Bakeries and pastry shops enjoy the benefits of a new wave of innovative products and campaigns that are designed to help them put their best products forward.

To help spur along innovation and efficiency in the chocolate and decorating worlds, Barry Callebaut AG recently initiated Treat Tomorrow, a collaboration with customers and experts to carve the plan for new chocolate indulgence. With the initiative, the industry leader intends to foster new and emerging consumer desires addressing climate, social inequality, and personal health concerns. Treat Tomorrow kicked off with a Global Customer Gathering on April 28.

Antoine de Saint-Affrique, chief executive officer of the Barry Callebaut Group, explains, “The COVID-19 crisis disrupted the whole world and accelerated changes already in the making. By initiating Treat Tomorrow, we aim to shift the dialogue with customers, brands and artisans with regards to consumer attitude changes.”

Treat Tomorrow launched with livestreaming of five mini-series addressing five pressing consumer questions. Each mini-series reflects on the subject from multiple perspectives: macro trends, food & health science, brand case studies, and next-generation consumer applications. The miniseries will be live hosted by an anchor to stimulate the interactivity and discussions. Topics included health, next generation indulgence, plant-based, sustainability and the climate.

As a business-to-business company, the Barry Callebaut Group serves the entire food industry, from global and local food manufacturers to artisanal and professional users of chocolate, such as chocolatiers, pastry chefs, bakers, hotels, restaurants, and caterers.

Barry Callebaut is the world's largest supplier of gourmet chocolates and specialties products through three global brands Callebaut®, Cacao Barry®, and Carma® , as well as the decorations specialist Mona Lisa®.

Further, Barry Callebaut is committed to nurturing an inclusive environment where everyone is given the opportunity to learn, grow and fulfill their potential. On this basis Barry Callebaut launched in January 2021 ‘#oneBC’, its Diversity & Inclusion strategy. It sets ambitious, measurable targets for the Group to improve its gender balance and cultural diversity at senior management level by 2025.

As part of its Forever Chocolate target to be carbon positive by 2025, Barry Callebaut committed to reducing the carbon impact of its entire supply chain (Scope 1, 2 and 3), which includes the production and processing of all the raw materials that Barry Callebaut sources, and related land use changes.
Barry Callebaut announced in March 2021 the cooperation between Cocoa Horizons and Seekewa, an award-winning start-up from Côte d’Ivoire, on a pilot project to increase and diversify the income of cocoa farmers in the Cocoa Horizons program. Income diversification is a key element of Barry Callebaut’s strategy for lifting cocoa farmers out of poverty. The collaboration with Seekewa is another direct outcome of the group’s involvement with the start-up accelerator MassChallenge.

Well-equipped

On the equipment side of business, Sonia Bal, director of marketing for Unifiller Systems, explains that equipment innovations continue to lead the industry forward during challenging times.

Factors such as mergers and acquisitions, the focus on reducing food waste, allergen control, green operations, and a shortage of skilled labor have led to a growth in the need for automation, she points out.

Many operators are integrating semi and full automation to drive better management, stricter process and safety controls and ensure a higher degree of metrics tracking and SKU (stock-keeping unit) standardization. 

“A more competitive landscape has been driving the need for innovative cake production technology,” Bal explains. “At Unifiller the integration of servo systems has allowed us to develop our ACIS (round cake decorating) and SKIL (sheet cake line decorating) lines.”

Both lines increase cake production throughput via a servo-controlled machine that offers recipe recall at the touch of a button. So, it's possible for a bakery to program all of its cake decorating specifications into a line, and adjust the line setting to each products’ profile.

Servo systems can also collect and provide useful data on production rates, cycles, and deposits. These depositors offer a user-friendly PLC screen and can be integrated into a larger production system in responder mode.

“Automation can solve a lot of problems in a bakery, including helping a bakery scale up to produce more in less time and reducing waste or touch-up time,” Bal says. “Customers who have a loyal following or have scaled up to supply grocery stores, for example, find that consistent look, feel and taste are key to bringing customers back to their products and brand.”

