Visitors and exhibitors at Bakery Business 2013 are clamouring for more space and time to relish the country’s only trade show for the bakery and pastry industry. A report by Manoj Kumar

The national character of India’s only trade show for the bakery and pastry industry is becoming more and more pronounced with every passing year. Bakery professionals from far-flung towns were a distinctive feature of this year’s Bakery Business exhibition, which took place at Mumbai’s World Trade Centre from November 20-22.

The country’s bakery industry has been witnessing drastic changes in the past few years. From being a motley array of unorganised players a few years ago, the industry now has a number of multinational companies from various segments. Large ingredients manufacturers and equipment makers are bringing the latest products from around the world to India. Bakery Business 2013 accurately mirrored the latest trends in the industry, and reflected how the industry is evolving in the country.

The only grievance of the visitors and exhibitors alike was that three days are too short for an exhibition that is unwinding on such a large canvass. “You should extend the exhibition by one or two days more. It is a focussed trade show. The quality of visitors was good. We received a large number of enquiries from would-be entrepreneurs, mostly home bakers, who want to set up their own bakery,”
said Parimal Doshi, Director, Asian Marketing Services, a distributor which has brought a number of reputed foreign equipment brands to the Indian customers.

Exhibitors leveraged on Bakery Business 2013 in the most effective way because only those linked with the bakery industry visit the show. “The best part is that only those connected with the bakery industry visit the exhibition. We received very good response from the exhibition. There were more visitors this time when compared to last year,” said Pritul Jain,Managing Director, Pritul Machineries.

The industry also wants the exhibition to shift to a larger venue next year. “You must move to a larger place. The crowd this time was larger than last year’s,” said Maloy Chakravorthy, Head-Distributed Access, Cargill India.

Cargill is one of the many food ingredients manufacturers that look up to the Bakery Business trade show to reach their target clientele. AB Mauri India Pvt Ltd, Puratos Food Ingredients India Pvt Ltd and KitchenAid are some other worldwide giants that have reposed confidence in the annual exhibition that has entered into its ninth year. “We are quite happy about the outcome,” added Chakravorthy. Participating companies could also connect with new customers at the exhibition. “We could obtain new orders from the visiting customers.

The exhibition was quite rewarding,” said Raghuram, managing director at leading equipment maker CS Aerotherm. That the exhibition facilitated communication between bakers and vendors was evident from the reactions of the participants. “We were able to meet new customers. We could showcase our products very well. We have really come to know the seriousness of the customers who visited the exhibition. Overall, it was a very good experience,” said Vijay Rathi, Director, Dlecta Foods Pvt Ltd. He also echoed the general sentiments that the exhibition must move to a larger location in the years to come. “Yes, you must grow to a spacious location,” concurred Ajay Bhatia, NSM, Shineroad Food India Pvt Ltd, which is one of the many foreign bakery ingredients manufacturers which have set up factories in India.

“For KitchenAid, the exhibition was an ideal venue to showcase its iconic Stand Mixer and other world renowned products. Further, one-on-one conversations with consumers allowed us to understand what they like about KitchenAid and their expectations from us,” said Priyanka Goyal, Marketing & Operations Manager- Asia Pacific, KitchenAid.

“It was a great platform to get home bakers, professionals and manufacturers of kitchen products under one roof. Participation from across the country demonstrates that baking is clearly evolving in India,” she added. The seminars and workshops held alongside the exhibition were a record sell-off.

“The work shops were immensely beneficial for us. It added to our knowledge. I am looking forward to participating next year also,” said Karen Dilip, who took part in a live demonstration on Global Trends in Baking. The demonstration was conducted by Sudhakar Gupta, global bakery ingredients director, Pristine, Iffco, whose mixes and improvers are known for finesse.

“All the workshops were useful. We don’t very often get to attend such workshops in other parts of the country,” said Nalini Garg from Delhi. Bakery Business also conducted some very specialised workshops this year.

“Artisanal Baking: A Gourmet Vision” threw light into a venerable  area of the global bakery industry. In many parts of the world, especially Europe, there are artisan bakeries that have passed through several generations of owning family. In India, on the other hand, artisan baking is at present mostly confined to the luxury hotels.

The live demonstration of artisan baking conducted by Fabien Berteau, executive pastry chef, Park Hyatt Chennai, was a veritable experience. “Though we have heard and read much about artisan baking, the demonstration helped us understand its complexities. It was really useful,” said Himanshu Patel. There could not have been anyone more suitable than Chef Berteau, who hails from France, the land of artisan baking, and have worked with Michelin star chefs, for conducting this demonstration.

The workshop on artisan Sourdough bread, Martin Fernandes, corporate chef-technical/operations, Euro Foods Pvt Ltd, also captivated the participants. “We rarely get a chance to sit through sessions such as how to make Sourdough bread. It was wonderful,” said Nalini Garg.The session covered all aspects, ranging from advanced dough making to fermenting, scaling and garnishing. The participants could also relish the bread at the final tasting session.

Another star attraction of the exhibition was the seminar on “How To Scale Up Your Bakery Operations.” This was a value addition to the previous year’s seminar on “How To Set Up Your Own Bakery.”

Chef Nilesh Karkhanis spoke on the pitfalls lying ahead while trying to scale up one’s bakery operations. He called upon the participants to go for financial assessment before taking every step.

No mention of Bakery Business is complete without India Bakery and Pastry Challenge (IBPC) and Professional Home Bakers Competition (PHBC), which have become the soul of the trade show. The session on “Working With Chocolate To Produce Pralines,” which was open exclusively to PHBC competitors, was informative for those professional who are already familiar with the rudiments of working with chocolate and wanted to hone their skills further. Anil Rohira, world renowned pastry chef & currently export corporate pastry chef, Felchlin, Switzerland, steered the session. “The session was really useful. We can really implement what we learnt here in our business,” said a couple of medical practitioners, who have now set up a chocolate shop.

Visitors, participants at seminars and exhibitors are all looking to broadening their perspective by attending the trade show. For exhibitors, this is the place to connect with the customers and understand them better. “The quality of the visitors is good. I could see a lot of visitors from Northern and Southern India too. We received a lot of enquiries, especially for small-sized equipment,” said Doshi.

“The exhibition is not just for ingredient and equipment makers. It is also an ideal platform for allied industries like packaging. It was a good experience. We will participate next year also,” said Sachin Kadam, Director, Shree Ancillary Industries, which supplies packaging materials to bakeries. This is one intention all exhibitors expressed alike—that they are looking forward to participating at Bakery Business 2014.