Companies may launch more equipment baking frozen inputs raw materials, writes Manoj John

The bakery machinery industry is experimenting with the widest possible things nowadays. The new kid on the block is a line for frozen foods. Oven for frozen food? Not really. It is a machinery to make bakery products from frozen raw materials.

There has been a sprout in the market for frozen dough, making companies to launch bespoke equipment. Apple Bakery Machinery recently introduced a line of equipment for making products from frozen dough. The equipment has a totally different temperature control mechanism designed for turning frozen raw materials into baked products.

The company has also launched a new bun production line with a multi-head five-pocket divider, which can churn out 12000 pieces per hour. Merwans, a chain of bakeries based out of suburban Mumbai, recently installed a bun line. The machine does water spray, sesame spray and auto tray-loading, resulting in considerable reduction in labour cost. “This equipment can eliminate at least 5 labourers from the process,” says Jaydeo Chokhawala, managing director, Apple Bakery Machinery, adding that the machine is also energy-efficient.

Saving energy is a catch phrase all around the world. Economies are laying unprecedented thrust on energysaving measures. A new line from Macadams International, launched by Apple Bakery in India, will result in 25 per cent saving in energy consumption. It has a buzzer for alerting chefs when the temperature level is optimum. The machine goes into sleep mode if left unattended for a certain timeperiod, a great add-on in Indian conditions where workers are a bit untidy. These features also help prevent heat loss.

Apple Bakery is also penetrating big time into the bakery café segment. With the advent of European bakery products into the Indian market, bakery cafes have mushroomed. Mid-size manufacturers such as Apple Bakery are cashing in on this trend. Its machineries for pizzas, muffins, cookies andcroissants are finding their way to the bakery cafes as well as the live in-store bakeries atshopping malls such as Pantaloon, Shoprite, Star Bazar and Aditya Birla Retail.

On the other end, Apple maintains its firm foot in the industrial bakery segment with big brands such as Monginis, Cremica and Daily Breads in its customer portfolio.