A new espresso machine from La Spaziale is available through Café du Monde.

Braby has launched a new silo cleaning, maintenance and inspection service.

Hoshizaki has launched a new chemical-free cleaning system, which takes ordinary tap water and transforms it into Alkaline 'E' Water and Acidic 'E' Water.

== Food-to-go opportunity knocks ==

Unifine Food & Bake Ingredients has launched a range of take-away puddings in pots for 2009. The collection of recipes is available in a free full-colour 28-page brochure, which comes with serving suggestions, as well as illustrations of each of the finished puddings.

Bakery is more recession-resistant than other food, because consumers are unwilling to trade down, according to Irish food board Bord Bía.

The recent snow caused problems for bakers up and down the country, as shops were forced to close. Yet some say they benefited from extra trade.

Some enthusiastic advocates of bread-wrapping have suggested that if bread could be wrapped in an "oxygenless" atmosphere, it would be possible to keep wrapped bread indefinitely from going mouldy. The simplest and cheapest gas seems to be carbon-dioxide, and it is proposed that the bread-wrapping machine should be surrounded by an atmosphere of that gas. I have taken the trouble to look up the properties of carbon-dioxide gas and I learn that it is poisonous to breath. This seems to me to open an alarming vista of possibilities. Does it mean that, in the future, bakers will have to wear gas masks while engaged in the wrapping of bread? If it is poisonous to breathe, it looks as if we are going to add further to our trade's already overflowing cup of worries.

Stop the Week has yet to tire of the mileage that bakery retailers have been getting out of Barack Obama's election. So it is with some trepidation that we bring you this latest yin and yang instalment, which could provide the full-stop to the Obama-themed bakery saga. Call it a 'best practice guide' to event marketing, if you will, coupled with an 'crashingly awful, potentially criminal practice guide'.

Purchasing an oven is not a straightforward process. It's rather like buying a house, or a car - you need to have a look at quite a few, always want to buy ones that are more expensive than you can afford and, once you've made your purchase, you hope you won't need to do it again for a long time.

In the blink of an eye Christmas is gone, it's the New Year and the time of resolutions - eat less, drink less, and yes, now spend less. At some point between Christmas and the New Year the left-over mince pies do their disappearing acts to make way for the definitive mountains of hot cross buns. In Britain we're a bit thin on the ground as far as the choice of Easter baked goods are concerned, which surely must be a little commercially short-sighted. Why is there less innovation in breads and cakes at Easter than at Christmas?

Sveba-Dahlen ovens and provers

l Sveba-Dahlen makes rack ovens, deck ovens, pizza ovens, tunnel ovens and provers of all sizes

Think of Swedish food and pickled herring and meatballs are bound to come to mind. The good news for Swedish bakers is that both these national delicacies are usually served with bread. Visit a Swedish restaurant and the table will likely feature a basket of various types of bread - from traditional rye to Continental specialities such as French sticks and Italian ciabattas.

History: First opened in 1936 by Chris' father, before Chris joined in 1968. Chris' son Douglas is also a baker, working at The Cavan Bakery in Hampton, Middlesex

l It pays to have several suppliers, so you can negotiate better deals. We buy our flour from ADM, Heygates and Marriages - it keeps them on their toes

Chris Beaney must be one of the few people left in the country with a good word to say about the banks. The owner of Beaney's Bakery in Strood, Kent, who is also currently President of the National Association of Master Bakers (NAMB), recently secured generous financial backing from his local Barclays to take over a shop and bakery in the nearby town of Snodland in West Malling. "My bank manager has been really supportive. I was surprised how keen he was to help out when I went to see him about buying the bakery," says Beaney.

"When you win something, my first feeling is for the staff, as it's fantastic for them, but my second is for the two companies that didn't win. Everyone did a fantastic job and we were very proud to be nominated, and to be recognised for doing a good job. However, it's all very well saying that we're the best, but now we've got to carry on being the best - I use it as a bit of a motivating tool."

"It was the first time I had been to an awards night, but I felt very much at ease all evening, and I really did enjoy it. It was nice to meet people, because the baking industry is an incredible trade - you can still go to bed at night excited about what you're going to do the next day. One thought I had at the awards, when I looked around the room at everyone there, was: 'Blimey, I hope I can be as good as all of them'."

Cornish baker WC Rowe had never competed for a Baking Industry Award before, but a mixture of curiosity, pride and belief spurred them on and 2008 saw the company triumph in the Bakery Supplier of the Year category. Distributing branded and own-brand to all the major multiples - Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Somerfield, as well as Supplier of the Year award sponsor Sainsbury's - the firm has a story to tell and one it wants people to hear.

