“IBIE continues to provide the platform for the entire baking community to gather and celebrate the vibrancy of this industry, innovative trends and digital automation technologies, advances in baking processes and the thousands of bakers and support services who have a passion and commitment to the success of this industry,” said Joe Turano, IBIE chairman. “IBIE is focused on meeting the professional and business needs of every attendee. We take pride in crafting content that is cutting-edge, interactive, engaging and thought-provoking. With a sold-out show floor, we experienced innovations and exciting technology that will lead this industry into the future. I know that we are leaving feeling reenergized and recharged with fresh insights and new relationships to cultivate.”

During the event, IBIE and Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery honored 42 industry suppliers and bakeries that have made notable achievements in sustainability, sanitation, workforce development and innovation. The qualifying companies for the 2019 IBIE BEST in Baking Program are:

Sustainability/Ingredients

• Cargill—TOP HONORS
• Bay State Milling
• Ciranda
• Corbion
• DuPont Nutrition & Health
• Holton Food Products
• Manildra Group USA
• Palsgaard
• Renmatix

Sustainability/Equipment

• Heuft/Thermo-Oel GmbH & Co. KG—TOP HONORS
• Air Management Technologies, Inc.
• Bakery Concepts International
• ChemxWorks
• Hayon Manufacturing Corp.
• Houdijk Holland
• Intralox
• Mecatherm
• Varimixer

Sustainability/Packaging

• Handi-Foil—TOP HONORS

Sustainability/Logistics

• Flexibake—TOP HONORS
• Thymly Products—TOP HONORS
• Focus Works
• Harvest Food Solutions

Sanitation

• ChemxWorks—TOP HONORS
• Flexco—TOP HONORS
• Goodway Technologies—TOP HONORS
• KLEANZ—TOP HONORS
• Babb Group
• Best Sanitizers
• Flexco
• Foremost Fuji
• Koenig Bakery Systems
• VMI

Workforce Development

• More Than a Bakery—TOP HONORS
• Main Street Gourmet—TOP HONORS
• Nummies Bakery

Product Innovation/High-Volume Bakery

• Alpha Baking Co.—TOP HONORS
• CraftMark Bakery—TOP HONORS

Product Innovation/Wholesale Bakery, Intermediate

• Just Desserts—TOP HONORS

Product Innovation/Retail Bakery

• Victoria’s Sugar Shack—TOP HONORS
• La Canasta Mexican Food Product Inc.
• Sweet Life Specialty Foods

Each entry was evaluated against program criteria by an independent committee of bakery industry leaders:

• Len Heflich, Founder, Innovation for Success, LLC
• Mike Pierce, President, The Austin Co.
• Tim Ramsey, Senior Director, Procurement and Commercialization, Hearthside Food Solutions
• Gina Reo, President, Quality Assurance Strategies, LLC

Thank you to the 2019 BEST in Baking Program Evaluation Committee—and congratulations to all qualifying companies!

IBIE also served as the backdrop for the presentation of the 2019 SF&WB “Bakery of the Year” Award to St Pierre Groupe. The co-founders of the bakery, Paul Baker and Jeremy Gilboy, were in attendance for the award presentation during the show. St Pierre is the fastest-growing bakery brand in the U.S., offering a wide range of broche, buns, rolls, crêpes, croissants, waffles and more. As the 2019 “Bakery of the Year,” St Pierre Groupe was the focus of SF&WB’s August issue cover story.

The next IBIE will take place September 17 – 21, 2022.