Category Insight

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash BY LIZ GOODWIN

Consumer trends may come and go, but the love of sweets is eternal. Whether the guilty pleasure is a warm chocolate croissant or an iced strawberry turnover, people pine for a dose of sugar. But as consumer trends collide with evergreen cravings, sweet goods and pastry producers are shifting their R&D and operation strategies.

When it comes to satisfying their sweet tooth, consumers want it all — something that tastes great and is keto, gluten-free or plant-based. It’s challenging for bakeries to create pastries that deliver balance on taste and health factors, but this is a space with serious potential for growth.

For Brian Owens, CEO of Phoenixbased Café Valley, it’s about embracing all things plant-based, especially as younger consumers gain increasing buying power.

“People want something fantastic like an authentic pain au chocolate, or they want something plant-based or keto or at least with some connotation to it,” Owens said. “We get a lot of requests for those, and we’re dipping our toe into the plant-based market. Younger consumers are keen on plant-based, and they’re not going back to eating animal products. It has a lot of promise.”

That promise can have a price tag, but if consumers believe it’s worth

the money, some bakers say it’s a good investment.

“There are definitely implications, but you have to be willing to invest the time and resources upfront,” Owens said. “It’s a trade-off — if you believe that’s where the profitability and the consumer is, you’ve got to make that trade. And that means you have to find suppliers that are specializing in plant-based fats to satisfy that customer demand.”

Pastry producers are also capitalizing on demand for clean-label products. Anna Maria Fritsch, head of marketing for Bridor, North America, noted that creating a high-quality, clean pastry is a top focus for this global bakery. The company makes its fillings in-house and has rigorous standards, with more than 300 ingredients banned to ensure its

Anna Maria Fritsch | head of marketing, North America | Bridor

products are as pure as possible. That adds a layer of complexity when it comes to ingredient sourcing.

“There are always new flavor trends emerging, and that challenges us to discover new ingredients available for use in industrial production,” Fritsch said.

To add to that challenge, as consumer cravings for flavor innovation increase, their demand for clean-label ingredients never wanes. And even ingredients that are technically considered clean according to bakers and suppliers might not be perceived as clean by labelconscious shoppers. Bridor prides itself on having one of the highest clean label standards in the industry, which can add an extra step in ensuring the ingredients aren’t just clean, but Bridor clean.

Café Valley is seeing requests from its customers for plant-based offerings.

“This is nothing new, but it strongly affects us and is going into the pastry category,” Fritsch said.

Consumers are also seeking big flavor in small packages. Bitesized products that invite permissible indulgence are surging in popularity, and pastry producers are answering this demand through smaller portions and snack sizes. But smaller bites can have a big impact on the production line.

“It has a lot of implications in terms of your run speeds and how you package things on the back end,” Owens said. It even has the bakery looking into more automation for manufacturing the smaller-sized products being requested by Café Valley’s customers.

Today’s consumers struggle to reconcile — perhaps now more than ever — the desire for healthfulness, the urge to indulge and the need to tighten the pocketbook strings. While that is clearly driving much of the innovation on the ingredient and formulating side, it’s also impacting product sizes and, ultimately, packaging needs. According to Fritsch, Bridor also has its sights set on smaller sizes, but wants to keep the distinction between small and mini. She noted that consumers want to scale back only enough to justify the purchase and the calories while still getting a bang for their buck.

“We are seeing a demand for going smaller, but not all the way to mini products,” Fritsch observed. “I would say reducing the product size by 20% gives the impression of a more responsible indulgence.”

Where shape, size and flavor innovation go, operational challenges will follow. Finding suppliers that can help bakers innovate with new concepts on an industrial scale is key, especially when it comes to serving QSR customers that are looking for highquality products, whether they’re classics or new additions.

Bridor has rigorous clean-label standards with more than 300 ingredients banned from its products.

