A T R U E S T O R Y : We met a bak was producing gourmet cookies –heavy, thick cookies with lots of large chunks of chocolate, fruits, nuts and other inclusions In an effort to increase production, she went from hand-scooping to a w However, she ran into big problems w she couldn’t maintain portion contro getting cut into smaller, less impressiv chunks were smeared under the coo Then she called Reiser. The s cookie dough depositor with a guill production speeds, the Vemag allo recipes with precise portioning accur and inclusions came through whole. system actually exposed the chunks Now she is able to produce mouth-wa with great eye appeal that out-sell all t in the bakery case
Team
manager, Alan Dumonceaux, was particularly proud of how their sandwiches turned out at the Bakery World Cup.
BY LAURA AIKEN
WOMEN IN BAKING
May 8 is Mother’s Day, which seems an apt time to reflect on the role of motherhood in the baking industry. Let’s face it (and state the obvious to get it out of the way): working motherhood is a juggling act in any career. As with all fields, a life in the baking industry can have its particular challenges. There can be long hours, shift work, low salary, and lack of health benefits.
PayScale Human Capital, a service that uses crowdsourcing and technology to compile its database of over 50 million individual salary profiles, puts the average annual salary for a Canadian baker at $28,000 and 62 per cent of their respondents are female. The latter trend is set to continue, if not greatly expand. Women make up a huge proportion of enrollment in the baking programs I surveyed across Canada. Clark Adams, baking and pastry arts instructor at SAIT Polytechnic, shared via email: “We have 64 first year students enrolled right now, four are male, the rest female. That’s been about ‘average’ for us the past four to five years.” Alan Dumonceaux, chair of NAIT’s baking and pastry arts program, reported: “We typically have about 85 per cent women in our full-time program. By statistics for apprenticeship in Alberta, baking has the second highest number of female trainees next to hairstylist.” Laura Bryan, instructor at George Brown College’s baking and pastry arts program, estimates their female enrollment to be about 85 per cent.
Financially, being a baker puts one near smack in the middle of the Canadian income spread. In 2015, Maclean’s, via special report by MoneySense , reported that the average household income for families of two or more was $66,397, and for a singleton it was about $30,000 (MoneySense estimates for 2013 based on Statistics Canada data).
MAY 2016 | VOL. 76, NO. 4
EDITOR | Laura Aiken editor@bakersjournal.com 416-522-1595 1-888-599-2228 ext. 250
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With so much of the future bakery workforce positioned to be women, it is imperative that they are educated on what the grand scope of future opportunities may be.
Entrepreneurship can provide flexibility. It is easier to bring family life into the business, but also more difficult to separate the business when so inclined. Whether employees or employers, all mothers in baking have in common the need for support. Some of that support comes from the personal side and some from work. One has to wonder how the changing mobility of society will affect the up and comers. People move for their jobs, and it isn’t necessarily the norm these days that extended family stay within reach. This may mean it is all the more important for industry to be prepared to support its working mothers with flexibility and understanding as the culture of personal support changes.
With so much of the future bakery workforce positioned to be women, it is imperative that they are educated on what the grand scope of future opportunities may be. What will their career look like in R&D? Or commercial baking? What if they want to work with a supplier instead of working for a bakery? How can they prepare themselves for successful bakery ownership?
The bakery industry can’t prepare a woman for motherhood, but it can think about how to best help its women members as they enter those prime childbearing years. If there were easy answers, they would have been found. There are only individual answers, and individual choices, for women, their employers and their employees. Which means Mother’s Day is a good time to ask yourself: How am I best helping my working mothers today, and tomorrow? / BJ
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briefly | Centennial College’s commercial baking program gets a BAC boost; A beloved cookie maker celebrates 35 years in baking | for more news in the baking world, check out our website, www.bakersjournal.com
A boost for baking education Food and Beverage Ontario rolls out Taste Your Future campaign
The Baking Association of Canada’s Ontario Chapter has established a $100,000 endowment in the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts at Centennial College. The endowment will fund scholarships for students that will help them overcome financial barriers and promote academic and career success in the field of commercial baking.
“We are truly committed to a legacy of nurturing educational relationships through our scholarship to the baking programs at Centennial and to the students who will one day be the future of our industry,” said Dan Peroff, chair of the Ontario Chapter, in a news release.
Centennial College has enjoyed a close relationship with the Baking Association of Canada (BAC) since 2013. The memberrun organization has been an annual donor to Centennial’s baking programs that are geared to careers in the commercial baking industry.
“We value the relationship we have developed with the Baking Association of Canada,” said Joe Baker, dean of the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts, in a news release. “This
Paul Hetherington, president and CEO of the Baking Association of Canada (right) and Dan Peroff, chair of the Ontario Chapter, presented Joe Baker, dean of Centennial’s School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts, with a $100,000 endowment to fund scholarships in commercial baking.
generous gift will enable working dreams to become living realities for our students and promote the incredible opportunities in the commercial baking industry.”
In September, Centennial will open a new facility that will feature several state-of-the-art experiential learning environments. The new commercial baking lab will be named in honour of the BAC’s Ontario Chapter.
Food and Beverage Ontario (FBO) launched “Taste Your Future,” a new career awareness program focused on drawing attention to the abundance of jobs available within Ontario’s food and beverage processing sector. With the launch of Taste Your Future, FBO aims to help meet Ontario’s challenge to create 60,000 new jobs in the sector by the year 2020.
Research conducted by FBO shows that while awareness of the opportunities in the industry are low, Ontarians – particularly young people, their parents and newcomers – have an appetite to learn more.
The Taste Your Future multi-year campaign shares stories, videos and more outlining education and job opportunities to help people learn about the industry and find their place within it. For those who aren’t familiar with the industry there is a quick, 10-question quiz to help you match interests with great career opportunities. All of this can be found at TasteYourFuture.ca.
Two-thirds of employers surveyed by FBO indicated difficulty finding qualified candidates. Employers are looking for candidates trained in food safety, business, agriculture, food science, as well as skilled trades and technology.
There are 140 programs at 22 Ontario colleges and 24 programs at seven universities, including many with co-op and apprenticeship opportunities, designed specifically for those interested in pursuing careers in the sector. Programs range from less than one year to three to four year diploma and degree programs.
Taste Your Future is supported by Growing Forward 2, a federal-provincialterritorial initiative.
Mary Macleod’s Shortbread turns 35
Toronto’s Mary Macleod’s Shortbread turned 35 years old on March 24.
“I can’t believe it is already 35 years,” said namesake Mary Macleod in a media release. “I always had confidence I would succeed, even after nearly losing it all in the recession in the early 1990s, but I worked hard and I am still so happy when I see customers enjoying my shortbread.”
Thirty-five years ago, Macleod started baking her famous shortbread in a small shop under the marquee of the Capitol Theatre on Yonge Street. Growing up in Glasgow, she learned to make shortbread from her Scottish mother and French grandmother.
In 2010, after a 19-year career in banking, her daughter-in-law, Sharon Macleod, took over the business and became CCO – that’s chief cookie officer – of Mary Macleod’s Shortbread. It was important to Macleod that the business remain in the family.
