Bakery industry suppliers continue to come up with new ways to help grocery instore bakeries differentiate themselves with innovative and labor-saving decorating products.

Some of the ISB decorating favorites made by Barry Callebaut include the company’s new micro-chips, which are made of real chocolate and are perfect for sprinkling to add flavor and texture, said Mark Seaman, culinary applications chef for Barry Callebaut.

Also a big hit: Callebaut Crispearls, crunchy biscuit centers coated in chocolate that come in milk, dark, white, and gold (caramelized white) chocolates.

“We have a range of decorations for instore bakeries like chocolate curls and shavings in a large range of colors to cover seasonal holidays, pencils and celebration pieces like hearts and balloons for everyday and celebration cakes,” Seaman said.

Barry Callebaut has recently expanded its ISB lineup, he added, to include fun, bakeable items like colorful swirled chips and caramel cups that can be added as a mix-in or used as toppings or garnishes to replace plastic decorations.

The company’s newest line includes dairy-free mini cups with a dark chocolate confectionery shell and caramel, fudge, mint and raspberry fillings — perfect, Seaman said, for customers following plant-based trends.

Cake decorating in ISBs has evolved, Seaman said.

Most ISBs today receive pre-baked cake layers for assembly at store level. These may come from a distributor or a co-manufacturer.

About half arrived fully iced, and 80% of those are iced and decorated with borders for final garnishes at store level. Some even come in completely finished and ready to sell.

“Bakery teams generally decorate the cakes based on ‘corporate approved’ designs, which sometimes includes ‘kits’ to complete the cake,” Seaman said. “Very few grocery chains give decorators full reign on cake design.”

Barry Callebaut provides options for ISBs to bring in a limited number of SKUs that can be mixed and matched across the entire bakery case.

The company also provides high-quality, sustainable chocolate decorations, many of which contain no artificial colors or flavors.

“Our in-house team of gourmet chefs partners with ISBs to develop new concepts based on industry trends that ultimately lead to higher profits for the store through increases in volume sales, reduction of shrink, or savings in labor through SOP efficiencies,” Seaman said.

Barry Callebaut’s Chocolate Academy a perfect fit for ISBs

Barry Callebaut’s Chocolate Academy is the most unique and strongest asset the company can offer its ISB and other customers, said Mark Seaman, a Barry Callebaut culinary applications chef.

Academy services are free to Barry Callebaut customers. 

“Many of our chefs, myself included, are former bakery owners,” Seaman said. “We understand the need to balance cost with visual appeal in a bakery case.”

That background, coupled with the deep knowledge of Barry Callebaut’s full product portfolio across all of the company’s brands, puts the Chocolate Academy team in a unique position to truly partner with companies, he added.

“The more transparent bakeries are with our chefs during projects, the better the final outcomes will be.”

Chocolate Academy chefs are focused on product relevance, ease of use, and the “saleability” of finished products, Seaman said.

“We may make different and/or additional product suggestions than our counterparts in sales, but always with the customer’s bottom line in mind.”

This article is an excerpt from the December 2023 issue of Supermarket Perimeter. You can read the entire Bakery Decorating feature and more in the digital edition here.