Supermarket Perimeter - December 2023 - 21

" Bakery teams generally decorate the cakes based on 'corporate
approved' designs, which sometimes includes 'kits' to complete the
cake, " Seaman said. " Very few grocery chains give decorators full reign
on cake design. "
Barry Callebaut provides options for ISBs to bring in a limited number
of SKUs that can be mixed and matched across the entire bakery case.
The company also provides high-quality, sustainable chocolate
decorations, many of which contain no artificial colors or flavors.
" Our in-house team of gourmet chefs partners with ISBs to develop
new concepts based on industry trends that ultimately lead to higher
profits for the store through increases in volume sales, reduction of
shrink, or savings in labor through SOP efficiencies, " Seaman said.
Back to
school
Barry Callebaut's Chocolate
Academy a perfect fit for ISBs
Barry Callebaut's Chocolate Academy is the most
unique and strongest asset the company can offer
its ISB and other customers, said Mark Seaman,
a Barry Callebaut culinary applications chef.
Academy services are free to
Barry Callebaut customers.
" Many of our chefs, myself included, are
former bakery owners, " Seaman said.
" We understand the need to balance cost
with visual appeal in a bakery case. "
That background, coupled with the deep
knowledge of Barry Callebaut's full product
portfolio across all of the company's brands, puts
the Chocolate Academy team in a unique position
to truly partner with companies, he added.
Labor-saving options
Rich Products offers a wide variety of decorating products for ISB
including ready-to-use cake layers in many sizes and flavors, cupcakes,
fillings and mixes, said Luis Martinez, technical counselor.
Rich's also has an extensive portfolio of buttercream, including the
Bettercreme line of whipped icing with over 20 colors and flavors.
Icings come in both pails and ready-to-use decorating bags, which
help cut down on labor in ISBs, Martinez said.
Another great asset for ISBs, he added, is the Rich's Bakery Academy,
which launched this year.
" It helps retailers succeed in the ever-changing ISB landscape with a
virtual training and education portal that inspires, educates, and trains
in a flexible, hybrid learning environment, " Martinez said. " In addition,
our team of technical counselors connects with back-of-house staff to
support with training, merchandising and innovating efforts for their
stores. "
Due to labor-related issues, there's been a shift from labor-intense
items like mixes and scratch ingredients to more ready-to-finish or fully
finished formats, Martinez said.
According to Technomic's 2023 Away-from-Home Bakery Study,
some retailers have begun to make the transition to easier-to-use
formats due to the impact on labor-saving time for back-of-house staff.
That, Martinez said, allows them to allocate their skilled labor toward
priority offerings while still getting the sale on other items with little to
no labor.
" Rich's quickly pivoted during the pandemic to create labor-saving
products such as a robust line of grab-and-go desserts and further
developed the pre-whipped portfolio of icings in pails and bags. "
The top labor challenge for grocery retailers, Martinez added, is
retaining skilled labor, and because of that, operators are looking for
formats that are easy to prepare back-of-house and that save time but
also taste good.
Decorating in ISBs has bounced back nicely after COVID, thanks in
large part to those labor-saving solutions, Martinez said.
" It continues in an upward direction. Stores have begun to
re-establish their programs, which in most cases were impacted by the
pandemic. Labor-saving products help to ease these labor issues while
keeping the bakery case fresh and innovative. "
supermarketperimeter.com
DECEMBER 2023 - 21
" The more transparent bakeries are
with our chefs during projects, the
better the final outcomes will be. "
Chocolate Academy chefs are focused on
product relevance, ease of use, and the
" saleability " of finished products, Seaman said.
" We may make different and/or additional product
suggestions than our counterparts in sales, but
always with the customer's bottom line in mind. "
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