Articles by Douglas J. Peckenpaugh

In today’s highly competitive snack and bakery market, collaboration between ingredient and equipment supplies and their customers continues to grow more common.

As snack and bakery categories shift and draw inspiration from one another, producers are finding opportunities to adjust the ingredient makeup in traditional products to create new snacking opportunities.

Product innovation, including strong use of grain ingredients, will help drive sales of frozen snacks and appetizers forward.

The Ardent Mills flour mill in Hastings, MN was the first facility of its kind in the U.S. and is still going strong today.

Over four centuries ago, the brilliant Italian astronomer, physicist, engineer, philosopher and mathematician Galileo Galilei insightfully proposed that “passion is the genesis of genius.” Passion tied to a good idea motivates action. And good ideas like to grow.

A handful of prevailing trends are at work across today’s snack and baking industry to help drive sales forward for foodservice operators, ranging from grain and flavor diversity to an increased focus on health and wellness.

At its core, eating quality seals the deal on the repeat purchase of a snack. Those of us in the industry might rank a snack’s hedonistic level—the level of pleasure consumption delivers. Snacks can also face organoleptic scrutiny, determining its positive (or negative) interactions with our senses.

In a food culture that increasingly prizes clean label, fresh flavors and nutritional benefits, companies working in the freezer case need to integrate selective strategic innovations while holding true to the convenience and quality shoppers have come to expect in classic, category-leading frozen snacks and appetizers.