Sharon commented in the news release: “From the year I was engaged to Mary’s son, Gary, I would help Mary during her busy Christmas season. I admired the love she had for baking and the warm relationships she had with her customers. I’m fortunate to carry on her legacy and I want every Canadian to try her delicious shortbread.”
Macleod’s signature flavour and fan-favourite is Chocolate Crunch; a traditional shortbread made with fine Belgian chocolate pieces. She is still just as enthusiastic about the cookie as ever. “It’s a magical cookie,” she said. “It took me 18 months of many baking messes to get the crunch just right. Even today people think the crunch is from nuts, but it’s just pure Belgian chocolate.”
Along with Chocolate Crunch, Mary Macleod’s Shortbread makes a variety of shortbread flavours, including Cranberry Almond, Orange Chocolate, Mint Chocolate, Whole Wheat Walnut, Rolled Coconut, Dark Chocolate Espresso, Hazelnut Crunch, Butterscotch and of course, Traditional shortbread.
In 2014, Sharon added to the cookie
Mary Macleod’s signature Chocolate Crunch shortbread cookie.
family by creating a new flavour – Canadian Maple Crunch – baked with real maple syrup and pure maple candy. It became an instant fan favourite and Canadian classic.
“I wanted to create a
Canadian cookie and after trying many maple cookies, I decided that it had to have a crunch in honour of Mary’s signature cookie,” she said in the release.
From their quaint storefront bakery, on Queen Street East in Toronto’s Riverside district, Mary Macleod’s Shortbread cookies are still made by hand and baked in small batches, using only the finest ingredients.
Organic Fresh
Request trial samples at 1-800-770-2714 or www.lsaf.com/home/samples
BY LAURA AIKEN
EUROPAIN 2016
Every two years, an international swarm of industry converges on Paris, France, for a true celebration of the art, heart and of course business of baking. This grand old party is the Europain & Intersuc trade show, held this year from Feb. 5 to 9 at the Paris-Nord Villepinte exhibition place. This event brings together the bakery, pastry, ice cream, chocolate and confectionary industries. Here’s the number crunch for 2016: There were 63,282 attendees, of which 27 per cent were international visitors from 137 different countries. There were 679 exhibitors and brands, five competitions, 140 demonstrations and conferences, and seven tons of food products offered to the Red Cross at the close of the show.
The terrorist attacks in Paris on Nov. 13, 2015, that left 130 dead rocked the country and the fear rippled globally. The terrorist attacks affected attendance, said Marie-Odile Fondeur, president of Europain & Intersuc. As compared to 2016, the 2014 Europain & Intersuc show featured 804 exhibitors and brands, and welcomed 79,950 attendees. The 2016 show saw a six per cent increase in attendance from France, and Fondeur reported the quality of attendees was very high.
Oh, and one very key visitor came for the very first time: François Hollande, the president of France.
}“The reason for my presence here today is to assert how much the bakery-pastry [industry] represents as a force, a heritage, as a source of enjoyment and also for the future, ” he stated in a press release.
(Left) Baking Team Canada: Marcus Mariathas, director of product development for ACE Bakery; James Holehouse, graduate of NAIT’s baking apprentice program; and Alan Dumonceaux, chair of NAIT’s baking program and Team Canada manager, who made the Viennese pastries. (Above) The Bakers Restaurant turned out to be one the hottest attractions at the show, reported Marie-Odile Fondeur, president of Europain & Intersuc.
“We had the best cheering squad on the day. The Canadian contingent was fantastic. They sang an old hockey song for us; it was exciting.”
the Olympics of baking be anything but?
So hang on to your chef’s hats, and let’s get right to the action.
TEAM CANADA:
The biggest change Fondeur noted for the 2016 edition was the quality and number of demos and labs, which she said were very successful. The show brought in famous French bakers to demonstrate and the best equipment for the labs.
Bakers Journal missed this edition of the show, but has rounded up its highlights, results, and trends from this side of the pond. Baking Team Canada was there and Bakers Journal got the full scoop on what a wild ride the intense Bakery World Cup really is. How could
YOU WIN SOME, YOU LOSE SOME Baking Team Canada missed the podium this year, but not the drama, excitement, lessons and loss of sleep that come with competing on the world stage. In the end, Canada placed seventh, just behind Japan, who has historically been in the top three. South Korea won first and achieved a place on the podium for the first time in history, followed by Taiwan in second and France in third. The remaining competitors were: Brazil, China, Japan, Mauritius, Netherlands, Russia, Turkey, and United States. Rianne
Kuintjes from the Netherlands won the title of World Young Bakery Hopeful.
Team Canada’s members were Marcus Mariathas, director of product development for ACE Bakery, who competed in baguettes and world breads; James Holehouse, graduate of NAIT’s baking apprentice program, who did the artistic showpiece; Alan Dumonceaux, chair of NAIT’s baking program and Team Canada manager, who made the Viennese pastries; and Elien de Herdt, a graduate of NAIT’s baking program, who brought her skills to the inaugural “Young Bakery Hopeful” category. Mario Fortin, bakery consultant and owner of Forma-Lab, coached the team, and Clayton Folkes, NAIT baking instructor, served as its technical advisor. Former Team Canada members Tracey Muzzolini and Bill Clay also helped prepare the bakers for success.
For Team Canada, some things went right and some things went wrong, but
everything started off pretty smoothly, Dumonceaux said. Which means nobody fell over in the face of $1,800 in extra luggage charges — and the team left the heavy stuff behind, planning to purchase it there. Baking abroad is costly work. They incurred around 4,000 euros in equipment costs for things like pans, marble slabs and 500 euro ice blankets. The tab to ship what they brought back was 1,400 euros, and that was after they donated much of the weightiest cargo to competition sponsor Lesaffre, as it would have cost more to ship it home than buy it here, Dumonceaux said.
A lack of refrigeration at the hotel or show was the biggest challenge the team faced upon arrival, he said. The team did some prep at an off-site baking centre, packed it all in ice and left it in their rented cargo van. The outside temperatures were around five or six degrees, Dumonceaux said, so it stayed cool enough to work out well. Further prep happened in the hotel room, with Dumonceaux cleaning shrimp and filleting salmon for sandwiches the morning of the competition. Teams are given two hours the evening prior on-site and then eight hours on their competition day to produce nine different breads, 13 unique Viennese pastries, a showpiece and four types of sandwiches. All three team members needed to share space and equipment to get the job done. Team Canada got their two hours on Feb. 6, and had their full day on Feb. 7.
“The team didn’t do great on the day,” Dumonceaux shared. “We were late almost 20 minutes, and some product got over-baked, but that’s what happens in competition. We didn’t get the result we were looking for. We would have placed higher if we weren’t late and we’d baked everything right … Lots of stuff goes well. It’s the few little things that don’t go well that kills you in scoring.”
He added with pride: “We had the best cheering squad on the day. The Canadian contingent was fantastic. They sang an old hockey song for us; it was exciting.”
The team was also particularly proud of how well the showpiece and sandwiches turned out, he said, remarking that all the sandwiches looked and tasted great. The team made all the sauces and condiments.
