“Sustainability” means different things to different people.

Product recalls in bakery and snack categories have remained consistent over the years, with undeclared allergens the primary cause. These costly recalls are preventable!

Fresh, delicious food is the dominant consumer route to health and wellness today.

The number of gluten-free products that have entered the market in recent years is quite large—almost mind-boggling. To some degree, this trend was fostered by FDA’s relatively new rule, Gluten-Free Labeling of Foods (August 2013), which allows manufacturers of foods inherently gluten-free to make such label claims. Thus, we now have gluten-free tomato sauce, a product that was probably always gluten-free.

The cookie mix is the newest product in the brand's lineup of plant-based, gluten-free baking mixes.

A modern twist on Grandma’s classic recipe, the bar includes chewy gluten-free oats and chunky organic chocolate chips.

Artisanal buckwheat snack producer Better With Buckwheat is expanding into six regional and ecommerce grocery chains through June and July. 

The launch capitalizes on rising trends in brownie consumption and gluten-free treats.

The redesigned emphasizes the company's commitment to organic, gluten-free ingredients and introduces new convenient sizes for single and family snacking.

Birch Benders Ube Mochi Pancake & Waffle Mix uses purple yams, known as ube in the Philippines, to make purple pancakes and waffles with a sweet flavor that is both gluten-free and naturally vegan

Love + Chew, the mom-owned, plant-based protein cookie company, is unveiling a limited-edition product in early August: its Pumpkin Chip cookie.

Pop culture-infused humor, vibrant design, and a catchy Mariachi riff bridge brand awareness from protein bars into savory snacks.

Handcrafted in small batches, artisanal crackers made with real clover honey are filled with dark chocolate liquor combined with ethically sourced, dry roasted peanuts milled creamy.

Stellar Snacks recently debuted grain-free pretzels crafted with superfood ingredients, now officially available at select grocery stores throughout the U.S.

Wildgrain partners with local artisanal bakers to bring fresh sourdough breads, pastries, and pastas directly to consumers' doors.

Once Again Nut Butter is bringing new stand-alone cinnamon, honey, and chocolate graham crackers to market.

Creating a pleasant stir in New York’s restaurants since 1987, Tom Cat combines the craftsmanship of artisan baking with a cupful of automation plus a pinch of top-quality ingredients

From humble beginnings 40+ years ago in a small bakery near Boston to a 30,000-sq.-ft. plant today in Chelsea, Mass., outfitted with four production lines, Golden Cannoli Shells Inc. now generates more than 100,000 cannoli shells each day. The more spacious plant is also allowing the bakery to significantly increase its capacity.

You will, if you try one from Golden Cannoli Shells Inc. The family-owned, 40-year-old bakery is rolling in the dough at its more spacious, 30,000-sq.-ft. production facility in Chelsea, Mass., to which it relocated in September. The largest national cannoli maker in the U.S. strives for top product quality and strict food-safety standards as well as to ‘just doing things right.’ It’s these and many other reasons that make Golden Cannoli our 2013 Bakery of the Year.

Celebrating 20 years in business, with its latest cookbook hot out of the oven, Metropolitan Bakery, Philadelphia, delights in baking delicious breads and creating incredible pastries, popcorn and granola, among other foods. 

Demonstrating how much the company has grown over the years, John B. Sanfilippo’s impressive 1-million-sq.-ft. production facility/corporate headquarters/distribution center in Elgin, Ill., is outfitted with speedy, state-of-the-art equipment and technology to produce thousands of nut products, snacks and nut mixes.

John B. Sanfilippo’s (JBSS) 1-million-sq.-ft. headquarters and production complex in Elgin, Ill., is a real powerhouse, with a whopping 85 production lines for nut and snack processing. The company has witnessed steady growth and the challenges that go with it. And with more than 90 years of experience and a keen focus on customer and consumer solutions, JBSS tackles the tough nuts to crack head on. 

Angelic Bakehouse’s new facility in Cudahy, Wis., bakes sprouted whole-grain breads, rolls and combo flatbread/pizza crusts using ingredients ‘as close to pure as possible,’ to offer clean-label, better-for-you products that it’s happy to feed family members and proud to offer customers. 

It’s Celiac Awareness month, so we explore Enjoy Life Foods, the first bakery to gain gluten-free certification from the Gluten-Free Certification Organization (GFCO). In business 12 years, Enjoy Life’s mission is to make great-tasting, allergy-free, gluten-free cookies, bars and grab-and-go foods that nearly everyone can ‘eat freely’ without worry.

