This year Houston plays host to the 46th annual “show of shows.”
With presidential speakers, celebrity chefs and thousands of attendees, there's a reason the International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association's (IDDBA) seminar and expo is known as the “show of shows.” This year's event, which runs June 6-8, promises to live up to its reputation, and, as befits a show known for its size, will be hosted in Houston, the largest city in Texas.
Carol Christison, IDDBA executive director, is excited about the events planned for this year's show.
“When I look at the roster of speakers, it's hard to tell who will be the biggest draws,” she says. “However, I'm betting that both President Bush and Rachael Ray will set new attendance records.”
Other speakers guaranteed an eager audience are former NFL player and coach Mike Ditka, economist and comedian Ben Stein, food humorist John Pinette and Stephen Dubner, co-author of New York Times bestseller SuperFreakonomics.
Merchandising trends
The heart of the expo will be the 10,000-sq.-ft. Show & Sell Center. Created by retailers for retailers, the model store will offer a host of fresh, innovative merchandising ideas and displays for attendees to explore. Trends that will be showcased include: the frugal shopper — how to address different consumer perceptions of value; back to basics — the demand for simple, quality products; street food — on-the-go eating; and “in the moment” — the rise of experiential eating. Bakery-related concepts include: indulgent necessities — decadent must-haves, from the sweet and simple to the over-the-top; and “dough for it” — innovative ways to display the usual breads and rolls. Attendees can sign up to receive a CD of photos documenting all the merchandising highlights.
Must-see cakes
Also worth a look is the Cake Decorating Challenge. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the event, which showcases the best in-store cake decorators in the nation. The entrants for this year's contest represented 32 supermarket chains and were whittled down from 75 to three: Tina Lofthus, Town & Country Market, Bainbridge Island, Wa.; Sara Vanderheyden, Hy-Vee Inc., Ames, Iowa; and Rebecca Woodard, Harp's Food Stores Inc., Springdale, Ark.
The challenge begins Sunday, June 6, with contestants designing enough cakes to fill a multi-tiered, 8-ft. bakery case. On Monday, the decorators will create a wedding cake, and on Tuesday they will have free rein with a “Decorator's Choice” event. The results will be announced Tuesday evening at the awards banquet. This is the second consecutive year the Ames, Iowa, Hy-Vee has produced an IDDBA Cake Decorating Challenge finalist. Anne Freeman took second place at last year's expo in Atlanta.
A full schedule of events is available on the IDDBA website, www.iddba.org.
Dairy-Deli-Bake exhibitors
(for in-store bakers)
| ACE Bakery | 4244 |
| Action Images Inc. | 3262 |
| Alessi Bakeries Inc. | 3164 |
| Almondina | 4334 |
| Alpha Baking Co. Inc. | 3537 |
| Alvarado Street Bakery | 1328 |
| Amoroso's Baking Co. | 3610 |
| Auntie Em's Bakery | 4331 |
| Bagcraft Papercon | 1833 |
| Bake'n Joy Foods Inc. | 3466 |
| Bakery Crafts | 1945 |
| Bakery de France | 1125 |
| Barry Callebaut | 3218 |
| Benson's Bakery Inc. | 2003 |
| Best Brands Corp. | 2507 |
| Bonert's Slice of Pie | 1761 |
| H.C. Brill Co. Inc. | 2233 |
| Brooks Street Bakery | 3856 |
| Bubbles Baking Co. | 1235 |
| Bunge Oils | 1104 |
| Butterfly Bakery | 1111 |
| Café Valley Bakery | 1663 |
| Caravan Ingredients | 2133 |
| Chicago Metallic | 3263 |
| Clear Lake Specialty Products Inc. | 1444 |
| Clear Lam Packaging Inc. | 3203 |
| Cloverhill Bakery | 1458 |
| Clyde's Delicious Donuts | 1706 |
| Color-a-Cookie | 1325 |
| Cookietree Bakeries | 4311 |
| Cremes Unlimited Inc. | 1927 |
| Custom Baking Products LLC | 3417 |
| Dan Cake A/S | 1963 |
| Dawn Food Products Inc. | 2845 |
| DecoPac | 2225 |
| Donut Time | 3763 |
| Enjay Converters Ltd. | 2859 |
| Festival Old World Bakeries | 4436 |
| Flavor Right Foods Group | 1751 |
| Fleischer's Bagels Inc. | 1345 |
| Fratelli Beretta USA Inc. | 1745 |
| Freed's Bakery | 3313 |
| Fruit Fillings Inc. | 2020 |
| Fullbloom Baking Co. | 4323 |
| Galaxy Desserts | 3520 |
| Gardner Pie Co. | 4933 |
| General Mills | 1645 |
| Genpak LLC | 1917 |
| Goglanian Bakeries Inc. | 3331 |
| Gonnella Frozen Products | 4045 |
| Granny's Kitchen | 3313 |
| Harlan Bakeries Inc. | 3445 |
| Harvest Time Bread Co. | 4205 |
| Heartland Baking USA | 3313 |
| Highland Baking Co. | 4118 |
| Hobart Corp. | 4333 |
| HP Cookie Co. | 2062 |
| Il Fornaio Bakeries | 1205 |
| Inline Plastics Corp. | 2108 |
| Inno-Pak LLC | 1445 |
| In2Food | 2009 |
| Jacqueline's Gourmet Cookies | 1245 |
| Jessie Lord Bakery LLC | 1304 |
| Kuddable Kakes | 3027 |
| LaBree's Bakery | 3645 |
| Labriola Baking Co. | 1136 |
| Lantmännen Unibake USA | 1960 |
| Legacy Bakehouse LLC | 3721 |
| Lesaffre Yeast Corp. | 3764 |
| Lilly's Homestyle Bake Shop | 4421 |
| Maplehurst Bakeries LLC | 3045 |
| Mel-O-Cream Donuts International Inc. | 1611 |
| Modern Baked Products | 1163 |
| Modern Baking | 1757 |
| Multigrains Bakeries Inc. | 1110 |
| New French Bakery | 1364 |
| Nordic Ware | 2161 |
| North American Baking | 1365 |
| Novacart USA Inc. | 3452 |
| Olesen's Family Bakery | 3631 |
| Olson Baking Co. | 1717 |
| Pactiv Corp. | 1845 |
| PastryStar | 3616 |
| Prime Pastries | 1932 |
| Quality Bakery Products | 1461 |
| Racine Danish Kringles | 3723 |
| Revent Inc. | 4345 |
| Rocky Mountain Pies | 3227 |
| Rotella's Italian Bakery Inc. | 3618 |
| Rubschlager Baking Corp. | 3423 |
| Sara Lee In-Store Bakeries | 1403 |
| Selma's Cookies Inc. | 3567 |
| Silver Lake Cookie Co. Inc. | 1325 |
| James Skinner Baking Co. | 1629 |
| Specialty Bakers Inc. | 4416 |
| The Stonemill Bakehouse Ltd. | 3360 |
| Stratas Foods | 3367 |
| Table Talk Pies Inc. | 4430 |
| Toufayan Bakeries | 1237 |
| Traditional Baking | 4129 |
| Udi's Gluten-Free Foods | 1248 |
| Unifiller Systems | 3332 |
| Vie de France Yamazaki Inc. | 3113 |
| Vieira's Bakery Inc. | 3127 |
| Western Bagel Baking Corp. | 1212 |
| Whole Harvest Foods | 2961 |
| Wick's Pies Inc. | 2162 |
