You miss 100 per cent of the shots you don’t take.” This quote is attributed by many to hockey legend Wayne Gretzky (and sometimes by Wayne to his father Walter, a legend in his own right).
This phrase always makes me smile and gives me a push to try new things. You can apply it to attending an industry event or trade show. If you don’t go, you don’t know what you’re missing. Bakers are hungry for ideas to improve their business, encouragement to continue on their current path or inspire them to make a change in their strategy.
Attending a food industry trade show lets you examine new equipment, collect information, discover new ingredients and spot new trends. But it’s about more than that.
It’s about renewing years-long relationships and building new ones.
That means collecting a fresh stack of business cards or QR codes. It means stopping by a supplier’s booth to shoot the breeze and feeling appreciated. It means troubleshooting your bakery issues with the experts.
It means learning new concepts, strategies and techniques alongside people who do what you do, who chase the same goals, who share the same challenges and who share a common mindset.
That mindset is that of the entrepreneur: the artist, the scientist, the skilled technician, the business problem solver and the leader.
It also means meeting people in different spheres of baking, who face some of the same problems but come at them from a different point of view or face them on a different scale: commercial bakers, independent bakers, pastry chefs, chocolatiers, artisan and market bakers, bakery-café and restaurant franchisees, hotel and resort baking professionals and students.
Bakery Showcase is the place to do all of that and more. By more I mean learning something new, being exposed to new ideas and points of view, having your attitude changed by someone you met, feeling warmed by seeing an old friend and colleague. Making that connection you keep throughout your career and life.
You’ll read in these pages about the passing of Herb Naimer, longtime industry supporter and mentor to many. Friends and colleagues contacted us eager to talk about how Herb had helped them in their careers and touched their hearts. That’s the kind of meaningful relationship built through industry association activities such as the Canadian Pastry Chefs Guild, the Bakery Production Club of Ontario and the modern-day Baking Association of Canada.
The BAC is presenting its Bakery Showcase April 10-11 in Toronto. We highly encourage you to attend the show, spread the word to others, or support the industry as a sponsor or exhibitor. You’ll find the details on page 23 of this issue. Be sure to attend the AGM and meet-and-greet so you can put faces to the names of those working hard on your behalf.
Bakers Journal is proud to be Premier Media Sponsor of this important Baking Association of Canada event that anchors the industry. On behalf of the BAC, we wish to thank sponsors for their steadfast support: Platinum Sponsors Puratos, AB Mauri, Lallemand Baking, California Raisins and Peanut Bureau of Canada; Gold Sponsor Les Margarines Thibault; Silver Sponsors Vantage Foods and FCC (Farm Credit Canada); Bronze Sponsors Caldic and Conovey; Website Sponsors Integral HR and Packaging Machinery Concepts Ltd.
The team looks forward to meeting members of this hardworking, inspiring industry. As a relative newcomer to the baking industry and emcee of the education sessions, I look forward to meeting as many people as I possibly can in two whirlwind days.
You never know where your next good idea, business opportunity or lifelong, positive relationship will come from.
See you there!
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