For many bakeries, finding production workers is the greatest need for the baking business. Zingerman’s Bakehouse, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, bakes a wide variety of cookies, breads, bagels and a variety of pastries and cakes.

While business has remained strong over the past year at Zingerman’s Bakehouse, numerous obstacles are holding the business back from pursuing growth opportunities, says Amy Emberling, managing partner. Emberling says staffing today is a principal challenge at the baking business she runs as well as across all 10 of Zingerman’s different businesses (ranging from a delicatessen and mail-order gift business to a creamery).

“What we’re faced with now is not being able to hire enough people,” she says, estimating the full company’s workforce size at 600.

Seasonal specials are driving demand for cookies. To help celebrate students’ return and motivate them during early morning classes or late-night study sessions, Insomnia Cookies has unveiled three breakfast-inspired cookies.

These limited-time flavors included the Everything Bagel (poppyseeds, onion and more), the Cinnamon Bun (creamy cinnamon chips and cinnamon swirled with cream cheese drops), and the Cereal N Milk Cookie. Coming from Insomnia’s experimental CookieLab, this cookie is made with Fruity Pebbles cereal, marshmallows and white chocolate chips in a brown butter cookie.

With the holiday season fast approaching, Magnolia Bakery has announced its holiday gifts and packages. Available exclusively on the bakery’s new website, the treats include classics like holiday cookies, in addition to the brand-new Banana Pudding Shop. In preparation for the holiday season, first time customers will receive 25 percent off their online orders throughout October 22.

Among the items include a cookie sampler (medium), featuring an assortment of two dozen of Magnolia Bakery’s best-selling cookies. This package ($68) features gingersnaps, sugar cutout cookies, jammy thumbprints and cinnamon-y snickerdoodles, and is available beginning Nov. 1.

Catering to market needs

Erika Record Baking Equipment offers industry-leading confectionery depositing solutions. These multi-purpose machines are perfect for producing cakes, cookies, pastries and more, and the lineup consists of both tabletop and floor models. Floor models can be configured with available rotary templates as well as an optional wire-cut capability.

MONO is the longest established confectionery depositor manufacturer in the world. Epsilon depositors are among the most compact machines on the market, requiring only 11 square feet of counter-top space.

These machines are ideal for bakers, confectioners, caterers, and hoteliers who have limited space; yet are looking for enhanced productivity and increased variety in the baked goods they prepare.

The Epsilon’s unique Traveling Hopper System removes the need for a conveyor belt which means trays can be loaded and unloaded in the most ergonomically efficient way – directly from the front of the machine.

The machine requires significantly less operating space compared to traditional machines, and it is also able to fit through a standard doorway.

Designed to help reduce operator strain and increase efficiency, the hopper is also at a lower height to help facilitate a more comfortable filling process.

Store multiple production recipes (up to 96 different programs) for quick product recall and streamlined production processes when changing between products.

Machine is preprogrammed with up to 15 different languages.

Color touchscreen controls enable simple and intuitive operation and programming via an icon and graphics-driven interaction.

Available in both Touch and Plus varieties, these finely built machines are imported from Europe and recognized by both bakers and chefs across the globe. The Omega Plus 450 can also be ordered with an available wire-cut feature, perfect for making hard dough cookies, both with and without particulates.

Cookie depositors

With affordable Cookie Depositors from Empire Bakery Equipment, we can add speed and efficiency to your cookie production. Empire's complete line of cookie makeup equipment offers automatic spritz and wire cut cookie machines for a variety of shapes and sizes from soft and hard to fluid dough.

No matter what type of cookie you need to make, including butter cookies, French macaroons, shortbread biscuits, almond pastries, meringues, lady’s fingers, biscotti logs, cream puffs, sponge cakes, cupcakes, muffins and more, Empire Cookie Depositors can help.

The BabyDrop MAXX Cookie Depositor features most of the capabilities of our full-sized Suprema® Depositor in a compact tabletop design. Manufactured to be one of the most versatile dropping machines available today, the BabyDrop Maxx features an intuitive, easy-to-use touch screen control panel and a 200-recipe memory capacity. Capable of producing stationary drop, rotary drop and wire-cut cookies, this unit will produce up to 120 trays of consistent, high-quality cookies per hour. This machine is ideal for a wide range of pastries, cookies, cakes and more - including the wildly popular French Macarons and Meringues. The BabyDrop Maxx’s combination of cutting-edge technology and superior design is sure to save you time and money.

The new Suprema Cookie Depositor is designed to be the most versatile wire-cutting and dropping machine available today. With an intuitive, easy-to-use touch screen control panel and a 200-recipe memory capacity the Suprema is capable of producing 180 trays of consistent, high-quality cookies per hour. With a large variety of nozzles and moulds available, the Suprema Cookie Depositor is extremely flexible, and its combination of cutting-edge technology and superior design will not only save you significant time and money but it’s also sure to satisfy even the most discerning baker.

The MAXIDROP Cookie Depositor offers the maximum in terms of performance and sturdiness, accompanied by high flexibility. Suitable for medium and large spaces that require varied and intensive production. With an intuitive, easy-to-use touch screen depositor control panel and a 200-recipe memory capacity, the MAXIDROP is capable of producing a large variety of consistent, high-quality cookies per hour. With a large variety of nozzles and moulds available, the MAXIDROP Cookie Depositor allows production in the most varied shapes and sizes.