Representatives from Europe’s largest industrial bakeries and bakery ingredient suppliers visited the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK, on June 1–3 to attend this year’s executive summit on Future trends and sustainability.
Hosted by European Baker magazine in conjunction with Novozymes, the event built on the success and momentum of 2009’s summit held in Greenland. This year’s focus moved to the retailers’ perspective on sustainability and what drives consumer preference during the “moment of truth” – that second where a strong brand can capture the consumer’s attention.
The industry has its say The event opened with Nicolas Thorpe, Area Sales Manager for European Baker, sharing the results from this year’s industry survey sponsored by Novozymes – one of the largest ever undertaken in the industrial baking sector with over 800 key industry representatives approached. The ability to innovate, consistent product quality, and the need for increased focus and requirements on food safety were identified as the top three challenges facing bakers in the future.
“When it comes to innovation, new product development is seen as being most influential in improving bakers’ relationship and negotiating power with retailers,” Nick Thorpe said. “The importance of effective interaction with retail was highlighted throughout the survey – also when it comes to sustainability, where joint targets and optimized logistics were identified as the best ways to reduce bread waste in the supply chain.”
Premium presenters
The summit was a carefully balanced blend of inspiring presentations and energetic roundtable discussions. The presentations were kicked off by a spirited introduction to management trends and emotional values by Dr. Jonas Ridderstråle, one of the world’s most prominent and respected business thinkers and speakers.
The agenda turned to 2010’s consumer trends when Jonathan Banks, former Business Insight Director at Nielsen, a global leader in measurement and information on what consumers watch and buy, took the stage. “During difficult times, consumers still need to buy food,” Jonathan Banks said. “Private labels only grow in the categories where brand builders fail.
Jonathan Banks also focused on consumer interaction with both retailers and manufacturers – how they need “choice editing” by both on their behalf, and how they expect the implementation of programs that contribute to improving
the environment and society.
Sustainability – A safe stake
The theme switched to retail with Paul Kelly, External Affairs and Social Responsibility Director at Asda, a British supermarket chain. Focusing on sustainability from a retail perspective, Paul Kelly stressed that access to healthy, sustainable food at affordable prices is a fundamental human right and that Wal-Mart/Asda’s belief is that their size equals their responsibility.
“Sustainability is a win-win situation,” Paul Kelly said. “It makes great business sense to manage rising costs and also ensures the viability of supply.”
Claus Stig Pedersen, Head of Sustainability at Novozymes, discussed how sustainability can be a true business strategy, and highlighted the benefits of a connection between your brand and doing something good for society. It’s time to step up and integrate sustainability into your business strategies and daily operations,” Claus Stig
Pedersen said. “You have to know your product life cycle impacts, your influence, and your stakeholders, and you need to remember that it’s your people that truly make the difference.”
Brian Stevenson, former Senior Vice President of IBC, 
now known as Hostess Brands, the world’s largest bakery group, showed the tangible benefits being sustainable can bring with his fascinating case study on IBC’s move to Extended Shelf Life (ESL) with Novozymes Novamyl®. Their effort to save money through reducing stale returns and ingredient usage ultimately aided sustainability and improved product quality. “Although ESL was introduced as a smart business move, it aided sustainability through creating more with less, using fewer resources to satisfy consumer demand, and encouraging innovation within the value chain,” Brian Stevenson said.
Eric Schubert, President of FEDIMA, the EU Federation of Bakery Ingredients Manufacturers, continued to highlight the importance of sustainability from a supplier’s perspective. FEDIMA is an authoritative voice on labeling and food additives in the industry. The Federation facilitates the development of high-quality products by all members by ensuring access to information and quality solutions for every baked product type. “Sustainability is of high importance for the future of the baking industry,” Eric Schubert said. “It is high on the agenda of all FEDIMA members and something that should be continuously promoted.”
Sharing opinions
Both busy days concluded with stimulating roundtable debates. The first day closed with a discussion on how to impact consumer buying behavior. The delegates from the industrial bakeries and bakery ingredient suppliers independently considered what drives brand loyalty, how to increase product sales, and effective ways to take advantage of “the moment of truth.” The roundtable ending day two continued with the theme of sustainability. The debate focused on the baking industry’s key sustainability drivers, concentrating on the opportunities open to them throughout the value chain and how to take advantage of them.
Happy people
“The summit brought together industry leaders from all across Europe, providing a unique opportunity to discuss trends, challenges, and solutions,” says Miguel Torroja Ribera, Industry Sales Manager at Novozymes. “Having representatives and speakers from all the elements in the baking value chain, from ingredient manufacturers to retailers, ensured a broad perspective and facilitated fruitful discussions.”
The benefits of hosting such a summit were also applauded by enthusiastic attendees. “It was very nice because we had a lot of opportunities to meet with people working in the baking industry,” says Eric Schubert. “We could share information and share our interpretation of what we discovered here.”
His opinion is echoed by Tommaso De Marco, Commercial Director at East Balt bakery group: “I will come to this event next year as I appreciate very much the possibility to exchange information and to learn from the experiences of the others.”
Pål Ladsten, Regional Marketing Manager for Cereal Food at Novozymes, sums up the entire event by saying, “It’s been exciting and rewarding to organize this industry event gathering key players from across the value chain to discuss topics of high importance for the industry’s future. None of the participants can be in doubt of Novozymes’ long-term commitment and leading role in the baking industry.”