For the first sandwich, they used a pressure cooker to make pulled pork during the competition, and placed it on
a brioche mustard bun topped with homemade coleslaw and deep fried horseradish. For the second sandwich, they took a mini croissant bun and topped it with brie, marinated endive cooked sous vide style in orange butter, plum sauce and garnishes. The third sandwich made use of their nutritional bun and filled it with brined salmon and gin-salt cured salmon marinated with maple syrup, Limoncello and herbs. They also made a salmon cream cheese spread that was piped on, and then added lemon and lime zest, pink peppercorns, dill, seasonings and garnishes. The fourth sandwich was a vegetarian panini cut into triangles with lots of colour and flavour.
For products reflecting Canada, they made a lobster crab filling rolled up in croissant and brioche, topped with tomato jelly and a seafood ceviche for garnish. The team also made a wood grain pattern to look like a tree stump and baked maple blueberry sweet buns, which Dumonceaux said turned out very tasty.
It was an intense competition that followed a long period of intense preparation, in Paris and well before.
“Until you’ve done the competition, you don’t realize how it impacts your life. No one’s sleeping, everybody’s got stress, and you’re thinking about it 24 hours a day… Even after the competition still we weren’t sleeping because it was a lot of ‘what if I would had done this or should have done this or this would have gone better if I had done this,’ so it really is quite impactful on your personal life. You sort of have to put a lot of your personal life on hold while you’re in it because you’re practicing on all your days off and you’re at work practicing, but I would do it all over again. I’m not complaining about it at all, it’s just that it really is a tremendous amount of physical stress, and emotional stress as well.”
Europain hosted two additional culinary competitions to the Bakery World Cup. For the International Confectionary Art Competition, Italy scored gold, followed by Malaysia and Japan. In the French Schools Cup “Excellence” category, the top three were CIFAM Sainte Luce sur Loire, CFA CM CCI 18 Bourges, and CFA des Métiers de l’Indre Châteauroux. In the “Aspiration” category, CFA Compagnons du Devoir Strasbourg, CFA BPF Rouen and Lycée des Métiers Concarneau took the top three positions.
TRENDS AND DEMONSTRATIONS
The bakery area had three new additions. The Eat-in Bakery section focused on solutions specific to catering and snacking, while The Baker’s Restaurant featured demonstrations to address these two trends through themes such as “gluten-free snacking” and “snacking desserts.” The Baker’s Lab was created as a space to host full days of interactive workshops by famous contributors such as MOF Boulanger Philippe Hermenier.
The new Intersuc Lab housed demonstrations on sweets, such as 3D printing with chocolate and gluten-free biscuits.
The Festival Sens & Chocolat organized by PLANETGOUT featured roundtables, demonstrations, workshops, tastings, and professional master classes on cocoa beans and grand cru of the world. This year, Venezuela was the star country of the festival. First place for grand cru Venezuelan chocolate bar went to Rozsavölgyi Chocolate (Chuao) de Zsolt Szabald. For bonbon design, first prize went to MOF Pâtissier Arnaud Larher.
Schools Street was a returning feature in the show, and is a section of exhibit space dedicated to baking and pastry training programs.
Fondeur shared some of the key trends in French bakeries that the show addressed. The development of restaurants in bakeries is a big one, and this resulted in a lot of excitement around The Baker’s Restaurant area. Transparency is also a big trend in France today, and people want to see the baker making bread and know how it is produced. Bakers are also expected to produce a large diversity of breads. A third key trend is an increase in the number of bakeries dedicated to just one product, such as éclairs, doughnuts or madeleines.
WHAT’S IN STORE FOR 2018?
Europain & Intersuc will return to Paris in 2018 with some key changes in store, Fondeur said. Show management plans to reduce the show from five days to four, as she said five days is too long for the visitors and the cost is high for the exhibitors. It is still being determined which dates and days of the week the show will run.
All in all, it seems plenty of excitement was had at this year’s event. It’s sure to be one Team Canada won’t soon forget. / BJ
LAURA AIKEN
ERIVANA CAKES
Ini Erivwo knows how to be a cake designer on the move — literally. The Nigerian-born, self-taught cake artist started her business in Nigeria and has seen it through moving to Toronto and then to St. John’s, Nfld., where Erivana Cakes currently resides as a home-based business.
Erivwo grew up baking cakes as something that, she says, was “always part of her.” She studied industrial chemistry in university, an education that led her to a job as quality control manager at a food manufacturing company. After she got married, the couple relocated to her husband’s native city. When employment didn’t come for her as fast as she thought it would, she turned to what she had always done best.
“I started baking and decorating small birthday cakes and before I knew it, it just picked up so very quickly. I got a shop and that was how it just kept going,” she says.
The simple cakes became more elaborate and the business, which she started in 2001, grew. Just as she says she felt she’d reached the pinnacle of success for the cake company, the family needed to relocate to Canada for her husband’s work (he is a physician). This was in 2008, and they were destined for Toronto. By this time, the family had grown to include three boys who are now 14, 11 and 9 years old.
“When I got here, my husband encouraged me a lot, but I developed cold feet when people told me it would be difficult to start and make it in my cake business here.”
Discouraged, she put the cake business on hold and pursued homecare work for a year, but says she just wasn’t fulfilled by it. She returned to the world of cakes, posted her designs online, and says the response was tremendous and people began requesting her services. And so, Erivana Cakes was born in 2009. The name of her company is a clever combination of her middle name — Anna — and her last name, Erivwo. She was making eight to 10 cakes a week, with perhaps three or four being for weddings, depending on the season. Business was going well and she was about to make the move from a home-based operation to a storefront, when the family needed to relocate again, this time to St. John’s. For Erivana Cakes, she says, “everything came to a halt.” The Erivwos touched down in the wintery Maritimes on Jan. 1, 2012.
She has built up the business from home on the East Coast, catering to a new clientele once more. She has found many differences between serving people in Nigeria, Toronto and Newfoundland.
“From my experience, most clients in Canada would like to book their cakes way ahead of time. In Nigeria, it’s like ‘I want this cake tomorrow’,” she says with a laugh. “So I tended to cater for most of those clients who would order their cakes late into the day.”
She says the clientele
This cake of her son and his skateboard is one she holds dear to her heart.
in Newfoundland are more pricesensitive than the Toronto set, and usually ask for something that is inexpensive and are happy to have their budgets met. These are simpler cakes, whereas in Toronto she was making “really crazy cakes.” The clients were generally more demanding and less inclined to take no for an answer, she says with reflective humour.
“Returning clients torment me so much. They ask for their cakes late and say ‘I need this cake, Ini, I need it!’”
Her creativity has also flowed in different directions as she’s moved between cultures. When she first started the company in Nigeria, she was making very simple fondant and royal icing cakes with one or two flowers.
“I was so bored doing those cakes, so I used to look forward to my kids’ birthdays. I would use that to come up with some very beautiful designs and make a cake based on their likes. Every time I sent those cakes to my kids’ school they would go, ‘wow!’”
She made hats out of cake, and those displays helped draw orders. She says most of the cakes she made in Nigeria were of her own inspiration. Clients would simply say they wanted a birthday cake for a son or daughter and Erivwo would need to come up with the design. In Canada, she says she finds the customers a little more specific about what they want.
