On February 24–26, ASB BakingTech will head back to Chicago with the theme of “Baking a Fresh Future.” This annual event, hosted by the American Society of Baking (ASB) and held at the Hilton Chicago, is a highly anticipated gathering for all professionals in the grain-based snack and bakery industry.

The event will include a wide range of presentations, including:

• Morgaine Gaye, Ph.D., food futurologist and director of Bellwether: Food Trends, London
• Labor strategist John Frehse, senior managing director for Ankura Consulting Group, LLC, New York
• Tom Gumpel, CEO and founder of MDJ Baking, Inc., Sarasota, FL, and vice president of bakery research and development for Panera Bread from 2004–2018
• Sebastian Marcu, CEO and founder of Bake in Space, Bremen, Germany, a business that seeks to address the challenges of fresh food production in space—but also commercialize resulting innovations here on earth
• Danielle Banjamin, marketing manager, Canyon Bakehouse, Johnstown, CO, leading the Young Professionals session

Technical paper presentations will take place Monday from 1:30 to 3:30 pm, and Tuesday from 12:45 to 2:00 pm. These breakout tracks will include topics on technology, functional ingredient systems, food safety, robotics, sanitation and more.

MarketPlace tabletops will be open Sunday, Monday and Tuesday from 4:00 to 6:00 pm, with suppliers to the snack and bakery industry discussing new ingredients, equipment, technologies, services and more. An opening reception will take place on Sunday from 6:00 to 7:30 pm.

This year’s Product Development Competition theme is “Flatbread,” with products featuring ancient grains. Student teams from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Purdue University, California State Polytechnic University and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst have been selected as finalists and will compete for $20,000 in scholarships.

For complete details and to register, visit www.asbe.org/bakingtech2019.