Forget websites and email, the latest online marketing tool is social networking, through sites such as Bebo and Facebook. Essentially online communities, where people communicate through their own personal web pages, social networks offer huge potential for companies keen to raise awareness of their brands.

Tony died peacefully on Saturday 17 January 2009, following a short battle with a brain tumour, first diagnosed in August 2008.

Pineapples grow in Brazil, Paraguay, the Caribbean, Hawaii, Thailand, the Philippines and Africa. They are so-called because of their resemblance to pine cones.

John Foster is MD of Fosters Bakery in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, which supplies fresh and frozen products to major retailers, airlines and caterers

Victor Manufacturing has added a bain-marie model to its Deli Topper range of display units. The new unit is available with a dry-heat well, which can take Gastronorm containers or tiled/glass inserts.

A new multihead combination weigher, the MBP C1, is available from PFM Packaging Machinery.

A new automatic bread baking system has been launched by Bakefresh, under licence from bakery equipment firm Tom Chandley. The oven claims to reduce day-to-day waste and is available in five self-service models.

Ishida Europe has developed a new data capture system for checkweighers in order to help production reporting procedures. The Ishida Data Capture System (IDCS) records data from packs weighed by up to 100 checkweighers and stores it on a secure database. It offers a range of reporting options, as well as identifying cost-saving opportunities, minimising product give-away and improving production efficiencies.

Martin Clayton, bakery specialist at Morrisons, shares his thoughts on the supermarket's goals for 2009

Costa's head of product development, Beverley Philips, shares her hopes and thoughts for the year ahead

BakeMark has brought out a new range of Fairtrade products under the Rootz brand, in time for Fairtrade Fortnight, which runs from 23 February to 8 March.

ADM Milling is introducing a cake mix to its product range to capitalise on Valentine's Day. Love Raspberry & Passionfruit Cake Mix has been designed to produce treats such as love-heart shaped cakes, as well as muffins, cupcakes, slices and squares. Bakers only need to add water and vegetable oil to the cake mix, which is available in 12.5kg bags.

Bare, the new range by Solo Cup Europe, consists of single-use products made from alternative resources. It uses sustainable and environmentally friendly packaging options, using recycled, compostable and post-consumer materials. The range includes PLA (polylactic acid)-coated paper hot cups, rPET tumblers, compostable drinks lids, PCF (post-consumer fibre) paper hot cups and rPET deli containers. Different size cups and containers are available. Solo Cup says the Bare range will be "constantly evolving".

Devon-based Bigberry, part of Extreme Drinks, is to launch its new look smoothies, available in Pineapple & Pear, Acai & Strawberry and Raspberry & Mango varieties. They contain no artificial colourings, preservatives, stabilisers or sweeteners and are packaged in 100% recyclable 250ml bottles.

ABO Artisan Bread Organic has launched Glutinis on the market. The gluten-free sandwich bread is sold in freezer tubs of 12 or bags of nine, and can be frozen and toasted on a panini toaster. Glutinis were initially launched on ABO's on-line shop in 2008, but have now been introduced into retail outlets nationwide.

Ingredients supplier National Starch Food Innovation has launched a new speciality starch for the reduced-fat cake market. This can be used by bakery manufacturers to create cakes using up to 75% less margarine, butter or shortening.

'Wake up to Wholegrain' and set yourself up for the day with a breakfast that includes half or even all of your daily allowance of healthy whole grains.

Tesco opened its first Tesco Express outlet in October 2002 and now has 880. Not bad for six years' work.

It's not just British holiday-makers accustomed to flashing their cash on the Costa Brava that are crying into their bottles of San Miguel. The dramatic fall in the value of the pound just before Christmas, which saw it reach close to parity with the euro, is also worrying news for bakers in the UK, who are surprisingly reliant on their Continental cousins for equipment, ingredients and packaging.

Elizabeth Hyde, a solicitor at Eversheds LLP, on new health and safety legislation

The Food Standards Agency has been warning consumers not to eat certain peanut butter products from the US, due to a salmonella outbreak. There have so far been 474 reported cases across 43 different states. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a list of recalled products including various cookies and chocolate bars. The list includes Middlesex-based company Lärabar, which has recalled some of its own-brand Peanut Butter Cookie flavoured snack bars (51g) and Peanut Butter Cookie flavoured mini snack bars (21g).