Whatever it is they want, Erivwo says she can figure out how to pull it off without too much struggle. She painted and drew as a child, with a grandfather and uncle as artists to draw genetic inspiration from. She did a bit of technical drawing in secondary school that has helped her understand dimensions when putting together those gravity-defying cakes.
“It comes very natural to me – I don’t really struggle with painting or designing, or putting things together. I can always figure the design out … It’s a combination of engineering, architecture, art, sculpture … you find everything in cake designing.”
She has a few cake favourites in her repertoire. She once designed a purse cake that garnered a comment on her Facebook page to the effect of “why would you post a picture of a purse on a cake page,” leaving her to explain it actually was a cake.
“Which just means I really nailed it,”
Ini Erivwo runs a home-based cake design business in Newfoundland.
she says. “I really loved one I made of my son skateboarding. It was very special to me. I did that cake in the space of three days and it was a very big cake. Everyone said it looked like my son — it was extraordinary.”
Erivwo’s passion for cake shines, made even more evident by the determination to pursue her craft through several relocations. In Newfoundland, she is working from her basement where she has a separate kitchen for the business. If she were to go back to Toronto, she says she would be looking at opening up a shop. The volume of business and cash flow in Newfoundland thus far hasn’t made a storefront possible, she says, adding that you need a certain amount of people
who appreciate art and are willing to pay for it to reach the top.
Erivwo markets the business through an online ad and her Facebook page, saying she thinks most of her clients are coming through word of mouth. She’s a solo flyer in a small business blessed with tremendous talent and a pleasantly spirited nature felt by the many laughs shared in conversation with her. It’s clear she loves her work, and the dynamic nature of cake artistry.
“The cake industry is a very exciting one. New things come in; you just have to update yourself on every design and every new product. Whatever you were doing five years ago is not going to be on trend, which is quite interesting to me. I love the experience.” / BJ
¦ concepts for success ¦
BY DIANE CHIASSON
EXPANDING YOUR OFFERINGS?
Are you thinking of growing your bakery business? Here are six easy ways to introduce new products and services before summer.
You have a reliable customer base and a profitable ongoing foodservice operation. Instead of going through the hassles of looking for real estate, dealing with major construction and suffering the headaches of opening another branch, consider whether it is time to expand your bakery’s offerings before the summertime. Here are six tips for expanding your lineup.
1. DEVELOP NEW DAYPARTS
People’s eating habits are slowly moving from the traditional three square meals a day to six snacks a day. Your bakery can benefit from this shift of the traditional meal by offering a wider range of options that can support allmorning breakfast, afternoon or late night snacks menus, as well as brunch on the weekends. You will need a marketing plan to promote these things and alert your regular and new customers about your new menus.
2. RENT OUT SPACE
}grocery retailer to get your signature products on supermarket shelves. This will not only create a new revenue
You can take an existing catering service to a whole new level with a custom platform online that allows customers to order all their baked goods and sandwiches for their event in just a few clicks of the mouse.
stream, but will also help boost your brand awareness. Whether you have a very popular treat or a particular signature cake, any kind of outside presence will help increase your sales.
4. OFFER CATERING ONLINE
If your bakery is only open for certain times during the week, consider renting out any dining space you have or your kitchen space. Corporations are always looking for space to hold meetings or seminars, just make sure your dining room is equipped with LCD screens that can easily be hooked up to a laptop for presentations. There may also be several small or new business owners that are looking for commercial kitchen space to cook or bake their products, cook a meal for a catering job, or teach a cooking class without investing in the necessary commercial equipment.
3. OFFER SIGNATURE PRODUCTS
Work with a food manufacturer and
You can take an existing catering service to a whole new level with a custom platform online that allows customers to order all their baked goods and sandwiches for their event in just a few clicks of the mouse. Be sure to include set or boxed trays for corporate breakfasts and lunches, as well as platters for entertaining and parties.
5. START A BAKERY TRUCK
Instead of expanding your bakery to another location, why not get a bakery truck instead? A bakery truck can help market your brand, and the cost is minimal compared to investing in a new location. You can also use the truck to test the demand for your products in
different neighbourhoods before you sign a lease.
6. DEVELOP HOME MEAL SOLUTIONS
In a recent survey, around 60 per cent of consumers said that they purchased takeout food at least once a week. In today’s fast-paced society, it’s not surprising that sales of foods that provide a home-cooked meal for takeout will continue to grow each year. Consider ramping up your home meal solutions business by developing and giving out a specialized menu and creating a special home meal solutions counter with a refrigerated unit for selling accompanying beverages inside your bakery. Design special boxed meals or value meals for your home meal solutions operation. / BJ
Diane Chiasson, FCSI, president of Chiasson Consultants Inc., has been helping restaurant, foodservice, hospitality and retail operators increase sales for over 30 years. Her company provides 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.
Consider taking your catering online and offer corporate breakfasts and lunches.
CFIA and Health Canada Update
Major Policy Initiatives
At a recent Food Supply Chain Stakeholder meeting attended by BAC, both Health Canada’s Food Directorate and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency provided an array of updates on major policy initiatives. The following is a brief summary:
CFIA FOOD MODERNIZATION:
CFIA confirmed that it is its intention to publish proposed regulations in Gazette 1 later this year, most likely in the fall or before December 2016. These regulations will require licensing of food manufacturers with the requirement that each company produce a Preventative Control Plan, a written document that demonstrates how hazards and risks to food products are eliminated or are being effectively controlled. The draft regulations will then be subject to a defined consultation period in which BAC will be an active participant.
FOOD LABELLING
MODERNIZATION:
CFIA is planning on issuing a discussion paper later this summer which will consider comments heard from the recent Health Canada consultation regarding nutrition labelling. One of the key outcomes of the consultation was identification of consumer legibility of food labels as a major concern. A meeting hosted by CFIA took place in late April
which BAC participated in, focused on the legibility and design issues. BAC also participated in another April consultation on the subject of compositional standards, such as those for bread. CFIA indicated that it is its intent to align any food labelling changes with Health Canada’s nutrition labelling changes.
ALLERGEN STRATEGY:
CFIA’s allergen strategy will be in circulation this summer. In addition, Health Canada has issued a communication regarding the adventitious presence of mustard similar to one issued on soy (http:// www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/securit/allerg/ fa-aa/mustard-moutarde-eng.php). The letter provides comment on the application of precautionary labelling of mustard as the result of its adventitious presence in flour and wheat.
NUTRITION LABELLING:
Health Canada indicated that work is needed on legibility of the ingredient list. Although Health Canada did not include an added sugar declaration for the Nutrition Facts Table in its initial consultation (contrary to the U.S.), they are currently observing the U.S. regulatory process. Health Canada officials reiterated details of the Minister of Health’s Mandate letter from the Prime Minister, which are the responsibility of
the Food Directors and include: 1) New regulations to eliminate trans fatty acids; 2) New regulations to reduce sodium in manufactured products; and 3) Labelling added sugar and colours. Health Canada will be assessing the food industry’s status in meeting the voluntary sodium reduction targets and those results may not be available until 2017 as it awaits publication of the updated Canadian Community Health Survey. However, Health Canada is planning an industry workshop for early summer as an initial step.
