Establishing the right relationships between product developers and suppliers can make all the difference when it comes to setting yourself up for success in the snack and bakery industry. And opening the door to those connections is central to each year’s SF&WB Buyer’s Guide. The pages of the 2020 SF&WB Buyer’s Guide, and online at www.snackandbakery.com/buyersguide, are your roadmap to building successful, enduring relationships with the suppliers who can help make your business shine.

We also bring supply-chain insights via our content in every issue and online at www.snackandbakery.com throughout the year. In an effort to continue to bring a more-comprehensive approach toward informing your supply-chain needs, we’ve added a few notable content areas to our editorial coverage for 2020, including:

• Bakery pans and pan handling systems (March)
• Confectionery production systems (April)
• Washing and sanitation systems for pans (August)
• Refurbished and remanufactured equipment (November)
• Inline sensors to improve quality control and efficiency (December)

We’re also dedicating an entire report in our November 2020 issue to snack and bakery facility design, engineering and construction. There are just so many safety, efficiency and other aspects that require careful consideration these days when developing a production facility from scratch, and the best design-build firms working across snack and bakery today have much insight to offer.

Offering a feature article on the confectionery category provides particular interest due to increasing number of hybrid bakery-confectionery products that are starting to hit the market. These products often have a foot in both industries, frequently bringing a slightly better-for-you approach to classic candy products. An example would be a happy merger of a traditional nutrition bar application with a candy bar, such as balancing the appeal of health-forward protein levels with an indulgent chocolate coating and perhaps even a bit of caramel, offering the best of both worlds.

Covering the subject of refurbished and remanufactured equipment will provide interest in an industry that’s more aware of sustainability concerns than ever before, so getting the most out of legacy snack and bakery equipment before sending it out to pasture just makes smart sense. We’ll dig into steps you can take to get more mileage out of your equipment without unduly compromising safety or efficiency while illustrating when you’ve likely reached the tipping point, indicating that it’s time to make the investment in a new machine.

To learn more about any of these—or other—articles running throughout 2020, please reach out to me or your SF&WB sales representative. We pride ourselves in our editorial coverage of instrumental aspects of the industry, from sourcing to delivery, all with an eye on what’s new and innovative.

Here’s to a successful 2020—and beyond!