Features Business and Operations
Editor’s Letter: April 2012

We have much to celebrate and announce this month.

We have much to celebrate and announce this month. Firstly, congratulations to the fine folks at Masstown Market Bakery of Nova Scotia, winner of our first-ever Ultimate Pie contest sponsored by BakeMark. Masstown’s Atlantic Seafood Pie was a winning combination of beautiful crust and balanced flavours. We’ll be featuring Masstown in an upcoming issue of Bakers Journal. They have a very interesting east coast operation you won’t want to miss reading about.

We had more entries than we anticipated and it was a nail-biter just narrowing down the finalists. For our inaugural contest we left sweet and savoury pies in the same category, but with the great participation we had this year we would separate them in a future pie contest. However, rather than compare and contrast, our judging process looked at each pie on its individual merits of crust, filling, ingredients, commercial viability and creativity, so the points earned determined the winner. It was a tight race as Masstown faced two worthy opponents in Madeleines, Cherry Pie and Ice Cream (Toronto) and Tartine Bread and Pies (Vancouver).

As one contest comes to a close, another is launching. Our Innovator of the Year contest is back but this year it’s bigger and better than ever. We have two categories for 2012: Growing for Success and Innovator of the Year, both falling under the umbrella of the Bakers Journal Business Awards. We also welcome back our gold sponsor and Business Advisor authors Fuller Landau LLP, and new silver sponsors Puratos and Hallmark Insurance. If your bakery is a model of success, visit us online at www.bakersjournal.com and nominate yourself (or your boss).

In further news, Bakers Journal has a new assistant editor, Stefanie Wallace. Stefanie brings a passion for food to her role and looks forward to connecting with our readers online and in person.

This edition is our guide to Bakery Showcase, happening in Toronto from May 6 to 8 at the International Centre in Toronto. There are so many reasons to attend Bakery Showcase. It’s like going to a mall dedicated to your bakery’s needs, where the aisles are filled with likeminded individuals and seminars about stuff you really need to know to run your bakery. If you don’t go, you won’t know what you’re missing. One new meaningful connection can make a big difference to your career.

I had the good fortune of attending Europain in Paris in March. As you can imagine, it was an unforgettable odyssey in food. So much fun! From the intense competitions to the crazy delicious goods, it was an unforgettable show and I have great pictures and information to share! We’ll have coverage of Europain in our May edition and you can find shots from the show and Paris on our Facebook page.

There are so many ways to celebrate baking right now; how lucky we are to be able to celebrate spring too!