Enjoy Life Foods’ cookies, snack bars, chips, cereals, granolas and trail mixes are made in an allergen-free, gluten-free facility, and the company’s 40,050-sq.-ft. production plant is bulging at the seams to accommodate growing demand for its products. Enjoy Life is expanding at such a rapid pace, it may need to add a facility or relocate to a larger one. 

New influences, trends and preferences are redirecting many bakers to develop and produce new products. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is still a critical issue, as are commodities, private-label products and many business consolidations. 

The bread market is changing, with fluctuating commodity prices, a still-sluggish economy, consolidations, mergers and buyouts. 

Going for LEED Silver certification, Blue Diamond Growers’ new, state-of-the-art almond production plant in Turlock, CA, features nearly 200,000 sq. ft. of sophisticated almond technology, setting new standards of excellence for food safety, processing and building innovation. 

Savings-savvy Capistrano’s Bakery combined two small baking operations and renovated a larger, 38,000-sq.-ft. production facility in Phoenix that features a used, multizone, traveling-tray oven it had rebuilt with state-of-the-art features. 

Chicago Specialty Bakers brings traditional, Old World baked goods to life for today’s discerning consumers.

Although the James Skinner Baking Co., Omaha, NE, maintains a highly diversified bakery business, its core ethos stems from the elegant, deceptively simple notion of 100 layers.

Independent—and rapidly growing—Canyon Bakehouse has set high standards for gluten-free as it strives toward baking only ‘best-to-market’ products.

As more consumers scrutinize ingredients in the foods they buy, bakers and snack producers are turning to inclusions to create better-for-you products that deliver irresistible taste.

On its own, chocolate is a wonderful treat. Marry chocolate with the perfect flavor pairing, and the snack becomes even more memorable. Classic pairings, such as chocolate with peanut butter, raspberry or mint, are here to stay, but adventurous flavors are growing in popularity.

It can be rather tough for sweet goods products these days. The huge movement to better-for-you items hasn’t exactly been good news and a smooth fairway for this category. But bakers and manufacturers of sweet goods, snack cakes and other delectable treats are watching the demands just as closely as producers in other bakery market segments, and heeding the calls.

Cookies are a robust segment within the bakery industry. There are brands that have been around for decades and have become household names, but there are also many up-and-coming brands that offer unique flavors for niche markets and are set to become the next class of pros.

Busy lifestyles and affordability aren’t the only reasons why consumers add frozen baked goods to their shopping cart each week.

From flavors to popular culture, what’s hot and cool are what drives new products from the Battle Creek, Mich.-based company.

Harris Interactive recently released the results of its 2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend study, which analyzed the responses of more than 38,500 consumers on key measures of brand health for more than 1,500 lifestyle, product and service brands. When questioned about the brands they are likely to reach for when craving a salty snack, respondents chose Lay’s Potato Chips—the top-ranked salty snack for the past eight years—followed by two other Frito-Lay North America brands, Doritos and Tostitos.

Pretzels have been around for more than a thousand years, originating in southern Europe around 610 A.D., according to historians. Today, crispy, hard pretzels are consumed by people in many of the countries represented at the 2012 Olympics.

When it comes to the Olympics, most people prefer some sports over others. The same holds true for consumers when it comes to snack foods.

Low in calories, high in fiber—popcorn may just be the perfect natural snack. Of course, that doesn’t stop manufacturers from trying to up the ante by enhancing all the whole grain has to offer. Now, popcorn can be found competing with chips, pretzels and even candy in the snacking Olympics.

Pork rinds are probably the most misunderstood item in the snack category. This is surprising, because people have been eating pork rinds—also called pork skins—as long as they have been eating pigs. One of the world’s first snack foods created thousands of years ago, and favored in the southern states, pork rinds are a simple combination of fried pork skins and salt.

Phoenix-based Inventure Foods expands its portfolio of brands by entering into a licensing agreement with Vidalia Brands of Glennville, Ga., to develop new snack line.

Potato chips and chocolate? Snack manufacturers and bakeries are experimenting with unique combinations to satisfy consumers’ desire for a snack with the perfect sweet-savory blend.

Biscuit lovers have until midnight on April 22 to enter their favorite biscuit recipes in the International Biscuit Festival 2013 Biscuit Bake Off.

The one and only Eli’s Cheesecake, considered a Chicago food icon, could be the largest specialty cheesecake bakery in the country

Bakery products are evolving all the time in today’s market. To win the race, they mix healthful and tasty ingredients with a scoop of distinction.

We’re always multitasking, so when you can’t decide whether to have something sweet or savory, why not have both? Consumers can, with a variety of new sweet and savory options.

Flowers Foods’ latest addition to its product portfolio—Mrs. Freshley’s Cinnamon Coffee Cakes—is sure to please cinnamon lovers.