With two major Hispanic holidays – Día de los Muertos on Nov. 1-2 and the festival of the Epiphany (Rosca de Reyes) on Jan. 6 – fast approaching, now is a great time for a primer on Hispanic traditions and how to treat everyone with festive and fresh bakery creations.

Jennifer LaPaugh, senior director of marketing for the Artisanal Channel for Dawn Foods, shares valuable tips on how Dawn Foods can assist bakeries to create compelling messaging targeted toward Hispanic consumers.

“At Dawn, we offer high-quality product solutions, inspirational recipes and marketing materials that are relevant for Hispanic consumers. Each quarter we release a Seasonal Catalog that includes recipes and featured products for the season,” she explains.

“In our Q4 Catalog, we feature the Rosca de Reyes (Three Kings Bread), which uses the Dawn Exceptional® Bizcocho Sweetdough Mix; the Bakery Essentials items like Powder Sugar and All Purpose Shortening; and finishing items Dawn sells like Fruit Strips and the muñeco. Dawn’s Bizcocho Mix offers an economical and convenient option for making your own doughs to create anything from signature pastries to breakfast offerings.”

Dawn has created a series of 15-plus posters that feature everyday Hispanic bakery Items like conchas, magdalenas, marranitos and tres leches cake that are given to bakers to market featured items and drive impulse purchase in the bakery. Additionally, Dawn has three posters for significant Hispanic holidays including Día de los Muertos and Rosca de Reyes.

Dawn understands that this year has been difficult for bakers, LaPaugh says. “We are committed to supplying and supporting bakeries as they re-think and re-tool their operations. We know that at this critical time, some bakeries are operating with a reduced team and shifting consumer demands for more grab and go items. Many have begun to simplify their menus to ease the back of house production.”

To help with that, Dawn has created a series of versatility guides, which are designed to give bakers ideas and recipes to make multiple final products from one single bag of mix. There are seven versatility guides available, with three focused on Hispanic bakery items including bizcocho, crème cake and sponge cake.

“At Dawn, we’ve spent the last 100 years putting our customers at the center of everything we do,” LaPaugh explains. “As part of this, our team constantly researches and discovers insights into the consumer trend landscape to help our customers make more informed business decisions and better meet demands in the marketplace. Last year we revealed 2020 trends to provide a view on what’s happening in the marketplace, consumer behaviors and macro influencers. These trends help us to consult bakers on opportunities to better meet consumer needs. However, with the global pandemic, we know that consumer views and needs have shifted, so we have new information on how those trends are manifesting in this new normal.”

Dawn understands that celebrations, especially during important holidays, continue to be extremely important, they just look a little different this year.

The Blissful Indulgence trend Dawn Foods identified is still relevant as people are facing higher levels of stress  and are seeking opportunities to disconnect and destress. Consumers want a momentary escape from reality and are turning to food for comfort.

A quote that’s relevant for this time is “Stressed is Desserts spelled backwards.”

For its artisanal bakers, Dawn brings them trends and insights and demonstrates bakery recipes and decorating ideas at local Baker’s Gatherings Food Shows that Dawn hosts.

“In past years, we’ve held 25+ of these events each year where we invite bakers to meet with the Dawn Foods team to view product inspirations, taste samples, and provide them with insights on consumer trends,” she shares. “With the global pandemic, we’ve had to postpone these in-person shows.

“However, we know how important it is to share new ideas and have that connection with our bakers, so we’ve re-imagined the Food Show for 2020. This October 2020 we held our first ever Virtual Food Show with the goal to help bakers succeed this holiday season. The Virtual Food Show gave bakers the opportunity to learn about Dawn products, view pre-recorded demonstrations from Dawn technical bakery experts, see holiday cake and donut decorating ideas and receive discounts on select products.”

Visit www.dawnfoods.com/virtual-food-show for more information on the Virtual Food Show.