The baking industry has found it harder to pass on price increases caused by soaring commodity prices compared to other sectors of the food industry, because consumers are more aware of the retail price of bakery products.

== Bakery education in the UK ==

Chocolate and cocoa manufacturer Barry Callebaut has reported continuing sales growth for the first three months of fiscal 2008/09. The firm's sales volume grew by 2% and sales revenue rose by 7.2% in local currencies. However, growth in the reporting currency - CHF (Swiss francs) - was up by only 0.7% to CHF1,429.1m (£895.6m).

South Wales-based Welsh Hills Bakery has won a deal to supply Spanish retailer El Corte Inglés with its Lovemore gluten-free biscuits, cake slices and pastries.

Bakery exporters are gearing up for a huge increase in orders from the Continent and North America, as the fall in the value of the pound makes their products more competitive compared to foreign rivals.

Vandemoortele has decided to focus on its bakery (frozen bakery products) and lipids (fats and margarines) divisions and is preparing to sell off its soya foods division, Alpro.

== ADM in German buy ==

Brighton-based bakery chain Forfars is rebranding its shops as Forfars Fresh, in an effort to highlight its fresh and local credentials.

The construction of Greggs' new £16m North West bakery headquarters has been completed. The 75,000sq ft site in Openshaw, Manchester, is expected to be fully operational by March and will house Greggs' current staff at its Clayton plant. It will lead to some additional higher-skilled jobs in the bakery and more employment in local shops.

Nantwich-based Reaseheath College has teamed up with Chester University to launch a bakery course aimed at baking industry professionals.

A state-of-the-art training bakery is due to open at Castle College in Sheffield in March as part of a new £1.2m catering facility.

Baking Industry Awards winner Jacksons The Bakers has opened a new £1.2m bakery, with a view to expanding into new areas, including supermarket supply.

== Patisserie to pay out ==

Barnsley-based Fosters Bakery has struck a deal that will see the company supply its frozen baked bread to Greece, through The Greek Coffee Company. It has also just launched four products in Asda, and two via a sandwich- maker into Boots the Chemist.

New requirements for the content of products labelled as 'gluten-free' could mean extra work for bakeries, following the announcement of new EU regulations. The new rules, which will apply to foodstuffs specifically produced for people intolerant to gluten, will have to contain less than 20 parts of gluten per million (ppm), in order to be labelled as 'gluten-free' - 10 times less than the previous limit of 200ppm.

British Baker is encouraging bakers up and down the country to capitalise on the ever-popular cupcake trend by getting involved in National Cupcake Week.

London-based manufacturer The Bagel Group has gone into administration, with around 80 jobs believed to be at risk. The company, previously known as Mr Bagels, produces bagels under the Mr Bagels brand, and filed for administration on 16 January 2009. MCR Corporate Restructuring is administrator.

Délifrance UK has reappointed Ian Dobbie as MD, as it moved to complete the purchase of the speciality bakery companies Le Pain Croustillant and Sofrapain from Premier Foods.

Building work has started on a £2m extension to Lewis Pies' factory in Swansea, which will boost production of savoury pies, pas-ties and sausage rolls.

Tony Phillips, British Baker's columnist for many years, died on Saturday, 17 January. He had been ill since September.

Anne Bruce

Newcastle-based craft baker Ian Thomson has been appointed chairman of the steering group for the proposed bakery arm of the National Skills Academy, replacing outgoing chair Dave Brooks, former MD of Finsbury Foods. Funding for the academy's pilot foundation course, due to launch in March, has also been agreed. Thomson runs a wholesale bakery and shop in Westerhope.

Starbucks has announced plans to close a further 300 under-performing stores - 200 in the US and 100 internationally. However, details have yet to be released on whether UK stores will be affected.

Starbucks is the fourth-biggest bakery retailer in the UK, behind Greggs, Subway and Costa, according to the British Baker’s Top 50 league table of bakery retailers, based on store numbers in 2008; it opened 99 stores in the UK last year.

"Other kids get their cake. I get a hard time. It's not fair to my children. How can a name be offensive?"

l Top 50 Bakery Retailers

The power of the spoken word! In the world of today, with its telephones, microphones, gramophones and talking films, the importance of good speech is increasingly impressed upon us. The selling power of the spoken word may be far above that of the written word. Masters of the art of selling are well aware of this, and do not fail to exploit the advantage. We too must learn the lesson.

