Toronto Bakery Showcase welcomes more than 1,600 professional bakers

Toronto – Bakery Showcase welcomed more than 1,600 bakery owners, operators and their teams as well as college-level baking and pastry students May 5-6 at the Toronto Congress Centre.

The annual baking industry trade show and conference, presented by the Baking Association of Canada, featured more than 170 exhibiting companies presenting baking-specific ingredients, equipment, supplies and services. A total of 2,090 were in attendance, including manufacturers and suppliers.

The trade event attracted government dignitaries. The Hon. Lisa Thompson, Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, helped officially open the show with a rousing talk about the intersection of artisan baking and the emergence of automation and technology as a key trend in the baking industry and a focus for her provincial department.

The Hon. Rechie Valdez, Canada’s Minister of Small Business, toured the show with BAC Executive Director Martin Barnett for a tour of the show and a discussion of pressing issues in the baking industry. Min. Valdez, a former successful baker and entrepreneur, commented, “I’m in my happy place.”

Highlights included:

A jam-packed panel on Careers in Baking, with solid and varied advice from such diverse baking professionals as Rosalyn Hyslop of Mrs. Dunster’s Bakery based in New Brunswick, and Chef Rodney Alleguede and Bianca Mazza, the entrepreneurs behind Gouter by RA pastry shop in Toronto, and Chef Anna Olson, prolific cookbook author and celebrity chef. The overriding theme of themes of this panel: never stop learning and reach out to those around you for mentorship.

A fascinating panel on artisan baking moderated by Karen Bornarth, executive director of the Bread Bakers Guild of America (a partner in education with the BAC) gave the floor to passionate bakers Issa Niemeijer-Brown of Gerbroeders Niemeijer in Amsterdam, Dawn Woodward of Evelyn’s Crackers in Toronto, Simon Blackwell of Blackbird Baking Co. in Toronto. All talked about putting a high value on the work that goes into a loaf of high-quality artisan bread products and touched on the products, process and people of baking from scratch and selling to a public hungry for artisan bread.

A primer from Chef Joanne Yolles on making almond and cardamom rhubarb tarts along with a detailed weighted recipe that allowed the highly engaged audience to follow along with the steps.

Photos: Bakers Journal

Bakers Journal will have extensive coverage of the show’s education sessions, demonstrations and new products introduced on the trade show floor in future print issues and on this website.