Major Economic Information Missing in ON Carbon Cap-and-Trade Proposal
BAC, through its membership in Provision Coalition, has expressed significant concern regarding Ontario’s proposed carbon cap-and-trade program due to a lack of economic data related to its impact. Key among those concerns is that there apparently have been no studies (at least made public) related to how indirect costs will impact business and ultimately the consumer.
The Coalition’s submission pointed out that Ontario already has one of, if not the, highest prices for electricity in North America. As a result the food and beverage sector needs to be consulted on how Ontario intends to remain competitive before the cap-andtrade program is implemented, so as to understand its impact on Ontario food production and jobs.
JUNE 7 Tuesday 2016
FORMAT - 4 PERSON SCRAMBLE
Put your foursome together or if you are only one or two players, we will arrange your playing partners for you.
ONTARIO CHAPTER ANNUAL SPRING GOLF
TUESDAY JUNE 7, 2016
Carlisle Golf & Country Club (West of Guelph Line off Derry Rd.)
Registration & BBQ lunch starting at 10:00 a.m. until 11:15 a.m. Shotgun - SCRAMBLE – Start 11:30 a.m.
Spot(s) for Golf & Dinner @ $150 each (*142.86 + 7 14) $_________________
Spot(s) for Dinner only @ $50 each (*47.62 + 2.38)
Platinum Sponsorship @ $500 (*476 19 + 23.81)
• Sponsorship identification at the registration area
• Sponsorship identification at the banquet dinner
• Tee sponsor signage
Please enter us as a foursome Please place me on a team As always - we appreciate your prize donation! Prize = Yes No
Pure Efficiency.
Excellent baking results in a small footprint. Your next MIWE roll-in e + :
Energy efficient operation
Consistent baking for the complete range of baked goods
Simple and easy to operate. Programmable
Robust and reliable for many years of operation
Contact Ben (CAN): b.garisto@miwe.com or Harry (US): miweusa@aol.com www.miwe.com/roll-in
The ITALIAN BAK e R
Who can resist bruschetta rubbed with garlic and drizzled with olive oil, almond-studded biscotti dipped in coffee or wine, and, of course, a thin-crusted pizza with fresh, sweet tomatoes and tangy mozzarella? These Italian classics that everyone knows and loves are just the beginning; there are a wealth of other equally delicious breads and sweets waiting to be discovered.
In this groundbreaking classic — now thoroughly updated for today’s modern kitchen — Carol Field introduces artisanal doughs and techniques used by generations of Italian bakers. Every city and hill town has its own unique baking traditions, and Field spent more than two years traversing Italy to capture the regional and local specialties, adapting them through rigorous testing in her own kitchen.
The Italian Baker is the only comprehensive book to cover the entire range of Italian baking, from breadsticks and cornetti to focaccia, tarts, cakes, and pastries.
LAURA AIKEN
SHOW SCENE
Restaurants Canada hosted its annual Toronto trade show from Feb. 28 to March 1. The event, which was held at the Enercare Centre, brought together a mix of hospitality professionals for three days of booth visiting, seminars and stage demonstrations. The 71st edition of the show brought in 14,462 attendees. The trade show floor comprised 1,000 exhibits in nine different pavilions and 150 presentations, demos and workshops.
Troy Taylor, this year’s show lead for Restaurants Canada, said the association is working to take the show to the next level by focusing on more interactive exhibits on the show floor.
“There was really quite a shift in vibe, energy and look,” he said of the buzz at the show. “Today’s chefs are young and edgy and that’s why our messaging was ‘Hospitality Unleashed.’ ”
Bakers Journal was on hand March 1 to peruse the booths in search of new ideas and products for the Canadian baker. First stop was a special media presentation at the Bunge booth, where Mike Lund shared what’s new with the nearly 200-year-old global agri-business. Bunge is focusing on working closely with its growers in a farm-to-table approach. The company aligned with Saskatchewan growers to establish a sustainable canola program. Allergens and non-GMOs (genetically modified organisms) are also trends on the company’s radar. Bunge is offering a new Delicia NH (non-hydrogenated) Margarine that has replaced the allergen soy with sunflower lecithin. The company has also developed a new Delicia NH Soya margarine to deliver a lower cost option. Bunge’s clean label line has no preservatives, no soy, no dairy, is non-hydrogenated and vegan. On the issue of non-GMOs, Lund commented that it is still a niche market, but the big brands are watching.
}Troy Taylor, this year’s show lead for Restaurants Canada, said the association is working to take the show to the next level by focusing on more interactive exhibits on the show floor.
After departing the Bunge booth, the lovely nibbles fronting Callebaut/Cacao
Barry tempted Bakers Journal straight there. There is something to be said for a little chocolate in the morning. Callebaut is focusing on their Origin Collection, and its newest member fits in perfectly with the upcoming summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The company’s new single origin from Brazil is a 66.8 per cent cocoa that marries beans from Amazonie and Bahia. In the Cacao Barry line, the company is introducing Explore Haiti, a 65 per cent Origine dark couverture chocolate featuring a mix of 70 per cent Trinitario and 30 per cent Criollo beans harvested in the Grand‘Anse area. Palates wetted by an appetizer of chocolate, it was time to search out what’s
happening in the hearty bread category. As a general observation, gluten-free has taken a back seat in prominence when compared to a few years ago, as to what companies are showcasing. Grains and an authentic, artisan look and feel were more front and centre.
Boulart, a Quebec bakery offering a Non-GMO Project Verified line of breads, buns, baguettes and rolls, was featuring two new products. Boulart’s new thin sandwich bun is designed to cut out some of the bread but still be sturdy for toppings and spreads. The product spec sheet recommends paninis as its best use. The bread is fully baked and blast frozen. Boulart also rolled out a small artisan burger bun meant to be light and versatile. The burger bun is also fully baked and blast frozen. Along with being Non-GMO Project Verified, Boulart prides itself on using no preservatives, additives or added sugar.
Montreal based macaron maker PointG debuted its tasty cookies for the first time in Ontario.
ACE Bakery was showcasing its new line of Non-GMO
Project Verified breads. The line features four products: a dinner roll cluster, focaccia ficelle (breadsticks or sandwiches), sliced black and white seeded bun (topped with sesame seeds), and a multigrain bun topped with slow-cooked steel cut oats and chia seeds.
Bakers Journal bumped into a brand new bakery, Café Louise BakeHouse, which is based in and serves the Greater Toronto Area. The 8,000 square foot bakery is producing sourdough breads made only with flour, water, salt and yeast (before inclusions). Some of the breads include Italian Olive, French Country, Hummus & Potatoes, and Multigrain. The bakery is offering custom shapes and sizes to its customers, ranging from dinner rolls to five kilogram loaves. The bakery is also making a variety of croissants and other pastries.
Première Moisson, a Quebec based commercial operation focused on artisanal baking, was introducing three new kinds of panini bread done in 14 slice loaves that have a four-day shelf life. The company was also showcasing a new multigrain ciabatta cluster that come 45 to a case and are designed to be a good fit for the bread basket or alongside soup.
