Reimagining Industry Growth

4Baking

Bread has been a part of our shared experience from time immemorial. Buns and biscuits and cakes and pies, too, have nourished, sustained, and delighted people for many centuries. And while bakers have always gathered to share tips, techniques, and formulas, it was the professional bakers in early medieval Europe who were among the first tradesmen to create formal guilds to protect trade secrets and help one another succeed. Enduring relationships are the firm foundation on which baked goods and the baking industry have been built from the beginning.

A key part of that foundation is the industry's relationship with its consumers and their ever-evolving tastes. As in any consumer-facing industry, “customers have the biggest impact on strategy.”¹ And since they do, companies and executives pore over data to understand how to position the products they will bring to the marketplace.

The Baking Industry Supply Chain

Because bakers have always intuitively understood not only the importance of lasting relationships but also the incredible multiplying effect of a little bit of yeast properly mixed into dough, today they lead a powerful, durable, and far-reaching coalition of companies with (sometimes surprising and unexpected) shared interests.

The baking industry supply chain includes farmers, growers, and producers of grains, flour, sugar, and spices; artificial and natural flavors and ingredients; fruits and nuts and butter and milk and eggs and salt. And that is only ...