEAS TO MAKE EASTER AN EGG-CELLENT EVENT
With its emphasis on eggs and all things chocolatey and sweet, Easter is a perfect fit for bakeries looking to attract more customers.
Spring is just around the corner, which means it’s time to start planning for one of the biggest holidays for bakery owners and operators across Canada: Easter. The best time to start your Easter marketing is around three weeks before the event. It is the perfect time to step up your marketing and promotions to bring up extra business for your bakery. Here are some creative and easy marketing ideas for making this Easter an egg-stra fun, festive and profitable event.
SEND “EASTER EGG” EMAIL GREETING CARDS
}Send well-designed, friendly Easter email greeting cards to your customers. You should also send some real greeting cards or postcards in the mail with a personal hand-written note, special Easter gift certificates or discounts to reward your best customers. It will help your customers feel special and appreciated, and this will certainly lead to long-term customer loyalty.
pastries. Fourth, make sure that your bakery items are displayed at eye level. Go outside and take a look at your store window and just pretend that you are one of your customers walking down the street – what are they seeing? Fifth, add some fresh and dried flowers in different shaped baskets, fluffy little bunnies and Easter eggs, and voila – a perfect backdrop for your bakery products.
BRING COLOURS AND FLOWERS INSIDE YOUR BAKERY
All bright colours are the order of the day for the Easter season. Spring is also a time when gardens start to come to life, and it is an egg-citing time to add some colour, and mild scent, to your bakery. Add some fresh soft spring pastel flowers inside and on top of your counters, tables, and throughout your bakery.
The natural beauty of fresh and colourful flowers goes hand-in-hand near decadent cakes, cupcakes, chocolates, and desserts.
Fresh-cut flowers are a wonderful addition to any space, providing a sweet aroma and bringing something fresh from the garden into a bakery.
PLAY WITH EASTER MOTIFS IN YOUR WINDOW DISPLAYS
Easter is all about the many varieties of colourful sweets! Focusing your bakery products around Easter theme will help catch the eye of your customers. First, your window display should act as a teaser to entice people to come inside. Second, try to always draw up a plan before you start putting your products to the window; this plan will help you visualize the look of what you are trying to accomplish. Third, create great window displays where your bakery products will take the main stage in the window. Your customers should be able to just take a quick glance and decide to go inside to buy your beautiful cakes and
The natural beauty of fresh and colourful flowers goes hand-in-hand near decadent cakes, cupcakes, chocolates, and desserts. Package and bundle your bakery products around a special and colourful Easter theme, and prepare your Easter baskets filled with wonderful cookies, cakes, or other sweet treats from your bakery, and don’t forget to attach a fresh flower to your packaging. You will create an opportunity to add additional freshness and to up-sell items where you can charge premium prices.
MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE THE RIGHT NUMBER OF STAFF
On Easter long weekend and most particularly on Easter Sunday, it isn’t the time to cut corners. You will significantly have more business during Easter Sunday than you normally have on regular Sundays, and therefore you should staff your bakery accordingly. Make sure that
you have plenty of customer service ambassadors to help your guests have a positive experience in your bakery store.
OUTFIT YOUR TEAM WITH FLUFFY BUNNY EAR HEADBANDS
How about super long fluffy pink ear headbands for your team members? Can you imagine your customers seeing all your staff members wearing these furry headbands? I really think your customers would remember your bakery forever. You could buy a mixture of long and bendable white and pink headbands and wash them afterward for your next Easter event. You could also outfit your street team in bunny costumes to attract attention and hand out flyers to invite customers in your bakery shop.
MAKE SPECIAL EASTER GRAB BAGS
Think outside the chocolate box. I am pretty sure that you have a lot of small items that didn’t sell well over Christmas, and instead of throwing out unwanted items, now’s the time to get rid of them via grab bags. Bundle three to five small items into special Easter grab bags, wrap with multi-coloured ribbons, and sell them for a very low price. You should also hand in an entry form for a chance to win a Mother’s Day cake. Each customer who buys a grab bag receives an entry form which needs to be filled right away, and this form is then placed in an Easter basket for a draw the following week. Place your grab bags at the cash register to take advantage of impulse sales. / BJ
Diane Chiasson, FCSI, president of Chiasson Consultants Inc., has been helping foodservice, hospitality and retail operators increase sales for over 30 years. She is recognized as the industry leader in providing innovative and revenue-increasing 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 chiasson@chiassonconsultants.com, or visit www.chiassonconsultants.com.