Bakers Journal also stopped by Fred’s Bread to see what’s new and popular, which are breadsticks and brioche. The brioche comes in three flavours: cinnamon, regular and chocolate. Fred’s Bread started in 1994 and uses traditional baking techniques, its own homegrown sourdough starter, and 100 per cent natural ingredients for its hearth-baked breads.
In a last but not least salute to the prominence of grains at
this show, Bakers Journal discovered Against the Grain. This eastern Ontario farm is now selling purple corn flour and meal, as well as beta-glucan barley flour and berries. Both crops are non-GMO and have been in development for over a decade. Purple corn touts twice the antioxidants of blueberries. The barley is a wheat-free whole grain with an approved Canadian health claim. Against the Grain’s company premise is naturally fortified food.
Rose Hill Foods presented the media with a selection of bites to showcase some of their sauces and seasonings. The Montreal based company is the blender behind the original development of Montreal Steak Spice. Representatives at the company talked about the rise of international flavours as a trend. The chefs served up brown gravy and poutine gravy, both meeting plenty of variations of “yum” amongst the journalists.
A Quebec macaron maker has landed in Ontario. PointG, based in Montreal, offers 21 flavours of macaron tidily packaged in vessels meant for easy display. The bakery offers all the traditional flavours, plus a few exotics such as poppy flower and raspberry-litchi.
Rivi’s Guilt-Free Cookies, a former Bakers Journal Innovator of the Year award winner, had all of its usual and delightful fat-free/no added-fat cookies and granola on display, plus a new offering. The company has created single-serve snack packs of granola offering six grams of pea protein. The packs are also dairy-free, nut-free, vegan and are free from artificial additives.
The Restaurants Canada Show will return to Toronto in 2017. / BJ
SMOOTH SAILING
Few things can do as much damage to your bakery’s capabilities as equipment failure. Modern, highcapacity commercial bakery equipment is highly complex and often controlled by sophisticated technology. When something goes wrong, it can go really wrong, and the result can be significant downtime, which, in turn, can cut into your bottom line and business reputation. Even relatively simple bakery production equipment has parts that will need to be cleaned, maintained, and eventually replaced if the machine is to continue functioning properly.
If downtime continues for prolonged stretches of time, your customers might lose faith in your ability to deliver the goods and turn to a competitor to fill orders.
“If you can’t deliver your product, it may do irreparable damage to your brand reputation,” says Ross McMillan, co-owner and sales manager with RF Bakery Equipment in Coquitlam, B.C. “Your mission-critical job, as a bakery, is to provide fresh goods every day. If you are selling wholesale to a customer and you can’t produce them, it has terrible consequences.”
In addition to having negative long-term effects on your brand, a catastrophic breakdown, McMillan adds, can do immense short-term financial damage.
“In the bakery business, downtime is death because bakeries are typically producing fresh product every day. We’ve seen downtime range anywhere from $1,000 an hour to $100,000 an hour. The cost associated with a reactive breakdown … a part might have to be flown in from somewhere, technicians might have to be there working overtime. There are all sorts of extra costs that are incurred as part of a catastrophic breakdown.”
That’s why regular, ongoing preventative maintenance and inspection of production equipment is nothing short of essential.
A preventative maintenance program requires commitment – through good times and bad. It can be tempting to cut
corners on maintenance and repairs when profits are down, but in doing so, you make a bad situation potentially much worse.
Giant Food, a Landover, Marylandbased maker of bakery and dairy products, instituted a preventative maintenance program in 1994 and has seen equipment breakdowns plummet. At one of its six plants, gear failures decreased by more than 50 per cent. Preventative maintenance also adds value in the form of increased productivity and a reduction in human resources tasked with fixing machinery. Giant Food’s productivity, for example, “rose from 175 to 250 gallons per minute while the plant’s maintenance staff was reduced from 22 to 12,” according to a case study published in Food Engineering magazine.
“You should have redundancy everywhere you can,” McMillan says, “and if you can’t have redundancy, take
matters into your own hands and make sure you have a complement of spare parts on hand. Don’t rely on your service provider to have those because they might not.”
When it comes to preventing equipment failures, knowledge is power. Although manufacturers and resellers often have service technicians available 24/7, bakery owners and operators can nip problems in the bud before they occur by educating themselves. Suppliers’ technical support staff will often work with clients post-purchase to ensure they know how to take care of ovens, proofers, depositors, sheeters, mixers, and all the other machinery that goes into producing baked goods.
“We aim to educate the client as to what they can do to maintain the equipment on a daily basis,” says Albert Cinelli, managing director and sales and marketing manager at G. Cinelli-Esperia
To keep equipment in good shape, be sure to use it to the capacity it is designed for — if the dough mixer is only recommended to 100 lbs, using it for 150 lbs will put tremendous stress on the machine.
in Woodbridge, Ont. “Most of this comes down to cleaning and greasing. Cleaning is a daily procedure while greasing is a more infrequent endeavour. While doing so, it engages the client to know their equipment and it truly reduces maintenance costs a great deal. What we do encourage is having us visit a couple times per year to check all equipment, and if daily maintenance is being carried out, the visits are short and the technicians can address staff on any shortcomings.”
McMillan says proper care and maintenance of bakery equipment extends to how it’s used. Commercial baking machinery must be robust and able to withstand long stretches of nonstop operation, but users need to keep the equipment’s specifications in mind if they want to prolong the machine’s lifespan as much as possible.
“Use the equipment within its specified guidelines,” he says. “In other words, let’s say you’ve got a spiral mixer and you’re mixing dough, and the mixer has a 100-kilo dough capacity, use it to capacity; don’t use it to 150, 200 kilos; don’t put blocks of ice in it; don’t do things that are beyond its functionality. As durable as it is, you’re putting unbelievable amounts of stress on the equipment if you’re using it beyond its design capability.”
Cinelli says his company ensures customers are well aware of such guidelines and parameters. “With any new piece of equipment delivered, we have an orientation with all responsible staff, showing them not only how to properly use the equipment, but how to maintain it themselves … this entails the simple, mundane tasks, nothing that requires technical expertise to carry out. Safety is paramount, but there are things that must be done by a technician.”
RF Bakery Equipment usually conducts an extensive, educational handover process when a customer buys a new piece of equipment. “We go through the equipment, we show them how to properly operate it, and we show them how to properly maintain it,” McMillan says. Often, he adds, the biggest problems can be prevented by the simplest of solutions: cleaning. But bakery operators should be mindful of the fact that cleaning needs to be done properly.
“Cleaning is certainly first and foremost, and it’s easy to do,” McMillan
explains. “Flour dust is a big culprit in our business and it gets everywhere, so you need to vacuum out electrical enclosures and vacuum out condensing units on refrigeration equipment. Also, keep water, when you’re cleaning, away from equipment as much as possible. Don’t just hose stuff down that might have sensitive bearings. You could be damaging electrical components; you could be causing corrosion.
“Use common sense. Don’t clean equipment in a way that it’s not meant to be cleaned. We see that all time –people just take a hose to things and then they don’t understand why things are shorting out or bearings are failing.”
