Dispatches from IBA 2012
Scratch bakery trend targeted by Mono with European bread plant launch
The bakery equipment specialist has launched its Fusion Bread Plant across Europe, following success in the UK market and presence in the US. The firm showcased the plant at IBA 2012.
Roy Kitley, senior international sales and marketing manager for Mono Equipment, said the bread plant is ideally designed to cash in on a shift towards baking from scratch.
“From our experience in the UK, we see a lot of retailers with in-store bakeries moving into scratch bakery,” Kitley told BakeryandSnacks.com at the tradeshow.
“It is consumers that are driving this shift away from bake-off to scratch bakery because they want fresh goods baked in store,” he said.
“The Fusion bread plant fits into this trend as it mechanises the bread production. So those who were operating on bake-off before or on individual machines can switch to this,” he added.
The stainless steel also ensures easy hygiene maintenance, he added.
“It is simple to operate and requires little training and you can cut labour costs as it requires one person to manually work it,” he said.
The bread plant can produce up to 960 pieces per hour and has a product weight range of between 250g-1000g.
European scratch bakery trend?
Scratch bakery is a soaring trend in the UK, especially among in-store bakeries, Kitley said, but the venture into Europe is less certain.
“The launch marks our first step in trying to see if there is a market in wider Europe,” he said.
He noted that in France for example, Boulangeries remain the popular choice for freshly baked bread as opposed to retailers, and so trends across Europe may be different.
Our target will be small bakery firm’s looking to mechanise production and in-store bakeries shifting away from bake-off.
“Now is the right time to push into Europe,” he said.
