This month, BEMA announced the release of 2020 Q4 information on the Intel dashboard. Updated quarterly, the Intel report offers a high-level view of the state of commercial baking and equipment manufacturing with insights into key U.S. economic and commercial industry indicators.

Q4 intel highlights

• Increased bookings in line with Q3 booking trends
• $64.8 billion in commercial aisle bakery sales, a 10.5 percent gain over 2019 sales
• In-store bakery sales down 6.1 percent at $6.8 billion
• Unemployment and unit labor costs remain at high levels

Providing insights on the 2020 Q4 data, Marjorie Hellmer, president and co-founder of Cypress Research, shared that baking manufacturers who are increasingly struggling with higher ingredient costs will look to their vendor partners for solutions to help increase margins. After a rough 2020, Hellmer expects to see some recovery around in-store bakery sales, although such increases may be incremental through 2021.

Positive outlook

“The equipment manufacturer industry outlook continues to improve with a 92 percent positivity rating up from 86 percent in the third quarter and 76 percent in the second quarter of 2020,” Hellmer continued. “With national and state vaccination efforts gaining steam, and half of equipment manufacturers reporting increased bookings in Q4 2020, there’s reason to continue to expect positivity for most of the industry.”