Bakery Express, Halethorpe, Md., produces an array of fresh and frozen baked goods, including donuts, cookies, pretzels, brownies and more. Its ability to do so is thanks in part to the skill and speed of its R&D team. 

“R&D happens very quickly here,” said Steve Borsh, chief executive officer. “If someone says I need such and such, we get to work on it.”

The Bakery Express Café, which is connected to the commercial bakery, often doubles as a test kitchen for R&D.  

“We have very talented bakers here who are really good if you tell them what you’re going for,” he explained. “They’ll get close on the first or second try. And then it’s just tweaks after that.”

The café is also a great gauge of which products will sell for Bakery Express’ customers. If a donut is flying off the shelf in the café, there’s a good chance it will in the convenience or grocery store as well.

“We just put it out there and see what moves,” Borsh said. “Our customers will ask what’s selling in the shop and base their decision at least partially on that.” 

While the test kitchen is where many of the company’s new products begin, one of its latest and most successful items was actually born in Borsh’s home kitchen. 

“The pretzel started with me making them for my kids at home and them liking it,” he said. “Then when I sampled it to folks around here, everybody liked it, so I started coming in at nights and making them in the test kitchen.”

Bakery Express eventually showed the pretzel to its c-store customer, which had been looking for the right pretzel for years, Borsh said. They immediately fell in love. 

“It took off like gangbusters,” Borsh said. “We continue to tweak it and make it what we want, but that was 100% in-house.”

This article is an excerpt from the November 2023 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Bakery Express, click here.