BROUGHT TO YOU BY MODERN BAKING

Other categories, such as ice cream, beverages, alcohol and wine, also offer insight to current trends. Identify fruit, vegetable and flavor combinations from other industries that can work in your bakery. The popular raspberry mojito drink, for example, combines raspberry, lime and mint — all ingredients that can apply to a range of bakery products.

Make friends with a chef:
Most chefs keep up on local food trends as well, so check out their menus and ask for their culinary perspective. Supermarkets have taken strides to become customers' expert food advisors by offering cooking classes, informative websites and celebrity chef demonstrations. Retail bakeries can do this too, Pasciuto says.

"Why not invite a local chef to put on a demonstration in your bakery?" Pasciuto suggests. Joining forces with a chef can benefit both restaurant and bakery through idea sharing and publicity opportunities.

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Have questions related to baking insights? Ask Chris Pasciuto, Corporate Chef, CSM Bakery Products.

Q: What trends do you see in restaurants that bakeries might apply to their own businesses? Smaller portions have definitely taken over. P.F. Chang's and other restaurants offer a selection of mini desserts... Continued

Q: How can retail bakeries make their businesses a greater destination for customers? Think outside the box in designing your product line. Forty eight percent of consumers plan... Continued

Q: In your experience, what have you seen as the biggest impediments to sales in retail bakeries? Inconvenient service and messy retail areas. People don't have time to stand in line and wait for a number... Continued

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Think outside the bakery box
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