Portion control is gaining importance within the retail bakery business on two key fronts: consumer demand and labor efficiency.

Consumers are seeking fresh bakery products in a wider variety of portion sizes, especially smaller portions that meet the needs of smaller households.

Mini-portion sizes of cakes, pies, cupcakes and cake pops are a hot trend among supermarket and retail bakery shoppers. These portion-control items sell at lower price points and typically carry less of a caloric impact compared to their full-size counterparts.

Portability is increasingly vital, as a recent Technomic report shows 60 percent of today's consumers, (compared to 55 percent in 2012) cite portability as an important or extremely important factor when choosing a snack.

On the labor front, precise portioning and labor-saving equipment are increasingly critical to the retail bakery. Bakers can’t afford to make mistakes and, for those operating multiple locations, exact portion sizes are key to providing bakery customers with consistent quality at all retail stores. Bakery equipment manufacturers offer a wide range of solutions for bakeries of all sizes.

Erika Record Divider/Rounders are durable, long-lasting, and German made. These machines help bakers increase roll production while reducing psychical strain; resulting in a perfectly portioned, rounded piece of dough.

Erika Record offers a wide selection of top quality divider/rounders. This broad selection of models, coupled with more gentle rounding action, enables you to produce a great deal more than a regular line of buns and rolls. These products include Portuguese rolls, airy French rolls, flour tortillas, miniature breads or individual sized pizza.

For those seeking a different option, Erika Record’s Hand Divider is a durable, cost effective bun and roll hand divider that is ideal for retail, instore, foodservice bakeries, pizza shops, bagel shops, and restaurants.

From Reiser, the Vemag Dough Divider adds versatility to every production line and is perfect for all types of breads, buns, rolls and English muffins. The Vemag is easily adjusted to consistently produce exact-weight portions of any dough absorption or crumb structure. It is perfect for the baker who needs 60 - 100 portions per minute. The Vemag eliminates the need for divider oil. The Vemag does not require mineral oil, saving thousands of dollars annually while eliminating product air pockets and surface blisters.

The positive displacement double-screw assures gentle handling of dough and exact-weight portions.

At the heart of the Vemag Dough Divider lies the pumping element: the double-screw transport system. The double-screw is unique for its gentle and consistent handling of the dough without overworking it, as well as exact-weight portions. The double-screw is available in a variety of configurations to handle virtually any type of dough.