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Products category for Stewart News & Events page

Product Development in Challenging Times

January 4, 2021 by Admin

Over the course of a very difficult year, one thing that remained a constant source of inspiration and innovation has been creating new products along with our valued clients. While the in-person meetings around a tasting panel inside bakeries has been all but eliminated from our itinerary, the development of new and exciting projects has not slowed down as the baking industry continues to introduce new items to the ever changing marketplace. As ever, Stewart Ingredient Systems flexible and fast paced development services have led to multiple nationwide launches of new items developed post-March shutdown.

According to Mintel’s 2020 in-store bakery report, 89% of consumers said that they purchased a bread or a bakery item in the last 3 months and 70% purchased a cake or a sweet good. While many of our new development projects this year included better-for-you ingredients claims for marketing to attract the younger consumer into the bakery snacking isle, the traditional snacking items remain a source of dependable indulgence.

With our model of custom development in partnership with our clients leading directly to in-plant production of the filling or topping, SIS remains ideally placed to build into 2021 with our valued bakery partners. Do not hesitate to reach out via our Sample Request form or contact Ross Stewart @ rstewart@Stewartis.com at anytime!

Source: https://reports.mintel.com/display/986828/

Filed Under: Products

Recent Trends in Health & Wellness

August 31, 2020 by Admin

Given all of the product innovation that SIS engages in on a daily basis, we are very familiar with chasing the trends of the day and find ourselves meeting the consumer in increasingly health and wellness focused grocery aisles. This has been a decade plus long process and the opportunity in the health and wellness fields has grown tremendously during that time. So while health and wellness is going nowhere, its crucial to note that Cheese and Cream Cheese pastries aren’t either. In the Pastry and Sweet Goods categories, product innovation with Cream Cheese & Cheese varieties saw a 36% compound annual growth rate between 2017 & 2019.

Of course, please continue to utilize Stewart Ingredient Systems unrivaled product development resources and turnaround time to develop new Super Fruit based toppings and fillings or perhaps new high-fiber content bar fillings for the health and wellness snack category. But also do not forget that SIS produces all different styles of Cheese and Cream Cheese fillings and toppings for almost any application you can think of in the baking industry. Request a sample today via our sample request form and allow us to show you the difference.

Source: bakingbusiness.com

Filed Under: News, Products Tagged With: Baking industry, Cream Cheese, Cream Filling, Health & Wellness

Let SIS be your go to supplier for all things Variegate

June 24, 2019 by Admin

Summer is ice cream season and what better time to talk about variegates, and Stewart Ingredient Systems’ product offerings in this category.

The three main criteria in evaluating variegates of course are taste, color, and texture. Above all, a sucessful variegate has to deliver on taste, its color must be appealing, and the texture should provide the desired “mouth feel”, while maintaining the highest quality in manufacturing processes.

SIS has a proven track record of delivering highest quality variegates with excellent performance characteristics in full fat, reduced fat, and NSA systems. We have developed many varieties of variegates for ice creams, yogurts, frozen novelties, as well as sorbets and gelatos. These varieties include but are not limited to fruits, chocolates, caramels, creams, and marshmallow.

Contact Ross Stewart @ (312)-254-3539 or RStewart@Stewartis.com today to discuss your product application. Or follow this link to our sample request form.

Filed Under: Products Tagged With: Ice Cream, New Products, Variegates, Yogurt

Blueberries! Bring in SIS as your partner in developing better-for-you products!

May 10, 2019 by Admin

As we have advertised, and as demonstrated in this space in previous posts, SIS is one of, if not, the longest standing and most experienced Low Water Activity fillings developer and manufacturer in the country. Our experience in this field quite literally goes back to the first introduction into the US market of fruit-filled breakfast cereals more than three decades ago.

Today, innovation has taken true flight with the consumers of 2019 by modeling modern snacking for the on-the-move consumer looking to spend their dollars on better-for-you options. One of the strongest opportunities for bakers to break into the modern consumers snacking trends is SIS’ custom designed Low Water Activity fillings utilizing fortified, better-for-you ingredients.

Blueberries themselves are a fruit that allows the producers to show immediate benefit to the modern consumer. Millennial consumers will pay for the product that they are seeking out in grocery if it is there for them. However, and of great importance and difference, millennials will also decide not to buy products based on the ingredients on the label quicker than previous generations. Given that Blueberries are one of the most responsibly sourced domestic fruits for industrial use, the savvy millennial consumer will not be concerned with import issues other fruits are subjected to and will be more naturally inclined to try the product in the first place.

Not only are Blueberries a terrific fruit to introduce your next bar item to compete in the better-for-you and health and wellness categories, it is also a fruit that pairs very well with many of the most popular super fruits available. Stewart Ingredient Systems is the premier developer and manufacturer of fillings and toppings to work together with on your first or your next product development.

