KANSAS CITY — The commercial baking and consumer packaged foods industries, together with allied industries including ingredient makers, form the economic backdrop against which this company operates. That these economic sectors are struggling is evident in the weak share price performance of publicly traded food and food processing companies.

Josh Sosland, editor of Milling & Baking News.
Source: Sosland Publishing Co. 

While historically food and processing companies have generated modest, steady growth, such results have been elusive in the recent past. Over the past two years, grain-based foods shares lagged the benchmark S&P 500 stock index by a whopping 70 percentage points (a 17% drop in the Grain-Based Foods Share Index combined with a 53% surge in the S&P). Against this backdrop, and while not immune to the challenges facing business-to-business publishers, Sosland Publishing Co. logged numerous successes over the past year.

The launch of a new industry event, together with the securing of an important role for the baking industry’s headline event in 2025, are among highlights from the past year worthy of noting in this, our annual report to our readers. In addition to reviewing major activity within our business over the past year, this update emphasizes the ways SPC continues to build its business in a way to best serve our key stakeholder groups, including readers and advertisers.

A highlight of the past year was a successful application to the International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE) 2025 committee for Sosland Publishing to serve as the exclusive Platinum Media Sponsor and Official Media Provider for its triennial event, scheduled for Sept. 13-17 in Las Vegas. SPC is not the baking industry’s only media company, and the award was greeted with a sense of profound appreciation to the IBIE committee for its decision. Within this company, the designations are viewed as validation of the unmatched resources we invest to provide critical baking industry news coverage day in and day out, year in and year out. It reflects a view that there are no shortcuts when it comes to gaining a level of audience development and respect across the baking universe necessary for a media provider to play a pivotal role in making IBIE 2025 a success.

This perspective was affirmed by IBIE chair and Grupo Bimbo executive Jorge Zarate, who, in announcing the designations, cited “Sosland’s unparalleled reputation as a leading source for industry news and information.” In these roles for IBIE 2025, we pledge to do our part to advance the event’s promotional efforts, and Zarate’s and the committee’s goal to “engage an even wider and more diverse audience and ensure IBIE delivers the most valuable experience possible.”

Events in 2024 also represented a high point for Sosland Publishing last year. In addition to the company’s presentation of innumerable, well-attended webinars, turnout at the annual Sosland Purchasing Seminar in June was a record high, with registration up sharply from 2023. Most exciting, the company’s Pet Food Processing (PFP) platform held the inaugural Pet Food Processing Exchange this past fall. The result of more than a year of planning, principally by the PFP team, the event attracted a larger-than-anticipated number of registrants from across the pet food sector, drawn by a solid lineup of industry speakers. Reinforced by positive feedback from attendees affirming that the gathering filled an important information void in the pet food space, plans already are underway for the 2025 event.

Successes were also scored in 2024 in SPC’s core publication/digital media business. This publication reached many of its targets for the year, exceeding its sales goals thanks to a 22% jump in digital sales and steady print sales. Sister publication Food Business News, set to mark its 20th anniversary March 8, enjoyed a 5% increase in revenue, with gains both in print and online. FoodBusinessNews.net now has more than 160,000 unique visitors per month and over 343,000 monthly page views. Both publications shored up editorial resources with several staff additions, including the recruitment of veteran editors into leadership positions.

Ahead of an impending magazine redesign slated for early 2025, Baking & Snack generated 9% sales growth in 2024 from the year before. The publication demonstrated once again its unmatched editorial access across the baking industry with plant features ranging from Papadopoulos (in Greece), Rubicon Bakers and Muffin Town to Aspire Bakeries, Mary’s Gone Crackers and Rotella’s Bakery.

Even as it endured a difficult market environment, reflecting global softness in grain trade and processing, World Grain continued to build its digital presence worldwide, growing its digital audience to 55,000 unique users monthly and achieving the largest presence on LinkedIn among the competitive publications. Editorially, the publication took on the topic of artificial intelligence in a three-part series examining the current and prospective impact of AI on the grain, flour and feed industries.

The meat industry also was characterized as challenging in 2024, but MEAT+POULTRY enjoyed numerous successes. Steady growth was recorded in digital sales, while print sales held nearly steady. High-profile industry feature stories covering JBS, Smithfield, Butterball and Seaboard Foods were published. The publication will celebrate its 70th anniversary in 2025.

Highlights from other publications include double-digit growth for Supermarket Perimeter in print and digital sales. The publication has been among SPC’s fastest growing over the past two years. Completing its fourth year, Dairy Processing kicked off 2024 by selecting and presenting the first-ever Workplace of the Year award at the annual International Dairy Foods Association Dairy Forum. In addition to hosting Pet Food Processing Exchange, Pet Food Processing gained momentum in 2024, building its presence and gaining recognition across the pet food industry.

Late in 2024, Sosland Publishing Co. moved to new office space in the Crown Center area, across the street from Washington Park and, just beyond that, Kansas City’s Union Station. The relocation marks only the fourth in the company’s nearly 103-year history and was the first not closely tied to a move by (1924 and 1966) or closing of (2014) The Kansas City Board of Trade. The move into a smaller space also reflects two important changes since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020: the large percentage of the SPC team able to work remotely effectively and, relatedly, the growing proportion of editorial and sales staff members based outside Kansas City. The shift to remote work has given SPC the opportunity to recruit talented professionals from across the country, several of whom previously would have been out of reach. Today, more than half of the combined Milling & Baking News/Food Business News editorial team resides outside the Kansas City metropolitan area.

Adapting to a changing business environment is no less necessary in our publishing space than it is for our readers and the rapidly evolving industries in which you are involved. Steps over the past year and moves anticipated in 2025 demonstrate a commitment to continue taking any steps necessary to remain an invaluable source of information across all our properties for the many vital industries we continue to passionately serve.