General Mills Bakeries & Foodservice, Minneapolis, introduced new modules through its Pillsbury Bakery Institute (PBI) that are geared towards supermarket in-store bakery concerns. The company established PBI several years ago to share General Mills’ bakery expertise and enable retail bakeries to improve their business. PBI recently expanded its scope to provide educational resources designed for in-store bakeries. In-store learning modules cover topics such as increasing bakery profitability, merchandising, promotions, food safety and employee retention.

PBI materials are delivered through live, interactive classes that provide bakery managers, category managers and bakery employees the opportunity to learn about relevant issues that can help improve the success of their in-store bakery operation. Classes are taught by General Mills bakery experts who can relate to many of the unique challenges facing in-store bakeries today.

“As a collaborative business partner to the in-store bakery, General Mills shares its rich history of baking, world-class marketing tools and resources to help in-store bakers get smarter about running their operation,” stated Tara Johnson, associate channel manager, General Mills Bakeries & Foodservice, in a company release. “Through the Pillsbury Bakery Institute, we’re providing in-store bakers the tools and insights they need to make their in-store bakery a shopping destination.”

Classes are tailored to focus on the various concerns and issues that in-store bakeries continually address. The curriculum is based on the combination of General Mills’ industry research and expertise with business knowledge and practical applications.

Through the Increasing Bakery Profitability module, operators are given an overview of the baking industry, explore challenges faced by in-store bakeries, and discuss ideas that can lead to increased profitability. The Merchandising and Promotions module covers marketing strategy fundamentals, merchandising and branding tools, and discusses promotion ideas that will work in their bakery.

The Employee On-boarding and Development module addresses challenges with recruiting and training new employees as well as ways to motivate and develop existing ones. Improving Back of the House Food Safety details the risks of improper food handling and reviews food safety concerns that all bakeries should be aware of. Ideas and resources for developing good practices are presented.