Baked Goodness

In line with current demand, baking ingredients and even mixes are cleaner than ever.

- Bridget Goldschmidt

Baking, as retailers know well, encompasses a broad spectrum of skill levels, from utter beginner all the way up to those capable of producing restaurant-quality breads,cakes, pastries and the like.

During Progressive Grocer’s visit to the Food City store in Johnson City, Tenn., our September 2016 Store of the Month, Dan Glei, EVP of merchandising and marketing at the Abingdon, Va.-based grocer, pointed out this fact during a brief stop in the baking aisle: “We have a strong [number] of customers that seek a high level of convenience, and many customers, still, that are very, very basic, scratch-made cookers at their house.”

Given this wide divergence in ability among home bakers, the trending demand for clean ingredients can be more easily met by some products than others. For scratch bakers who control every item they include in their creations, it’s a relatively straightforward process — depending on market availability, of course — to source organic, all-natural, non-GMO or free-from ingredients, but for consumers dependent on mixes for their bake-at-home treats, it’s been somewhat more tricky — until now.

Suzy Monford, CEO of Emeryville, Calif.-based Andronico’s Community Markets, which operates five stores in the Bay Area, acknowledges that while baking products were slower to follow the trend toward cleaner cooking ingredients that began more than a decade ago with the elimination of trans fats, the category is seeing what she calls a “massive emphasis” on lower-sugar and lower-sodium solutions, as well as such innovations as gluten-free, ancient grains and even cricket flours.

Andronico’s flags these types of ingredients in the baking aisle with its FitMarket attribute, creates eye-catching end cap displays, and offers clean options in its bulk sections, as well as promoting items online via its e-newsletter and website.