As the UK gets set to relax rules on patients using mobile phones in hospital wards, bakers on the other side of the globe are doing the opposite - by banning mobiles in bakeries. The Australian reported on one, Sam Hansen, who has taken the bold step of banning mobile phones from her Sydney shop, Bakers Delight. The snapping point came after a trainee shopkeeper was hassled by a mobile-wielding customer for - perhaps unforgivably - enquiring what said shopper would like to purchase. "She yelled at him for interrupting her and then apologised to the person she was speaking to on the phone," Hansen is quoted as saying. "All he was doing was asking her how she was. We're not robots. We do have feelings."

British Baker leaves no stone unturned in its quest for bakery enlightenment, which makes it all the more edifying to discover that heavenly powers now may be choosing bakery products as their vessel.

On a cold winter's day there are few things more comforting than a hearty bowl of soup. And for a light summer lunch, a flavourful consommé or a healthy bisque can be the ideal alternative to a plain sandwich or meagre salad - not to mention as a snack at any time of the day, or to pad out smaller lunch bites with a heartier option.

What can you do that's new with a panini? Good question. Speed up the delivery, perhaps? Experiment with flavours? Or how about selling one that doesn't dislodge your fillings?

CSM's new Innovation Centre (IC) is all about... well, innovation. But what issues will the bakery supplier be looking at when it comes to long-standing products, such as cookies, brownies and doughnuts and how they can be developed? "Everybody knows there are doughnut rings and ball doughnuts, and everybody knows they can be iced, and decorated and so on, but what else can you do? What else is possible? For example, what about different shapes or different sizes?" These are the sorts of issues CSM will be looking at, explains IC and development director Kerstin Schmidt.

According to a recent survey conducted by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development and KPMG, employers who were holding off making redundancies have reconsidered their position as a result of deteriorating economic conditions.

By craft baker Christophe Blond

Oranges are at their best at this time of year and there are many varieties to choose from. For example, the bitter Seville or marmalade orange, the somewhat gruesomely named, but delicious blood orange or navel orange are just a few and they can all be used creatively in baking.

By Wayne Caddy

Well, what a year 2008 has been. Shops up and down the high street have been, and are being, shaken and shaken. If the high street were a tree, then you could say that the dead branches have broken off, the leaves have long blown away and as for the fruit and blossom... are we done pruning?

Food company Organix has launched a range of organic biscuits for children. The No Junk range is now available in Sainsbury's and Waitrose, after initially launching in September 2008 in Morrisons and through the Ocado website.

Walkers is aiming to boost the profile of its SunBites brand with a new flavour and on-pack promotion in the New Year.

"Against the background of a recession and acute financial problems, I would like to see a radical change in attitude within the banking industry towards bakers in particular. A greater understanding of the problems faced by bakers and a greater willingness to lend are needed, and I hope the many good businesses that are having problems with loans, for example, will be able to get these issues sorted out quickly.

United Biscuits (UBUK) is making several changes to its product range. The go ahead! brand is to be relaunched in 2009, with a £3m campaign aimed at capitalising on the trend for healthier snacks. UBUK will also increase the prominence of the brand's green colour scheme and plans to use the GDA labelling device on the packs.

Independently-run firm Impress Sandwiches has launched its new range in response to an increasing demand for premium quality and added-value sandwich products from catering and retail operators.

Nescafé has launched a bigger coffee offering for retailers who want to make more of their coffee sales. Go Large has been designed by Nestlé Professional to meet consumer demand for larger hot beverage sizes.

"At the moment, things haven't slowed down that much in terms of basic food sales and petrol is cheaper than it was six months ago. From a general trade point of view, we have to be careful not to talk ourselves down too much. We have to keep positive and keep doing what we know we can do well; we are in a better position than many trades.

Matthew Walker is to launch a new sponge pudding range in Tesco and Sainsbury's. The Scrummie puddings from the Northern Foods-owned business consist of five varieties, each topped with a different sauce.

Warburtons' Hot Cross Bun Loaf is to feature on the shelves of retailers once more from January. It will be available in a 400g format, made with sultanas and currants within sweet and mildly spiced glazed bread.

As we all know, the out-of-home market has grown substantially over the last 10 years and both chains and independent outlets have enjoyed a period of high consumer "affluence". But what happens when finances get tight and the first thing to be cut is discretionary spending, such as the out-of-home eating and drinking that has fuelled this growth?

Sugden, which specialises in hot plate baking equipment, has launched the Forpak 'Grouper' Stacker Model GS range, following the formation of a strategic partnership with the Forpak Division of US-based company MultiSource.

