ORLANDO, FLA. —Numerous ways innovation is changing the complexion of the baking business, touching product portfolios, labor issues and technology, were shared by prominent bakers in a recent panel discussion at the annual meeting of the American Bakers Association.

Moderated by Eric Dell, president and chief executive officer of the ABA, the “Industry Landscape” panel was part of the opening session held March 23 at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in Orlando. A. Ryals McMullian, chairman and CEO of Flowers Foods, Inc., Thomasville, Ga., credited the baking industry with doing a “much better job over the last five to seven years in terms of innovation in the category.”

The importance of such innovation is heightened by challenges faced by baking and across the entire food sector, McMullian said.

“Anyone who looks at the syndicated data knows it doesn’t paint a pretty picture right now,” he said. “All of food is under pressure for a variety of reasons whether its inflation or demographic changes, GLP1’s — there are so many different things flying around from a macro standpoint. But the one thing that’s carried forward is innovation. The consumer is changing so rapidly in so many different directions. I use the phrase ‘consumer fragmentation.’ A lot of that comes from digital and social media. The consumer’s attention span is split among many, many different things. You can go and find 50 different small companies making sourdoughs and click a button and buy it. For us to keep up with that and lead and increase our value proposition to the consumer, we have to continue to differentiate and invest in innovation. Change management is everyone’s personal responsibility. At the end of the day, it isn’t necessarily the largest companies or strongest companies that are going to thrive. It’s the ones that are able to respond the best, the quickest to change.”

Consumers are looking for “new and exciting flavors,” McMullian said.

“When you look at the industry on the retail side, the biggest area of softness is really in those traditional segments,” he said. “Traditional loaves, white bread are under pressure.”

McMullian said not enough attention has been directed at economic factors contributing to pressure felt by the consumer in the current environment.

“There are potential reductions in SNAP that would hit about 40 million people,” he said. “That’s a big, big deal in our category, frankly across all food. I don’t think those trends in soft variety and white bread are going back. I think they are being driven by changing demographics, immigration, changing nutritional needs and desires, GLP-1s. We need to prepare ourselves. There is still a lot sold, but the trends are not in the right direction. Changes offer opportunities, but they only present opportunities if we evolve to them. Wishful thinking is going to get us nowhere. Wishing for the old days when everyone was making a living on white bread, I just don’t think it is going to come back. There are definitely ways we can leverage to continue to grow the industry.”

Bill Quigg, president of Richmond Baking, said the issue of GLP-1s deserve particular attention.

“While the numbers may or may not be impacting our industry now, they will be in the future,” he said. “For those of us who have been in the industry for a while and remember the Atkins craze, that was a peak and a drop off very quickly because that was by choice. With GLP-1s, you (in many cases) take them the rest of your life. That is a consistent trend. We as an industry need to figure out ways to appeal to those consumers, whether it is higher protein content. Higher fiber content. Looking at choices those consumers are making that are different.”

Generational change also has occurred in baking’s approach to its workforce, said Trina Bediako, CEO of New Horizons Baking Co., Norwalk, Ohio. She said the company has successfully introduced alternative schedules both for office and plant employees.

“You may offer hybrid schedules, one or two days at home and the rest in the office,” she said. “We provide that for our office staff also. At one of our production locations we offered 10 hour, four-day-a-week shifts. But where we’ve had the most success is three days on, 12-hour shifts, four days off. Our employees let us know they just weren’t getting the work-life balance they needed. New Horizons also has hired a chief people officer.

“It’s to be sure our culture is being taught, communicated, shared and evolving properly, through all our different locations. There is a small team of three who report to me and work with all the department heads to make sure my thinking as an owner doesn’t outpace the skillset of my team, which would negatively impact our growth.”

The challenges and potential benefits of adopting new technology in ways that benefit the bottom line were discussed by McMullian as well as Carrie Jones-Barber, CEO of Dawn Food Products, Jackson, Mich. She said adoption of Redzone, a software as a service solution, has been a great success for the company.