Overcoming Top Challenges in the Baking and Snack Industry

In today’s marketplace, it’s more important than ever for bakery and snack manufacturers to meet a wide variety of demands, from consumer preferences to operational concerns. For 85% of consumers, taste has the highest impact on their food purchase decisions.¹

At the same time, the effects of inflation are being felt throughout the supply chain, from farmers to food manufacturers to consumers at the grocery store checkout. Today, price is not only top-of-mind for businesses, but for consumers, who rate it second in terms of impact.¹

Kemin Food Technologies offers the shelf life solutions, technical expertise, and services that manufacturers need to deliver delicious bakery and snack products consumers want, at prices within their monthly food budget. 

Top 3 Market Challenges for Baking and Snack Brands

Food manufacturers face three marketplace hurdles: changing consumer shopping behaviors, profit management, and concerns about shelf life and food waste. Bakery and snack brands can tackle all three challenges with solutions that help their products stay fresher, safer, longer.

1. Consumers Feel the Squeeze and Read the Labels

It’s no surprise that consumers are inflation-weary and worried about their household budgets. In fact, inflation is the top concern for 3 out of 4 adults, with 43% saying they are trying to save more money.² These concerns add up to changes in their weekly grocery shopping habits, with an increased focus on saving money at the checkout lane.

As well as the cost of food, 57% of American consumers are concerned about wasting food³—due to its impact on their pocketbooks and the environment. In parallel, 53% of U.S. consumers say they read nutrition labels all or most of the time when choosing new food products.⁴

Kemin can help bakery and snack brands mitigate these consumer concerns by extending the shelf life of baked goods and snacks through a variety of solutions, including:

• Antioxidants to help prevent lipid oxidation that negatively impacts taste and flavor
• Mold inhibitors to inhibit mold growth and help prevent bacterial spoilage without negatively impacting sensory attributes
• Enzyme blends, dough conditioners, and batch packs to help improve textural quality and softness

At the same time, the increase in proposed bans on food ingredients such as BHA and BHT⁶ in the U.S. highlights the importance of switching to cleaner food protection ingredients. For example, FORTIUM® R rosemary extract is an equally effective alternative to the synthetic antioxidants BHA and BHT for improving the shelf life and sensory characteristics of gluten-free crackers.⁵

2. Managing Profitability: Never More Important

Profitability management is always a top priority, but in today’s economic climate, it’s even more important—and challenging—to achieve.

Bakery and snack manufacturers are facing increased costs in a variety of areas, including transportation, labor, and ingredients. The figures tell the story, from the 60% surge in diesel fuel prices YOY⁴ to the 11.8% increase in the manufacturing producer price index.⁷ Recently, the rising cost of eggs, grain, and edible oils contributed to an 18% increase in retail bakery product prices.⁸

Sourcing ingredients from Kemin can help bakery and snack manufacturers reduce labor and formulation costs by:

• Increasing production efficiency with time-saving drop-in batch pack solutions
• Extending shelf life with concentrated products, for lower cost-in-use
• Achieving faster speed to market with in-house formulation support

For example, Kemin can help tortilla manufacturers improve the rollability of corn tortillas with solutions like DoughSoft™ enzyme blends.

3. Addressing Shelf Life and Food Waste

Of course, consumers aren’t the only ones concerned about shelf life and food waste. For bakery and snack manufacturers and brands, these factors can directly affect profitability and, ultimately, brand loyalty. Increasing shelf life and reducing waste is important in the grocery store, at home, and in the manufacturing facility.

lt of a multitude of internal factors, such as degree of unsaturation and water activity, and external factors, such as processing and storage conditions. Oxidation of the lipids in bakery and snack food products can degrade product quality, alter textural properties, and adversely affect color of a food product.

Kemin can help extend the shelf life of baked goods—by delaying oxidation, reducing bacterial and mold growth, and maintaining appearance, taste, and texture—thereby, reducing overall food waste.

For instance, corn tortillas are highly susceptible to mold, due to their high water activity combined with processing and storage conditions. SHIELD® mold inhibitors from Kemin can improve the shelf life of corn tortillas by up to 30 days without negatively affecting taste.⁹

How Kemin Helps Solve Your Challenges

When you work with Kemin, you gain a partner with the bakery and snack solutions and additional resources you need to help you get to market faster. Our team of technical experts can help with formulation and testing support.

Talk to a bakery and snack expert today --> 

References:

1. International Food Information Council. 2024 Food & Health Survey. June 20, 2024. https://foodinsight.org/2024-foodhealth-survey/
2. State of Retail & eCommerce, Mintel, U.S., 2023
3. 2022 Food & Health Survey, International Food and Information Council
4. Nutrition Label Reading Frequency, Mintel, U.S., 2024
5. The National Law Review, Multiple States Propose Bans on Food Additives and “Ultra-Processed Foods”, Feb. 23, 2025. https://natlawreview.com/article/multiple-states-propose-bans-food-additives-and-ultra-processed-foods
6. Kemin Technical Literature (TL-19-00026)
7. https://www.bakingbusiness.com/articles/58555-supply-chain-issues-create-a-domino-effect
8. https://www.csnews.com/despite-inflation-home-food-spend-remains-strong, referencing IRI's, Impact of Inflation on Consumer Behavior
9. Kemin Technical Literature (TL-22-205749)

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