New influences, trends and preferences are redirecting many bakers to develop and produce new products. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is still a critical issue, as are commodities, private-label products and many business consolidations.
The bakery market is rife with change this year, as bakers face plenty of challenges that just keep coming. With a hailstorm of food-safety issues, for example, most bakers are beginning the certification process through the Safe Quality Food (SQF) program and others.
Enjoy Life Foods’ cookies, snack bars, chips, cereals, granolas and trail mixes are made in an allergen-free, gluten-free facility, and the company’s 40,050-sq.-ft. production plant is bulging at the seams to accommodate growing demand for its products. Enjoy Life is expanding at such a rapid pace, it may need to add a facility or relocate to a larger one.
It’s Celiac Awareness month, so we explore Enjoy Life Foods, the first bakery to gain gluten-free certification from the Gluten-Free Certification Organization (GFCO). In business 12 years, Enjoy Life’s mission is to make great-tasting, allergy-free, gluten-free cookies, bars and grab-and-go foods that nearly everyone can ‘eat freely’ without worry.
So many features, so many conveniences, same-day delivery, more compact equipment, accessible websites on which to find and purchase equipment and products, easy-to-use mobile apps—customers want more because consumers want it all.
Ballreich Bros.’ 75,000-sq.-ft. potato chip and snack plant churns out 2,000-5,000 lb. of product an hour. Manufacturing product on a just-in-time basis, the family owned and operated company in Tiffin, Ohio, also produces new Sweet Potato Chips and shoestring Potato Sticks in three flavors.
Family-owned Ballreich Bros., Tiffin, Ohio, has a large fan base that pines for its various potato chips as well as crispy new shoestring potato sticks, popcorn, pretzels and other snacks.
Angelic Bakehouse’s new facility in Cudahy, Wis., bakes sprouted whole-grain breads, rolls and combo flatbread/pizza crusts using ingredients ‘as close to pure as possible,’ to offer clean-label, better-for-you products that it’s happy to feed family members and proud to offer customers.