With the economic headwinds bakery R&D teams are facing, their relationships with ingredient suppliers are critical to their success. That support can take several different forms from idea generation to training and reformulation. 

Fifty-eight percent of bakery professionals who responded to Baking & Snack’s 2024 Trends in Commercial Baking Industry Product Innovation & Development survey, conducted by Cypress Research, cited ingredient supplier research and ideas as a source for new product inspiration. That number was up five points from the 2022 survey. This aligns with how bakers responded to what types of ingredient supplier support would be the most helpful. Sixty-two percent wanted help with new ingredient/product ideation sessions, up seven points from 2022. Even more wanted help with consumer and industry market trends, cited by 66% of respondents.

“That’s a huge benefit for those small and mid-tier bakeries who can’t afford those insights,” said Marjorie Hellmer, president, Cypress Research, which conducted the survey. “If you want to support their innovation efforts, that’s the No. 1 way you can do it.” 

Support in the R&D lab also looks like help with reformulation, solutions and troubleshooting. Bakers want their ingredient suppliers to bring new solutions to the table and work in partnership with other ingredient suppliers, not just the baker customer. Six in 10 respondents are looking for ingredient supplier support for reformulation or prototype development, and 57% would find R&D/innovation troubleshooting services to be very or extremely helpful. 

“Everyone is juggling a lot of responsibilities, so as the innovative supplier if you can come in and help them ramp up quickly with these technical trainings, that’s pivotal for bakeries,” Hellmer said. 

The workforce crunch also looms large in bakers’ minds, with 61% looking for technical training on ingredients from suppliers.

This article is an excerpt from the September 2024 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on State of the Baking Industry, click here.