Once they have developed a recipe that customers absolutely love, it is important to consistently have repeatable results. Servo technology is key to cake production, providing optimal spread control with a reduced need for a touch-up. Servo technology allows for quick spreading, due to constant speed regardless of pressure, she explains.

Virtual technician

Bakeries across the United States strive to make the perfect cake but sometimes need assistance with technique and usage details in regard to specific whipped toppings, icings, and dessert fillings.

To address this need, Hanan Products Company, a 75-year-old industry leader, is launching the Hanan Virtual Bakery Technician program, beginning in mid-April. The program offers free remote support to Hanan’s customers – distributors, supermarkets, and bakeries – through talented in-house techs who have mastered product usage and performance.

This eliminates wait for on-site technicians, expedites scheduling, and provides simultaneous support to multiple stores/bakeries.

Hanan’s bakery technicians are trained food scientists who, themselves, have developed and designed Hanan’s products. They have numerous qualifications and are knowledgeable about Hanan’s entire product line and ideal techniques to create a beautiful, high performing, finished product. These staff members are equipped to address customers’ questions and needs, which often focus on proper handling and usage, as well as finished product appearance and storage techniques. Virtual Bakery Technicians will interact with customers to address their specific and immediate questions and challenges.

“When our customers share a challenge or question, they expect answers in real time. With the Hanan Virtual Bakery Technician program, the first of its kind, we’re able to provide this high-level video support when needed most, said Hanan Products’ chief operating officer Ryan Hanan. “By troubleshooting problems as they come up, we keep our customers on schedule.”

Hanan Products Company Inc. was founded in 1946 by research chemist Stuart Hanan. As a leading food production manufacturer, Hanan has developed a broad line of premium quality whipped toppings, icings, and fillings sold by distributors and used by supermarkets and bakeries around the world.

Tropical flavors

When it comes to flavor and texture innovations in decorating, Paul McVeigh, director of marketing and product innovation for Satin Fine Foods, Inc., explains that Satin Fine Foods is the only manufacturer in the world of Shimmer Fondant., and its Buttercream Icing Mix (dough based) is completely unique – by adding real butter for real buttercream – or substitute with margarine or vegan butter for healthier options.

Satin Ice chocolate-based products are new for the brand and offer very high quality. And Satin Ice Glitter Glaze is still a new concept in the U.S.

All these products have launched through Satin Ice in the past 12-24 months, and each has proven extremely successful. They can all be used on cake, cupcake, donuts, cookies, and so much more.  

In addition, innovative new flavors and products that continue to push the envelope for creativity.

Satin Ice offers new Tropical Fondant, which is formulated for optimum performance in hot and humid conditions. Additional benefits include increased elasticity, extended drying time and minimal to no sweating in transition from cold to warm environments.

Tropical Fondant is formulated to stand up to heat and humidity, which creates a firmer texture when the product is unkneaded. Once kneaded, it transforms into a smooth and elastic product, which aids in flawless coverage with sharp edges that won’t crack. If the fondant is too firm to knead, it can be microwaved for 5 seconds to soften and help get started.

Because the Tropical Fondant is firmer than classic, Satin Ice recommends using a sharp knife to cut portions off.

Any food color you use with other fondants will take beautifully in Satin Ice Tropical Fondant. Tropical Fondant is a natural white, however you can use white food color to create a brighter white.

Mona Lisa

At Barry Callebaut, Mona Lisa features a portfolio of decorating products and tools, such as gold, silver, and bronze as the ultimate colors to give your desserts, confectionery, and chocolate creations an instant feel of elegance.

Perhaps it's the time we are living in, with great changes in the field of technology, that have made this color so popular? Even when you’re on a budget you can easily bring a bit of glamorous, gold garnish into your life (Creative market, Kate England).

Gradients can be a great way to illustrate a realistic metallic effect. The contrasting light and dark colors from your metallic palette causes that glimmering look.

These simple pralines have been glitz with Mona Lisa gold, bronze and silver metallic powders, resulting in a unique and premium look and feel.