Contact Ross Stewart today @ (312) 254-3539 or RStewart@Stewartis.com to begin planning and get on the fast track to sampling our custom developed products.

Filed Under: Products Tagged With: Blueberry, Innovation, New Products, Snacks

Prepared Foods Landscape Changing Rapidly

March 22, 2019 by Admin

“The landscape for prepared foods has been changing rapidly over the past decade, due largely to changes in consumer perception about the healthfulness, nutritional value, safety, and sustainability of prepared foods”. Prepared Foods Magazine, February 2019

The perception of consumers has changed dramatically over the past decade and has in-turn driven the food manufacturing industry, like a speeding semi in the fog, in many different directions. It’s a complicated relationship in which manufacturers and purchasers of food ingredients have had entire categories of ingredients removed from Approved Lists just because the name is too long. Even if derived from all-natural ingredients, just the sound of an ingredient like Xanthan Gum elicits a negative response from the new generation of consumers.

Consumer perception weighed against product reality.

As custom developers and manufacturers servicing industrial bakers (and their marketing departments!), it is incumbent upon us to have ready solutions to your regulatory concerns so you can respond to the latest consumer trends. As many artificial colorants have recently fallen out of favor, we are very well-positioned to formulate a variety of naturally-colored products. Do you need only natural colors to appear on your label but cannot find the right color product to satisfy the project? We can help! Unacceptable Ingredient Lists will continue to grow but Stewart Ingredient Systems will continue to be on the forefront of developing innovative products for the next unique generation of consumers.

Filed Under: Products Tagged With: Health & Wellness, Product Development

Formulating for Portion Control and Better-for-You in the Bakery Aisle

September 28, 2018 by Admin

Stewart Ingredient Systems, Inc. has been formulating solutions for smaller portions and higher flavor intensity to specifically combat the marketplace reaction over the past 5 plus years to smaller portions and better-for-you options in the grocery aisle. Our products can be found on the shelves today in GMO-Free, HFCS-Free and All-Natural snacking options.

As more bakers and food manufacturers continue to develop new ideas to attract the more conscious and attentive consumer, SIS stands ready to answer all new developments from the concept level through market realization. Our development team prides itself and generates opportunity through our rapid response to requests in order to keep developers working rather than waiting on product. When we provide developers with product with our rapid turnaround times, we provide the best opportunity to keep marketing teams involved and interested in approving the next idea.

Whether our focus is delivering high quality flavor and eating experience in a 5-inch pie rather than a 12-inch pie with our fillings to help deliver extraordinary flavor release inside portion controlled items or developing better-for-you options with inclusions for nutrition panels, SIS has the expert developers and manufacturing team to bring these ideas to the marketplace.

Don’t hesitate as we head directly into the fall season. Contact Ross Stewart today at 312-254-3539 or RStewart@Stewartis.com!

Filed Under: Products Tagged With: Bakery, Bakery Toppings, Co-Manufacturer, Danish Filling, Fruit Fillings, Health & Wellness, Inclusions, Pie Filling, Portion Control, Product Development, Research & Development

New Ingredients for Craft Brewing

June 13, 2018 by Admin

craft brewing

Craft beer being poured.

SIS is pleased to announce that we now offer ingredients for the brewing industry! For the first time in our history we are now supplying infused concentrates for use in the craft brewing process. Cleaner and more effective than using the raw ingredient, SIS can formulate and design a flavoring system that allows manufacturers to produce a more predictable, repeatable and cleaner process.

Contact Ross Stewart (312-254-3539 or RStewart@Stewartis.com) today to discuss receiving samples of our concentrates. With our on-site R&D facility, our process begins with understanding the goals of your finished products and then building our concentrates to custom fit within your vision. Our business model dictates that we only succeed if your product makes it to market. Waste no time. Contact us today!

Filed Under: Products Tagged With: Craft Brewing, Infused Concentrates, New Ingredients

“Getting back to basics”

November 7, 2015 by Ross Stewart

“Interest in natural and ‘getting back to basics’ has boosted ancient grains and superfoods, fostering a principle that age-old staples are better than today’s manufactured options."

SISBlogNov72015Millennial-parents are dedicating space in their cupboards to snacking food options that, as early as a few years ago, were not available in grocery aisles. Weighed against Gen X & Baby Boomers, Millennial-parents are in a league of their own when it comes to what foods they allow their kids to consume and the market which they represent is only growing and becoming more influential to the food industry each year. More conscious of processed ingredients & less likely to purchase foods that are perceived to be ‘unhealthy’, the industry is scrambling to rush product to market that better fits their demands.