If you’ve cleaned, greased, replaced, and otherwise done everything you can to prevent an equipment failure, and something still goes wrong, well, help is available – usually within a couple of hours. Companies like Cinelli Esperia and RF Bakery Equipment have technicians on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week to respond to emergency maintenance situations.
“Our response time is typically within 30 minutes after normal business hours,” Cinelli says. “We do not have a call centre – and this is by choice. Rather, each technician receives the call directly outside of normal business hours.”
Both McMillan and Cinelli say their tech support staff will employ a troubleshooting process over the phone before responding in person, in case it’s a problem that can be resolved without a direct, on-site (and costly) service call.
“There are all sorts of questions and scenarios you can run through and help the customer over the phone so the technician doesn’t have to go out there in the middle of the night, and the customer doesn’t have to bear the cost of that happening,” MacMillan says.
“However, in the event of an emergency, we have technicians throughout our service network from the Quebec border to the B.C. border on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We make that available because we realize our business is mission critical.”
Implementing a preventative maintenance program in your bakery may be the key to avoiding costly services calls, damaging downtime and to generally keep things smooth sailing for you and your customers. / BJ
SOMETIMES IT’S WHO YOU KNOW
While planning to earn both a master of science and doctorate degree in biology, Norman Fox wanted something to do “on the side.” His “something on the side,” was the Donut Den which turned into a 33-year success.
When Norman decided to open a doughnut shop, a friend, Herb Stewart, introduced him to Oliver Harlow, founder of Honey Flush Donuts, a 40-store chain. Stewart and Harlow helped Norman open the Donut Den, in July, 1973, in Nashville, Tennessee. “Oliver Harlow not only inspired, but gave me valuable practical advice,” said Norman.
Harlow started using International® Bakers Services (IBS) flavorings in the 1960s, and suggested that Norman do the same. He highly recommended Cinnamon-Butter Blend. Today, that flavor is the secret ingredient in the Donut Den’s Apple Fritters—their most popular product. “There is no other type of cinnamon flavoring that makes the product taste this good,” stated Norman.
Consistency is the key to success in any business. Maintaining a core product line and keeping up with new trends keeps regular customers coming back and attracts new customers as well. “Another secret to help ensure consistent quality is our own Harold Graves, the cook for the Donut Den for over 30 years,” Norman stated. But he attributes his 33 years of success to following Harlow’s recommendation—relying on the flavors from International® Bakers Services. “Their flavors are consistently the best,” according to Norman.
Norman was a graduate student during the first four years of the Donut Den. After earning his doctorate degree, he taught in university classrooms. But it was a friend of a friend who taught him his most valuable business lessons. Sometimes it’s who you know that helps the most.
If you value consistent quality, you should get to know International® Bakers Services. Contact us toll-free at (800) 345-7175, by fax at (574) 287-7161, or in writing at 1902 North Sheridan Ave., South Bend, Indiana 46628. We have the flavors your customers deserve.
BY ALICE SINIA
THE ‘DOUGHS’ OF PEST CONTROL
Here are five steps you can take to ensure pests and rodents don’t become a food safety and sanitation problem for your bakery.
When you think about it, ovens are a major source of income for bakeries. Without ovens and other tools of the trade, you would have no product to sell and your customers wouldn’t enjoy your secret family recipe. Your oven and other kitchen equipment often provide pests with the food they need to survive and thrive. To help protect your food, reputation and bottom line, consider using an integrated pest management (IPM) program.
}An IPM program is the most effective and environmentally conscious approach to pest management. It focuses on proactive sanitation, habitat changes and facility maintenance, reducing the need for reactive treatments. An IPM program is not a one-time event, but rather an ongoing process. That means a deep clean is needed periodically to ensure a healthy environment for your customers.
hardest to clean are often the most conducive to pests’ needs. These areas include floor drains, sink drains, equipment footing, and grease traps.
Limit the vegetation and trim tree branches that may have grown against your building. By creating a vegetationfree barrier of at least one metre, you can keep foliage from providing cover and hiding potential pest entry points.
Keep these ‘DOUGHs’ of deep cleaning in mind.
Documentation: As far as health inspections go, if something isn’t documented, then it didn’t happen. Keep up-to-date records of all facility maintenance and sanitation steps. Some pest control providers offer digital record keeping of pest sightings, treatments and other key data points. You should also keep your own records.
Organic cleaners: Consider using an organic cleaner that breaks up the grease and grime that pests like flies can feed on and breed in. These cleaners use naturally occurring enzymes and beneficial micro-organisms to break down the trapped dirt, muck and food particles that can attract flies and provide breeding grounds. In fact, the areas
U = your sanitation plan: Again, IPM is not a one-time event, but an ongoing process that requires the effort of your entire staff. Your plan should define specific roles and responsibilities to establish a routine. For example, you can build a checklist of duties to be conducted before checking out every night. Staff training on how to look for and report pest sightings is also beneficial – some pest management providers offer training at no extra cost.
Get every single inch: While this might seem like a no-brainer, you should be sure that your efforts aren’t wasted by cutting corners. Clean behind the oven. Check under the fridge. Rodents only need a few drops of water to survive and roaches are experts at finding hidden food particles.
Hot spots: No two kitchens are alike, but they share common pest hot spots and entry points. Examples of hot spots include the dishwasher area, dry storage, staff lockers and under prep
counters. While it is important to focus on your kitchen, you should also inspect your building’s perimeter. Limit the vegetation and trim tree branches that may have grown against your building. By creating a vegetation-free barrier of at least one metre, you can keep foliage from providing cover and hiding potential pest entry points. Additionally, you can help deny pests entry by sealing all cracks and crevices in the walls, floor and pavement with weather-resistant sealant. It is also important to regularly clean your trashcans and dumpsters.
Pests are often overlooked until there is an infestation or crisis. A strong deep clean can help reduce your risk, but an IPM program is the best way to protect yourself. Work with your local pest control provider to set up a program that is specific to your facility, local pest pressures and other external factors. / BJ
Alice Sinia, PhD, is the resident entomologist, regulatory/lab services, for Orkin Canada, focusing on government regulations pertaining to the pest control industry. With more than 10 years of experience, she manages the Quality Assurance Laboratory for Orkin Canada, performs analytical entomology and provides technical support in pest/insect identification to branch offices and clients. For more information, email Alice at asinia@orkincanada.com or visit www.orkincanada.com
From yeast especially for your pizzas to mixers and ingredients, Bakers Journal keeps you “in the know.” for more on new products for the baking industry, check out our website, www.bakersjournal.com
Lallemand develops yeast with pizza makers in mind
BY COLLEEN CROSS
Lallemand Baking Solutions representatives Phillip Lee Wing and Jim Kopp were on hand at the recent International Pizza Expo to tell pizza chefs about the company’s new FlexFerm yeast, developed to ensure a controlled proof of dough to maintain consistent volume, shape and size.
Dough made using FlexFerm can be left in the proof box for an extended time without detrimental effects to the pizza, Wing said.