These less “Foodie” colors give you, as a chef the opportunity to surprise your customers’ taste buds with a burst of indulgent, creamy and smooth chocolate - the ultimate way to grasp your customers’ attention!

Why not use Mona Lisa metallic powders to brush over chocolate blossoms, mocha beans and other chocolate decorations? Mark Seaman used them to portray a feel of instant luxury.

Creative Copper Metallic Powder

Copper metallic powder instantly adds a glamorous shine to all your creations. Brush on confectionery, pastries and cakes.

Creative Silver Metallic Powder

Silver metallic powder instantly adds a glamorous shine to all your creations. Brush on confectionery, pastries and cakes.

Almond and sugar crunch silver

Mona Lisa's metallic silver colored almond and sugar crunch adds a luxurious appeal to your delicious creations. This sprinkle can be used for both festive and non-festive applications.

Berry Harvest

With spring’s arrival comes other new product innovations, such as Brill’s fresh and fruity seasonal program—Berry Harvest.

Berry flavors are well established and growing in bakery segment. In fact, 41% of consumers find fruity flavors appealing and berry-flavored sweet bakery items are up 2.7% in dollars vs. prior year.

Which berry flavors do consumers reach for? Blueberry ranked as the most popular flavor with strawberry coming in a close second, and both of these flavors feature prominently in our Berry Harvest program.

Brill’s Berry Harvest program features a variety of products made with blueberries, strawberries and more. Your needs will be met whether you’re looking for the perfect batter or PDM to serve fresh baked muffins or breads, a consumer-preferred strawberry buttercreme cake layer for your cake creations, or an eye-catching Strawberry Swirl loaf cake.

Spread the joy

In other new products for decorators, DouxMatok unveils its limited-edition Incredo® Spreads and its Spread The Happiness campaign, providing U.S. consumers with a chance to taste a product made with its innovative ingredient for the first time ever and experience the wonders of how sugar can be used to reduce sugar.

Incredo® Spreads are now available for purchase on shop.incredosugar.com in a two-jar bundle with Hazelnut Cocoa and Dark Cocoa Salted Caramel, both with almost 50% less total added sugars than other leading products and rich in nutritional fibers. The limited consumer launch showcases the ability of Incredo® Sugar, a sugar reduction solution made from real cane sugar, to provide an uncompromised and delicious taste.
To reinforce DouxMatok’s mission, consumers can join the Spread The Happiness campaign, which aims to put the Incredo® Sugar promise to the test with Incredo® Spreads and inspire communities to enjoy a more nutritious diet without compromising a great taste experience. As people continue to spend a majority of time at home amid another challenging year, real happy moments still deserve to be celebrated more than ever.

The campaign features a consumer sweepstakes and a charitable donation to Common Threads, a nonprofit that provides children and families with cooking and nutrition education to encourage healthy habits that contribute to wellness. DouxMatok will donate 10% of each sale of Incredo® Spreads and will match the amount to double the donation. 
“We have been hard at work perfecting the commercialization of our Incredo® Sugar and are excited to showcase these delicious spreads with a superior nutritional profile. We invite consumers to taste and experience Incredo® Spreads,” says Eran Baniel, chief executive officer and co-founder of DouxMatok. “We believe the only way to meet the challenge of sugar reduction is by maintaining the joys of sugar, and we encourage the food industry to join us on this important mission.”

Incredo® Sugar is the flagship product of the food-tech company, DouxMatok. It is based on a breakthrough sugar reduction solution which is made of real cane sugar and allows for up to 50% sugar reduction. Incredo® Sugar enables food brands, manufacturers and retailers to develop delicious, better-for-you formulations of cakes, snacks, cookies, chocolate, and more.
“As brands continue to provide consumers with better-for-you alternatives, we’re inviting US CPGs, foodservice, and emerging brands to work with us to formulate products with Incredo® Sugar that will allow consumers to continue enjoying the happy moments that are provided by sweet treats, with significantly improved nutrition,” said Lorraine Niba, vice president of sales, North America.