Manufacturers are working with ingredients that they’ve never had to source before and vendors are offering a more diverse selection of ingredients than ever, and SIS has been continuing our efforts to create the best and most valued added options for the baking industry. Whether your project calls for claims driven inclusions, offerings with less processed ingredients or even eliminating specific ingredients to react to the market “getting back to basics”, SIS is ready to get working for you.

To see offerings from SIS and talk to a representative directly, please come see us at the Chicago IFT Suppliers Night 2015 on November 11th at the Donald E Stephens Center in Rosemont, IL at booth #1021 from 12pm-5:30.

Global Food Trends 2016

Filed Under: News, Products Tagged With: Bakery Fillings, Bakery Supply, Bakery Toppings, Bakery Trends, Fruit Fillings, Health & Wellness

Millennials – begging for attention in bakery

November 10, 2014 by Ross Stewart

Bakery SnacksThe annual IDDBA report (What’s in Store – 2015) provides excellent data and analysis on evolving consumer trends spreading across all platforms of baked goods and the bakery aisle.

What continues to catch our eye when going through the “Bakery Department” of this year's report is the mounting data on the growing challenge of reaching millennials in the bakery section. Specifically, the challenge is set out for in-store bakeries to better accommodate the rapidly evolving demands of consumers who were born between 1980 and 2000. It is thought that millennials' changing tastes in condiments, gravies and sauces is driving consolidation in that grocery segment as well, resulting in the recent Kraft and Heinz merger. The data provided by the IDDBA report indicates that millennials are 50% more likely than boomers to place an importance on digestion related health claims such as gluten-free or lactose free. Of further importance is that 39% of millennials purchase their baked goods at preferred stores, not their primary grocer. That figure compares directly to baby boomers, where only 27% utilize specialty bakeries for those purchases.

In 2014 and going forward for the foreseeable future, millennials will continue to actively seek out specialty products that directly cater to their heightened desire for health and wellness driven foods and continue to pose a specific problem for bakery snack producers, as well as in-store bakeries.

It is an enormous take away that all the current consumer data continues to show: The biggest challenge for bakery snack producers to remain relevant on your grocers shelves is to make a connection with the toughest consumer group they’ve ever encountered – Millennials.

“When it comes to engaging Millennial shoppers, IDDBA research suggested that conventional in-store bakeries might face an issue of relevance. Millennials ranked bakery dead last in order of importance among fresh perimeter categories.”

What's in Store 2015

Filed Under: News, Products Tagged With: Bakery, Baking industry, Fillings, Health & Wellness, Millennials, Toppings

US Nutrition Facts Panel Reform Update – ABA Raises Concerns

August 15, 2014 by Ross Stewart

Nutrition facts.We wrote in this space back in March 2014 about the changes that had been proposed by the FDA to overhaul nutrition labels on packaged foods. At that time, public comment on the proposal was opened up and we waited for the industry to respond. Turns out, the American Bakers Association had significant criticism to offer in a 31-page dossier filed to the US FDA prior to the August 1 deadline for comments.

The language used is interesting as the ABA has stated that it is “deeply concerned” that the FDA does not have the authority for enforcement of the new regulations. If the FDA does not have authority to enforce the rules of the nutrition labels of our packaged foods, who will once final overhaul is complete?

Additionally, among the many points in the dossier is that the ABA is making the case for as much as a 5-year extension on the ruling before any form of repercussions can be brought back upon the manufacturers and food companies rather than the two-year compliance originally proposed.

The question perhaps that we should be asking ourselves is how long can the original proposal stay just that; A proposal? With the battle lines being drawn out in real time over major issues brought up by the ABA including the definition of dietary fiber & whether or not the FDA has the authority to enforce a mandatory sugars declaration, we certainly would be taking the “over” in terms of the timeline before reform on US nutrition facts panels are agreed upon and finalized.

“The baking industry would need a five year implementation time to implement the proposed changes to all current products,” it said. “…This extension will allow industry to conduct the necessary analysis and make the changes required under the final rules.”

In terms of compliance versus enforcement, ABA called for separate dates to “ensure that the final timeframes do not leave industry stakeholders vulnerable to state enforcement actions.”

US Nutrition Facts Panel: ABA raises concerns

Filed Under: News, Products Tagged With: Bakery Fillings, Bakery Toppings, Fillings Supply, Fruit Fillings, Health & Wellness, Industrial Bakery Supply, Toppings

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Over the last 120 years we've earned a reputation for excellence in product development and dependability as a supply chain partner to the wholesale baking and cookie, cracker and biscuit industries. We're committed to the highest standards of rapid development services, lean manufacturing and complete product cycle service.

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