Lee Wing (R) and Jim Kopp
“Pizza quality depends on many parameters and adequate gas production by the yeast is essential to avoid both underproofing and overproofing of the pizza dough,” the company’s detailed literature said. Proof time, proof temperature and yeast dosage all affect gas production especially in retarded doughs, frozen doughs, refrigerated doughs and in-store scratch baking.
In many instances, overproofing cannot be controlled, especially in the event of equipment failure or due to irregular demand for pizzas. This leads to product failure or waste in the form of unusable scrap dough, Wing said. Because FlexFerm won’t overproof, processes are more flexible and tolerant toward changes in variables such as proof time and proof temperature.
At present, specialty yeast performs best for pizza formulas with low sugar; however, it can be used in fresh, refrigerated and frozen dough processes for finished pizza with little or no sugar. The proofing process stops when the added sugar is depleted.
The yeast, which is available as fresh baker’s yeast and dry baker’s yeast, is designed to offer advantages when used in frozen dough balls and deep-dish pizza applications.
www.lallemand.com
ICICLE’s new traceability feature to address recall challenges
Icicle Technologies launched its new enhanced traceability feature for the ICICLE food safety management system.
Designed to seamlessly integrate enhanced traceability technology with a core food safety management system, ICICLE is striving to bring food safety excellence within affordable reach for small to mid-sized food facilities, from local farms to specialty food manufacturers to food processing plants, reported the company in a news release.
ICICLE’s enhanced traceability cycle includes four essential components: receiving, production runs, shipping and recalls. As ingredients arrive at a facility and are transformed into products, ICICLE’s traceability capabilities monitor every step of the process by tracking specific lots of incoming ingredients through to specific lots of outgoing products, thereby providing the necessary data to pinpoint and retrieve products should they need to be recalled.
The new enhanced traceability feature follows the release of ICICLE’s Smart Process and Hazard Suggestion intelligent algorithm earlier this year. www.burtonsoftware.com
Preservative-free pre-soaked grains
Corbion Caravan launched an extensive program to remove a preservative spray used in pre-soaked ancient and whole grains. The research and development effort has led to the reformulation of five super soaked grain products that carry a no preservatives label.
The five new offerings include such ingredients as oat, oat flakes, sunflower, millet, flaxseed, amaranth, chia, cracked wheat, whole grain barley, whole rye kernels and quinoa. www.corbion.com
New spiral dough mixers
Globe Food Equipment has added two spiral dough mixers to its food preparation line. The mixers are designed for gently developing the proper gluten structure of their dough without overworking it.
The GSM130 model has a 130-pound dough capacity and the GSM175 has a 175-pound dough capacity. Both are constructed of heavy-duty metal with front-mounted dual 20-minute electronic timer controls for automatic shift from 1st to 2nd speed. www.globefoodequip.com
Morgans Master re-tinner. Specializing in re-tinning mixing bowls of all sizes (mobile available for larger bowls); We Repair your Stainless steel Whisks as well. I can save you money in replacement costs. Call 416-732-4713 or email: samuelmorgan11@yahoo.ca or check out our website at www.morgansmetalplaters.ca
BY JANE DUMMER, RD
FREE-FROM FOODS
Free-from foods are becoming increasingly relevant to all consumers, not just those who have a specific allergy or intolerance.
The popularity of free-from foods has surged in the Canadian marketplace over the past decade. Where consumers once had to thoroughly read ingredients lists on packaged food, there are now entire grocery aisles dedicated to gluten-free, dairy-free, and other allergen-free food. According to a 2011 Euromonitor report, the Canadian food intolerance market is globally ranked 10th at a value of $161.3 million US. The U.S. has the largest market at $3.4 billion US.
Foods bearing free-from claims are increasingly relevant to Americans, as they perceive the products as closely tied to health, according to research in Mintel’s “Free-from Food Trends - US - May 2015”. The report indicates 84 per cent of American free-from consumers buy free-from foods because they are seeking out more natural or less processed foods. In addition, 43 per cent of consumers agree that free-from foods are healthier than foods without a free-from claim.
“All major markets have seen a continued growth in free-from foods, in terms of value and diversity and consumer penetration of free-from foods is still on the up,” says David Jago, director of innovation and insight for Mintel. “Specialty free-from brands have continued to expand internationally, and more major multinationals have joined the market. Supermarkets have recognized the growth potential, but the retail situation differs considerably from one market to another. In the U.K., supermarkets tend to stock a reasonably wide range, whereas in Italy specialist stores tend to dominate.”
In the baking sector the free-from consumer market is made up of three segments: people with allergies and intolerances; individuals influenced by the trends or celebrity behaviour (i.e. the Gwyneth Paltrow effect) and the vegan
The dairy-free market is a fast-growing sector that commonly employs almond, soy, rice, oat and flaxseed beverages as alternatives.
population. Some marketers believe last year was when free-from truly went mainstream and Innova Market Insights has identified “Free From, For All” as a key trend for 2016. It is interesting with this sector: it’s all about promoting the ingredients not in the product.
As a health professional, I weekly hear the reasons why consumers are buying free-from foods. The number one reason is they have a food allergy or intolerance or they regularly eat meals with someone who has a food intolerance or allergy. Next, some believe free-from foods will make them healthier, feel better or help them lose weight. This has created an evolving opportunity for the baking industry. Consumer need and demand is attracting a larger market for dedicated free-from baked goods including gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free and nut-free.
If you’ve created any free-from products, you know it can be a lengthy and sometimes frustrating process of replacing wheat flour, dairy and eggs to achieve the delicious flavours and textures in baked goods. To replace wheat flour, founder Celine Ikeler of California’s Karma Baker (a gourmet organic, vegan and gluten-free bakery) has created an all-purpose flour blend combining organic sorghum flour, tapioca, rice flour and potato starch that she uses in all of her recipes and sells to her customers. The awareness of milk allergies and lactose intolerance/sensitivity has made
the dairy-free market a fast growing niche. On-trend dairy milk alternatives include almond, soy, rice, oat and flaxseed beverages, all of which can be used in baking.
In “The Pulse on Pulses” (Final Proof, March 2016), I identified how Canadian manufacturer Best Cooking Pulses is collaborating with bakeries to replace eggs with pulses. A recent innovative discovery “aquafaba” refers to the liquid in a can of chickpeas. This liquid can be beat into a meringue, creating a vegan egg replacer. I discovered how easily seeds can replace nuts in products when I was testing out the twenty-one recipes for my book The Need for Seeds. Bakers and product developers are increasing the seed content in specific product lines to offer crunchy alternatives in the nut-free category.
As the free-from category matures, it will be interesting to see how mainstream brands continue to respond in the baking sector. Marketers are already working the angle that free-from products are good for everyone and not just for those with an allergy or intolerance. To continue mainstream growth, the free-from foods need to be readily available for a reasonable price and taste as good, if not better, than the original. / 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.
MARKET TRENDS ADM is at the forefront of recognizing, and reacting to, ever-evolving consumer demands. Our vast and growing selection of bakery ingredients allows us to work with you to create formulations that satisfy both traditional and contemporary tastes, including healthier choices for today’s active consumers. To feed your food business, visit ADM.com.
