After the dark days of low-carb diets, baked goods are back. From donuts and cupcakes and other “old-fashioned” favorites to Asian, Latin and German breads and sweet specialties, Americans have rediscovered and renewed their love of all things wheat. But maybe, thanks to low-carb and an equally revived interest in health, baked doesn’t have to mean bad for you - whole grain, functional ingredients, wheat alternatives are all emerging as the food industry strives to add a touch of wellness to cakes, cookies, pastries, breads and other baked items.

Looking at Bakeries and Baked Goods, the September issue of the Culinary Trend Mapping Report, examines the ingredients, cooking styles and ethnic influences that the Center for Culinary Development (CCD) has identified as about to hit, or have established themselves, in the U.S. We delve into the trends relating to health/wellness, international baking and “retro gourmet”, and critically assess how food marketers can take advantage of these hot trends - without getting burned.

Key Strategies

• Where these baked goods, styles and influences are appearing along the trend map
• Actual menu items that include these baked goods and trends
• Where these products/ingredients are appearing on the foodservice side of the business - from white tablecloths to the top chains
• Activity in the packaged foods/retail side of the business
• New product introductions featuring emerging baked goods formulations and varieties
• CCD translation tips - how to turn these trends into actionable menu, product and retail developments
• Future impact of bakery and baking trends on the industry

Market Assessment: Consumers, Professionals, Business
Strategic Implications:What are, in CCD’s words, the “strategic levers” food marketers, foodservice operators and food retailers should pull to identify opportunities for new product development in bakeries and baked goods? Kimberly Egan, CCD’s managing partner, invites us to consider how the food industry can apply consumer drivers to baked goods products in four areas: wellness, ethnic flavor, healthy indulgence and comfort. She also explores, through a series of charts, how to cross two trends to create a more powerful whole (think Japanese-influenced cream puffs).

Professional Perspective: We hear from one of the leading pastry chefs in the country, Elizabeth Falkner, whose Citizen Cake bakery is legendary in the San Francisco Bay Area, discusses how she takes classic desserts and remodels them for today (think of a carrot cake, deconstructed to a salad). She also takes on the trends toward sustainability and better-for-you foods, and offers insight into how even the most indulgent baked goods can be reformulated with an eye toward health (whole wheat flour in a Devil’s Food Cake).

Industry Insights: Joan Lang is another industry veteran who has made her reputation working for and writing about food for a diverse library of publications, ranging from the Zagat Guide to Restaurant Business to Foodservice Director. She’s also been a managing editor for the Culinary Institute of America and has been a consultant to many of the top food marketing companies in the country.

Joan sees opportunities for baked goods manufacturers and restaurant operators to take advantage of current baking trends, but also points out considerations to make, like thinking about supply issues and food allergies.

With extensive profiles of each ingredient/food emerging within the five stages of the trend map, this wellness issue of the Culinary Trend Mapping Report provides you with the most up-to-date, insider’s look at what’s hot and what’s not in the world of food. Top food marketers rely on trend mapping to keep them on the pulse of what’s happening and what’s about to happen as far as consumer tastes are concerned.

• • • The Culinary Trend Mapping Report is an indispensable tool for those whose job it is to stay abreast of what's hot - or what will be - in the food world!

Using the Center for Culinary Development’s (CCD) signature Trend Mapping technique, a validated method identifying which culinary trends are “gaining traction” and which are simply flashes in the pan, each report concentrates on a theme, or trend, that is affecting the food industry, and then looks at the emerging and established ingredients, cooking styles and products along the Trend Map that are driving this theme.

Each report is a 75+ page journal packed with trends, data, strategies and insights on the food industry that simply aren't available anywhere else.

Each Issue of the Culinary Trends Mapping Report

• Identifies the maturity level of foods and ingredients according to CCD’s unique, proprietary 5-stage trend mapping process.
• Concentrates on a theme that is affecting the food industry, and then looks at the emerging and established trends along the Trend Map that affect—or are affected by—this theme.

• Delves into these trends and what they mean for you and the manufacturing, retailing, and foodservice industries.
• Gives strategic insight into how consumers are thinking of and reacting to new foods and ingredients.
• Provides business know-how regarding opportunities, challenges, and ways to implement current trends into foodservice, retail, and packaged goods operations.
• Presents a feature interview with a member chef from CCD’s exclusive 80+ member Chefs’ Council® that offers expert analysis and his or her perspective on a specific trend.

Additional features include:

• Menu Tracking: Menu mentions of our featured Trend Map items. Within the trend profiles, we will offer a summary of how often the trend has appeared on menus in restaurants ranging from 75 white tablecloth restaurants to the top 200 chains.

• Trend Dishes: Actual descriptions of all dishes for top restaurant chains for each of the trends appear in the report Appendices to provide a comprehensive overview of how the trends are being served.

• Industry Veterans Speak: Points of view from an industry perspective on what each trend means—whether positive or negative—to the food industry at large, including consumers, professionals and businesses.

Trend Mapping
Trend Mapping is guided by the premise that major food trends pass through five distinct stages on their way to the mainstream:

• Stage 1: The ingredient, dish and/or cooking technique appears at upscale dining establishments, ethnic and popular independent restaurants.
• Stage 2: The item is featured in specialty consumer-oriented food magazines, such as Gourmet and Bon Appetit plus retail stores such as Sur La Table that target culinary professionals and serious home cooks.
• Stage 3: The item begins to appear in mainstream chain restaurants -- Applebee's or Chili's -- as well as retail stores such as Williams-Sonoma that target recreational cooks.
• Stage 4: Publications such as Family Circle and Better Homes and Gardens pick up the buzz.
• Stage 5: Finally, the trend makes its way to quick service restaurant menus and is either starting to appear or is having increased presence on grocery store shelves.

Availability
Published bimonthly, the Culinary Trend Mapping Report is available for purchase as a single issue or a six-issue subscription.

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Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts in the U.S.: Markets and Opportunities in Retail and Foodservice, 6th Edition
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Functional, Fortified and Inherently Healthy Foods and Beverages in the U.S., 4th Edition
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