The pandemic followed by widespread supply chain problems and inflation put a dent into innovation throughout the baking industry, and Otis Spunkmeyer was no exception.

“There was a lot of shortages of ingredients, so we were trying to work with alternatives,” said Tammy Wong, director, R&D/commercialization for Aspire Bakeries, Los Angeles, parent company of Otis Spunkmeyer. “The focus was to keep the bakeries running so anything we could do there.”

But R&D started to turn more toward innovation last year with plans to ramp up even more this year.

“Last year, we introduced two new individually wrapped cookie flavors, the Double Chocolate Caramel and the Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal,” said Kathy Lenkov, communications specialist with Aspire. “For foodservice and in-store bakery LTOs (limited-time offers) this year, we reintroduced the Double Chocolate Cookie with Pink Gems that we had years ago, a similar item with breast cancer awareness last October. This year, we have the Lemon Burst and Red Velvet cookies, with a Birthday Cake individually wrapped cookie on the way and a Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip cookie this fall. So innovation is back for Otis.”

Also new to the brand last year were individually wrapped brownies.

“We were looking for closely touching but adjacent categories when we launched brownies. Foods that fit under the Otis brand,” said Beau Netzer, president of foodservice for Aspire Bakeries. “It’s all sweet goods. We have loaf cakes; we launched some new flavors last year so you could really see momentum building. Sometimes a muffin has a perception that it’s for breakfast. But you’ll eat a loaf cake as a snack in the afternoon.”

Ideas for new products come from insights internally and from customer requests, Wong said. Sometimes customers know exactly what they want and other times they just know they want something new, for instance for a particular time of year or a certain occasion.

“We work with the customer to figure out what their consumer base is so we can develop something that would work for them and sell,” she said. “We also have internal talks as our marketing team will come to us, or we as developers might think of something unique that we think is very trendy or we’ve seen pop up.”

Wong heads a three-person team based in Newark, Calif. that works on chemically leavened sweet goods, primarily with Otis Spunkmeyer. Aspire has R&D teams for its other brands, and they sometimes work across categories to help each other. Although Wong’s team members are spending more time developing innovative new products, they still tweak formulations to help bakeries solve problems as they arise.

“There’s always a focus on cost savings, and there’s always the annual avian flu scare,” Wong said. “So we’re still dealing with those things and trying to make the bakeries more efficient, whether it be working with David [Sandvold, bakery director in Newark and Chaska, Minn.] or other bakery directors. But there’s more of a focus on innovation than there has been in the last couple of years.”

She said customer requests for lower calorie products or other health concerns come and go, depending on trends and customer concerns.

“We’re always trying to stay on top of trends whether it be a year that focuses on low fat or low sodium,” she said. “But our consumers tell us that, above all, quality and cravability are among the most important reasons they enjoy sweet-baked treats, and Otis Spunkmeyer is on their short list of preferred brands.”

This article is an excerpt from the September issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Aspire Bakeries, click here.