Photo courtesy of Bridor North America Café Valley’s experience with producing sweet goods has helped the bakery when it comes to processing doughs with decadent ingredients that are also classified as clean label. Laminated dough products by their very nature require very specific process controls; even the slightest deviation in temperature could throw the process off when the dough enters the makeup line.

“If the butter melts, you don’t get the layering you want, and you lose that flaky texture,” Owens said.

Conversely, if the dough is too cold, it won’t machine properly on the line.

For Café Valley, the first step is having the right staff who understands all the idiosyncrasies that come with laminated sweet goods. Even while the workforce shortage in the industry is at crisis levels, Café Valley has a core team, some of which are 25-year veterans, working on the line.

“We have one guy in particular who is an absolute ‘dough whisperer,’” Owens said. “He can work wonders, even if there’s a problem on the line. And we have an entire R&D team that spends a lot of time working with the production team.”

The company has programs in place where production workers are trained to become bona-fide bakers, then move up into operations roles as supervisors or production managers in roughly two years.

A strong workforce is critical, but in today’s labor shortage, strong supplier partnerships — and even stronger communication — are everything.

Brian Owens | CEO | Café Valley

Café Valley is seeing requests from its customers for plant-based offerings.

“Having relationships and setting expectations and then getting the right service support that you need is key. We have suppliers who come into our facilities regularly to make sure equipment is running well and that our people are trained properly.” Owens noted that Café Valley has benefitted from partnerships with various suppliers such as AMF Tromp and Rademaker.

Along with the partnerships, bakers are also in need of flexible and efficient lines that can handle the variety of ingredients they’re incorporating into their formulations.

“Different types of doughs like multigrain or those with inclusions can be challenging on the lines,” Fritsch said. “Specialized recipes like vegan doughs or fillings with allergens require additional cleaning cycles, which impact the efficiency of the lines. We need equipment that is not only flexible but also user-friendly with a hygienic design.”

For maximum efficiency, especially as the industry faces critical workforce shortages, automation is key — especially with technology that can take on labor such as repetitive-motion tasks.

“Automating manual processes like the bending and pinching of croissants has been a major innovation,” Fritsch said. “It’s incredible how this market has developed, especially for creating that artisanal design on an industrial scale.”

Owens also noted that while automation on the makeup line has been a godsend, there’s room for further innovation to bring efficiency and flexibility to the packaging area as single serving and smaller sizes dominate.

“Automation can be very rigid, as in, ‘You can have any color you want as long as its black,’” Owens said. “But you want to have that flexibility for different product packaging. There are limitations on robotics — they’re not people — but with automation technology, suppliers are starting to figure it out.”

The ultimate dream is to get to the point where machines can be easily adjustable in all areas of the pastry process with the ability to handle rapid growth.

“Improving the equipment in terms of design, handling and changeovers is the main challenge right now,” Fritsch observed. But her ultimate wish would be to discover automated equipment that could ensure that perfect half-moon shape for croissants. “If it could manage to stay in that shape after proofing and baking without pans, then we would definitely be seeing the next innovation in the market.”

Owens echoed the importance of maintaining quality and flexibility all the way through the process. And although it seemed impossible five years ago, he envisions a future where packaging automation and flexibility can live in harmony.

“Doing different packaging sizes with clamshells or for foodservice, isn’t quite there yet,” Owens said. “But the demand is there, and I think that’s the change.”

As pastry manufacturers lean into the challenges and potential success of flavor innovation, clean labels and smaller sizes, one thing remains clear: There’s no sign of slowing on the need for speed. . CB

With innovation as the key ingredient, RBS can help take the future of your snack operation to a healthy new level. Our advanced baking technology offers you the flexibility to make different types of healthy baked snacks on one line. Change shapes. Swap ingredients. Give your customers the variety of healthier snack options they’re looking for. To find out more about the RBS Multi-Crisp Baked Snack System, call (01) 610-693-5816 or visit readingbakery.com.

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