Pretzels have been around for more than a thousand years, originating in southern Europe around 610 A.D., according to historians. Today, crispy, hard pretzels are consumed by people in many of the countries represented at the 2012 Olympics.

Harris Interactive recently released the results of its 2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend study, which analyzed the responses of more than 38,500 consumers on key measures of brand health for more than 1,500 lifestyle, product and service brands. When questioned about the brands they are likely to reach for when craving a salty snack, respondents chose Lay’s Potato Chips—the top-ranked salty snack for the past eight years—followed by two other Frito-Lay North America brands, Doritos and Tostitos.

Busy lifestyles and affordability aren’t the only reasons why consumers add frozen baked goods to their shopping cart each week. Today’s grocery store refrigerator cases boast innovative, flavorful new rolls to jazz up meals; easy-to-prepare, warm goods that serve as snacks or meals; and sumptuous, ready-to-eat desserts for special family occasions…or a well-deserved treat. In fact, consumers have so many enticing new frozen baked products from which to choose today, they need a scorecard to keep track of all of their options.

Nearly four years after the economic downturn, many Americans are still keeping a tight rein on their expenditures, monitoring how much they spend on essentials, including groceries, and nonessentials, such as eating out. Not surprisingly, many food manufacturers and restaurants have been impacted by this new-found consumer frugality, prompting the former to trim unprofitable items from their product lines and the latter to add more specials to their menus.

Baked goods have been a part of peoples’ diet for thousands of years, far longer than golfers have been hitting a little ball across a grassy surface with a long stick. As ingredients, production methods, distribution and a host of other factors have evolved, consumers at all income levels have been able to enjoy staples like breads and rolls, as well as sweet treats like cookies and pies.

As consumers’ interest in healthy eating continues to grow, so does their search for flavorful, prepared foods—including baked goods and snacks—with fewer calories and less salt, processed sugar and artificial ingredients. Products made with nutritious ingredients that have been around forever, such as fruit, nuts and chocolate, are more likely to find their way into the shopping carts of these concerned consumers.

Bakers and snack makers are well-acquainted with the saying, “Time is money.” A malfunctioning oven, depositor or conveyor system can result in production delays that negatively impact customers, as well as the bottom line.

When eating a favorite snack or bakery product, few people stop and consider all of the ingredients that give these products the taste and mouthfeel they enjoy. Consumers don’t care if the layer cake on their plate is moist because it’s made with a special flour formulation or that a gum blend makes the frosting smooth.

Commercial bakery equipment manufacturers continue to introduce new and redesigned mixing systems that address the specific and changing needs of commercial bakers, including flexibility, dough uniformity, easy sanitation and durability.

Skyrocketing ingredient prices, stricter government sanitation regulations, growing consumer demand for whole-grain baked goods and a host of other factors are prompting some bakers to take a hard look at their current equipment and decide to invest in new machinery.