BY JANE DUMMER, RD
BAKING OUTSIDE THE TEA CUP
One of the oldest and most popular ingredients for beverages, tea also has many applications for bakers that are worth exploring
Tea has a long history originating from its Chinese and Indian heritage. It’s known as a comforting beverage, but well-publicized research about its health benefits has also helped its popularity.
Therefore, if you’re only drinking your tea, you’re missing out. Tea enthusiast and home economist Wendi Hiebert describes a recent contest organized by Dilmah Tea to encourage baking and cooking with tea. Hiebert entered one of her chocolate mousse recipes.
“In addition to drinking your tea, there is a trend to explore baking and cooking with it,” she says. “From Earl Grey to chamomile, and mint to rooibos, baking can become more creative when you add tea. My award winning recipe was created with Dilmah mint tea. I used the infusion method of the mint tea in the 35 per cent crème simmering on the stove top. It was simple and delicious with the mint complementing the chocolate very well. The contest encouraged innovation and I’m looking forward to receiving the Dilmah Tea prize package!”
drinking it. The characteristics of tea that make it ideal to brew – its range of flavours, versatility, and aromatics – also make it perfect to bake with.
Raelene Gannon, a certified tea
}The characteristics of tea that make it ideal to brew – its range of flavours, versatility, and aromatics – also make it perfect to bake with.
sommelier and founder of the website (and book of the same name) Tea and All Its Splendour, agrees. “An entire movement has begun using tea as an ingredient in baking, cooking and garnish in Canada,” she says. “Tea is quite a versatile ingredient. There are many people experimenting with tea, from baked cookies, cakes but also chocolate.”
the baked good without directly incorporating it into the cake, cookie or scone mixture.
I first wrote about baking with matcha in 2010; fast forward seven years later, it continues to be on trend and one of the favourite varieties of teas used in baking.
The entire tea category from loose leaf to ready to drink is forecasted for growth. According to a January 2017 article by Elizabeth Crawford in FoodNavigator. com, titled “Tea sales climb steadily on product development, emergence of tea houses & innovative marketing,” the U.S. tea market grew 5.9 per cent in 2015 over the prior year. Packaged Facts, a market research firm, predicts that trajectory will continue until U.S. retail sales of tea exceeds $9 billion in 2020. New flavours and products combined with shifts in marketing strategies will continue to engage consumers in the tea category and fuel ongoing growth. We know there’s more that can be done with tea than just
Gannon explains there are a variety of methods to incorporate tea into baking. “There is the whole leaf. It is best to use a mortar and pestle to grind it down a bit, [but] not too much. You don’t necessarily need a powder but [you don’t want any] pointy bits in the baking. Then there is the concentrated infusion method into oil, vinegar, or dairy. With dairy, the viscosity of it makes it a bit more challenging, as it’s better to warm it up slightly to help infusion; however, if your recipe calls for the temperature to be cold, you will have to let it cool.” Gannon is also observing incorporating tea into flavoured whipped crème, flavoured butter for a scones or muffins, and flavouring ganache for cakes. These options add the essence of tea to
“Matcha green tea powder is a very popular ingredient for cakes in Japan,” says Chieko Yamaoto, vice-president and COO of AOI Tea Company based in Huntington Beach, Calif. “There are beautiful, high-end matcha cakes to the production of single-serve matcha cakes for convenience. If the baker wants the true flavour of matcha, then I recommend a high-quality variety, as the flavour is more subtle with less bitterness. However, if there are many competing flavours in an every day cake, then the baker can experiment with a lower grade matcha – just watch out for some bitter notes. The matcha cake trend is catching on here! Cakes, along with matcha doughnuts and matcha ice cream are popular in larger centres including New York City and Los Angeles.”
Using tea in baked good creates new flavour combinations and complexities. I believe tea is still unexpected in cakes, cookies and other sweets for the North American consumer, leaving bakers and chefs lots of room to explore! / BJ
Jane Dummer, RD (www.janedummer.com), known as the Pod to Plate Food Consultant, collaborates and partners with the food and nutrition industry across North America.
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When you bake with products that carry the Dawn Distributors Advantage® brand, it means we’re standing behind you. We’ve searched and found the highest quality products that perform consistently every time, so you can focus on what’s most important - growing your business.
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