Dawson Foodservice equipment has launched a new dishwasher for 2009. The Comenda XLC has been designed for coping with the washing-up needs of medium or large catering operations. It can be used to wash plates, cutlery, glasses, cups, trays and bake-ware.

Manufacturer Dustcontrol UK is offering a range of air cleaners and vacuum cleaning systems for the bakery market, to guard against the dangers of airborne particles to bakers' health.

Last year was a tough year for high street retailers, with the shock demise of iconic high street brand Woolworths perhaps best capturing the turmoil facing traders. Bakery retailers were just recovering from runaway commodity, ingredients and utilities prices at the start of the year, when the economy went berserk as the newly-coined "credit crunch" started to play out in the UK. Property prices plunged, consumer spending predictions were thrown into the unknown and availability of institutional funding dried up.

Astraw poll of bakeries up and down the country has revealed that the meltdown on the high street witnessed by non-food retailers has not yet infected bakery retailers. While many felt twitchy throughout December, the last few days before Christmas came good, with sales often matching - or even exceeding - those of 2007.

"Salt will continue to be a major industry issue in 2009. The Federation of Bakers is very concerned that the new Food Standards Agency (FSA) targets likely to be set for 2012 will be technically impossible for the industry to achieve. The Federation is committed to an ongoing constructive dialogue with the FSA and is voicing its concerns. We hope the FSA will develop some practical proposals moving forwards.

== Pine nuts: ==

After a difficult second half of 2008, I know I'm not the only one hoping for a better year ahead. Unfortunately, it looks like the economy will be getting worse before it gets better. That means more tough times ahead for FPB members.

Canada Bread Company, the parent company of the UK's biggest bagel supplier Maple Leaf, is continuing its investigation into allegations that an employee at its UK bakery operations, Maple Leaf Bakery, may have sought to influence the pricing of a competitor, Mr Bagel.

Environmental and corporate social responsibilty (CSR) issues have plummeted down the agenda as the UK's leading food executives turn their sights on dealing with the economic downturn.

Bakers are facing a sharp increase in the price of ingredients and equipment imported from the Continent, as the slump in the value of the pound bites.

Bakery product supplier, CSM has announced an overall reduction in its workforce, with a total of 125 full-time employee redundancies.

Latest figures for bread, cakes, cookies and morning goods sold through high street bakeries paint a mixed picture of people visiting bakery shops more frequently and buying more products, but spending less.

== Greggs' sales rise ==

Bakery chain Cooplands (Doncaster) is planning to expand into wholesale for the first time, after being awarded a BRC rating. The company was recently audited against BRC issue 5 and awarded a Grade B.

Sandwich chain Subway is to launch a value menu in March, targeted at credit crunch- conscious consumers.

== It's breakfast time ==

South Wales-based La Crème Patisserie & Catering Co plans to expand its retail and wholesale operations, having completed the purchase of a new factory unit on the Baglan Moors in Neath Port Talbot.

The sponsor of National Doughnut Week, BakeMark, is encouraging all bakers to get involved and help raise money for The Children's Trust.

The Association of Bakery Ingre-dient Manufacturers (abim) is to pledge £10,000 to support the pilot of the National Skills Academy for bakery in 2009.

== Contactless Pret ==

French flour company Moul-Bie is planning a major increase in the number of craft bakeries taking part in its Ronde des Pains marketing and merchandising scheme in the UK.

Morrisons is to expand its workforce by 5,000 in 2009, including new recruits in bakery.

From 30 January, British Baker will be publishing Bakers' Review in partnership with the National Association of Master Bakers (NAMB).

Northern Foods' bakery division has seen solid seasonal demand over Christmas, according to its interim statement for the 13 weeks ended 27 December 2008. Underlying revenue was up 1.9%, with average prices increasing by 2%. The food firm also noted a good performance for its own-label and Matthew Walker puddings.

Premier Foods has confirmed it has received an offer for its Le Pain Croustillant and Sofrapain businesses from French company Nutrixo, parent of Moul-Bie and Délifrance UK. Nutrixo is partly owned by farming co-operatives and partly by its own employees.

The Real Good Food Company's (RGFC's) two principal businesses Renshaw and Napier Brown Foods are to amalgamate. The London office of RGFC has already closed and consolidated in Liverpool alongside the renamed renshawnapier.

Greggs has topped British Baker's Top 50 Bakery Retailers' league table for the third year running, keeping closest rival Subway at bay.