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.

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.

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

Demand for chocolate in snack and bakery items is driven by two core consumers: Luxury seekers; and healthy snack eaters who both share a common desire for great-tasting chocolate produced in a sustainable fashion. 

What entices each bite of a mini salted-maple, toasted-almond Cronut—as I recently relished at Donut Savant in Oakland, CA..

Snack producers and bakers have expanded their explorations into sweet-savory profiles, with sweet-salty, sweet-spicy and sweet-herbal all gaining favor.

Reliability, flexibility, consistent product quality, easy sanitation and high-volume output are just some of the things bakers and snack producers want from a new oven or fryer. 

Better-for-you ingredients and innovative flavors continue to keep potato chips at the top of consumers’ list of favorite snacks, while the classics still resonate.

As consumer demand for more and diverse baked goods and snacks heats up, today’s ovens and fryers let bakers and snack producers increase production while reducing related costs.

In the wake of strong demand for Donkey Chips, the company needed new equipment to significantly increase production of its line of tortilla chips. Here's how they did it.

Heat and Control’s new patented Unitized Vacuum Fryer (UVF) processes 1,100 pounds of finished potato chips per hour and accommodates a variety of support and auxiliary equipment.

New fryers and oils enable bakers and snack producers to create more and better-for-you versions of the fried dough products and snacks consumers can’t live without.

When it comes to sweet goods like doughnuts, Danishes, sweet rolls, muffins and coffee cake, the market is in a state of flux. As Walter Postelwait, president of Pak Group LLC/Bellarise Baking Ingredients, Pasadena, CA, puts it: “The total segment appears to be growing slowly, but has hot pockets of activity.”

The chips segment has grown quite lively over the past year, with new product areas emerging and others, like apple chips, seeing considerable growth and maturation. Snack producers are also starting to grow beyond potatoes, offering sweet potato, beet and parsnip chips.

Florigo (from tna) has announced the launch of a new continuous potato chip fryer that features patented opti-flow technology for improved frying performance.

The flexibility to produce different flavors, shapes, sizes and types of products is high on the list of qualities that snack and bakery makers are seeking from manufacturers offering griddle equipment and fryers.

Combining heavy duty performance and energy savings technology, Vulcan has announced the launch of the CEF Countertop Electric Fryers, including the industry’s first ENERGY STAR certified countertop electric fryer.

Heat and Control delivers another 2-Stage French Fry fryer system out of its Hayward, USA manufacturing facility to make batter coated French fries.

Providing restaurants and food service operations with both productivity and durability, Vulcan introduces the 35-pound, ENERGY STAR certified VEG Series. It’s a value-priced fryer that truly checks all the boxes.

Quick changeovers, smaller products, sanitation needs, oil quality and temperature control are all top-of-mind for customers of griddle and fryer equipment used for key snack and bakery applications, including doughnuts and frozen breakfast products like waffles and pancakes, as well as fried snack items, like chips.

PPM Technologies has updated its Snack Frying System.

Heat and Control, Inc., an equipment manufacturer and food processing industry supplier, recently released the OilSaver Filtration System to its Oil Management System lineup.

VITO Fryfilter, Inc. recently released an intensive cleaner individually packed as tabs, for an effective cleaning of commercial deep fryers: the VITO tab.

Bakeries and snack makers in the market for ovens, proofers, fryers, and dryers have a healthy list of features and benefits in mind. These include capabilities for customization and flexibility, reliability and consistency, temperature control, faster processing times and continuous production, and automation that operators can control and monitor remotely.

VITO AG has announced the launch of a new product to fulfill the rising need for high-quality and easy to use filtration systems for deep fryers: the VITO VL oil filter system.

Other priorities include frying more than one product concurrently, handling both older and newer snack and bakery formulations.

KIND's new Savory Bars bring forth a unique mix of nuts and a smokey and spicy profile, resulting in a bold taste in every bite, per the brand.

The companies are empowering consumers to "act" and make an impact with every bar.

Each box contains eight individually wrapped bites, and they are available in Apple Cinnamon and Double Chocolate flavors.

RE:DO plant-based, high-protein bars were created with Olympian input.

The new bar includes 20 grams of protein, the flavor of key lime pie, and no added sugar.

This product not only offers a healthy snack option, but also addresses the growing concern of packaging waste in India.

Bobo’s Limited Edition Chocolate Almond Brownie Bar ($32.88) is officially available on EatBobos.com to raise awareness for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

The caffeinated bar brand was one of six finalists in the store’s 2024 Next Big Thing competition.

The performance bar brand recently won a GNC competition that landed its products on the store’s shelves across the country.

The limited-time bars incorporate ginger, allspice, and other simple ingredients, with a total of 12 g of protein in each serving.

Snack producers and bakeries can travel multiple avenues toward improved operational efficiency. Additional automation is a natural progression.

Advances in fleet management are being driven by routing and scheduling software linked to in-cab vehicle tracking equipment that streamlines the delivery process. These advances can help cut costs and better monitor delivery of products in a market where on-time delivery is crucial.

CSi Palletizing will be exhibiting its i-Pal palletizing system with integrated stretch wrapper at PACK EXPO 2016.  

Thermal management is crucial to processing, storing and delivering several types of snacks and baked goods. The latest systems cover a wide range of functions, including chilling dough, cooling product after exiting the oven, and refrigerating or freezing finished product. Specialized cold storage facilities also are part of the mix.

The human-machine interface (HMI) is essential in an operator’s daily work, as it represents how he or she can use and control the equipment, via technology. These days, using an HMI is all about fostering an easy user experience.

Automation has begun to take over the world of sorting and ingredient handling among snack and bakery products, especially in the area of continuous batching and delivery systems.

Honeywell introduced its latest technology breakthroughs and innovative solutions for manufacturers, distribution centers, logistics providers, delivery firms and retailers to help drive efficiency across their supply chain operations.

Cold-chain management—an essential aspect of many snack and bakery operations today—has entered a brave new world characterized by sophisticated temperature monitoring and tracking technology connected by the Internet of Things (IoT).

Ross SysCon Control Panels are now offered with wireless connection allowing users to access the PLC system using tablets, laptops and smartphones via Ethernet, WLAN or Bluetooth.

Bühler Aeroglide has introduced a complete moisture control system that helps customers maintain a dryer temperature profile and minimize over drying.  

Hardy Process Solutions announced a new version of the HI 6600 Modular Sensor Systems for PROFIBUS-DP control systems.

The Beckhoff Automation booth (S-6302) will be the center of automation technology (AT) and IT convergence at Pack Expo 2017 in Las Vegas.

Thiele Technologies has announced that it soon will integrate Allen-Bradley control software on SYMACH Palletizers.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program, the domestic baking industry consumes an estimated $800 million worth of purchased fuels and electricity per year, as noted in its guide, "Energy Efficiency Improvement and Cost Saving Opportunities for the Baking Industry" (Nov. 2016 update, available on www.energystar.gov).