Bake off and Finished Goods

1. What are the current trends in Bake-off and Finished Goods sector?

As the cost of living continues to be a major factor in all our lives, consumers are mindful with what they spend their money on, in general baked goods are usually quite low cost so may be seen as an affordable treat even when budgets are tight.
The Rational iCombi Pro combi-steamer is perfect for baking. Not only because it has the built-in intelligence to give perfect results time after time, but also because it saves energy, time and labour compared to traditional equipment enabling operators to keep costs down.
There is still an increase in demand for plant-based items, healthier alternatives such as wholegrains and gluten free options.
Consumers are looking for unique twists on traditional flavours so bakeries can use this to update existing recipes. The provenance of food is also increasingly important, and consumers are still placing a huge focus on sustainability and local produce.

2. Are Bakers using more bake-off/finished goods products in order to expand their offering to consumers?

Bakers need to produce a lot of different products to meet the demands of customers. Production process must be able to mass produce a variety of products, whilst at the same time be able to save costs to ensure products remain affordable.
The iCombi Pro’s iCookingSuite regulates the entire baking process, precisely and ensures consistent results. If conditions change during baking, such as the temperature of the food or if the door is opened, the iCookingSuite will intelligently adjust the process. This means whatever is being prepared, and whatever the quantity, it will always be baked as quickly as possible and to the highest quality. The iCombi Pro also has a proving function with integrated proving stages.
With iProductionManager operators can make different baked goods in the same cooking cabinet. iProductionManager monitors every tray, adjusts the baking time to the load size, controls the number and duration of door openings and automatically notifies the user once the baked goods are ready. This means operators can offer variety fast!

3. Are savoury or sweet products more popular in the finished goods sector?

There appears to be a demand for combining sweet and spicy flavours, bakers need to be creative and continually innovate to satisfy customer demand.
With Rational’s Connected Cooking digital network solution, bakers can create and manage recipe ideas digitally, once perfected they can be simply transferred to all networked Rational cooking systems with a single click. This means users can produce food to a high quality regardless of the number of locations and the skill level of the kitchen team.

Interested and inspired to know more?

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