Five Baking Industry Imperatives for 2022

The baking industry will have a lot on its plate in 2022, and it can leverage pandemic-era lessons to address upcoming challenges. 

Many of those lessons were relayed in American Bakers Association (ABA) webinars and Bake to the Future podcasts during the past year (which, if you haven’t listened yet, I highly recommend.) Here are five strategies emphasized that will be imperatives in the coming year. 

Lesson 1: Solidify Supplier Partnerships 

Severe commodity price increases have impacted bakers for much of 2021, a period marked by extreme supply chain hurdles. An ABA podcast in June spotlighted this ongoing challenge and highlighted ways to attempt to reduce the problem.  One of these is solidifying relationships with suppliers to improve communications and help companies better navigate and forecast. 

“Definitely strengthen relationships with supply partners,” said podcast speaker Hayden Wands, Vice President of Global Procurement, Commodities, Grupo Bimbo. “We call them partners because that’s what they are. It takes a lot of coordination to bring ingredients into a bakery, and that need is really heightened now.”

Lesson 2: Emphasize Career Development  

Career development is an essential strategy to attract, retain and advance baking industry employees in this more competitive talent market.

An ABA careers information webinar in July and now available on-demand outlined how a wide variety of approaches — from mentorships to leadership development efforts — are baked into the directions of major industry companies.

There are many different career paths — and opportunities to literally go from entry-level right up the boardroom. Let’s keep pumping up that message.

Lesson 3: Focus on Tech Experimentation  

Emerging technologies — including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and virtual reality — will play important roles in the future of the baking industry. The use of these tools has accelerated in the wake of the pandemic. Dennis Gunnell, IBIE 2022 Chair and President of Formost Fuji, iterated that IBIE 2022 in Las Vegas will be a very good showcase for learning more about technology. He spoke during an ABA podcast in September that looked ahead to IBIE (International Baking Industry Exposition), which is scheduled for September 17-21 of 2022.

“We’re all experimenting and learning how to use technology such as virtual reality,” Gunnell said. “We’re learning how to adapt technology for areas including training and collaboration — and the show will highlight all this.”

Lesson 4: Go with the Grain

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) are only updated every five years, and the most recent version provides new opportunities to raise the profile of grains. That was the take from speakers in an ABA podcast in January of 2021, shortly after the new guidelines were unveiled. The guidelines are produced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

“Grains are positioned very well in the new guidelines,” said Lee Sanders, ABA’s Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Public Affairs. “There are great opportunities for messaging to the public, health influencers, and policy influencers.”

Lesson 5: Advocate for the Industry

From supply shortages to workforce complexities, the baking industry has seen it all in the past year. ABA has been actively engaging with federal, state, and local governments in efforts to help reduce ongoing hurdles. Topics discussed include approaches for increasing the pool of truck drivers to solutions for alleviating shortages of soybean and other vegetable oils required by the baking industry. 

ABA Members can make a difference by advocating for the industry with government officials. 

There’s no better advocate for the industry than the industry itself. But that requires writing the letters, making phone calls, and participating in the Zoom meetings to tell the stories. There are constant changes of staff on Capitol Hill. We need to keep in mind that many of these staff members on the Hill are hearing about our industry for the very first time, so it’s important to keep up the communications and outreach.

There will be many other important topics for the industry in 2022. ABA will continue to pursue all the key issues and help educate the industry by leveraging podcasts, webinars, events, and more in the coming year. 

And what a year it will be. Not only will the global industry gather in Las Vegas for IBIE, but we will also celebrate bakery – and ABA’s 125th Anniversary – together, in-person at ABA’s Convention in Palm Springs. It’s been far too long since we’ve seen most of our Members in person and I, and ABA’s staff, couldn’t be more excited to see you again very soon.