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How Clean is Your Label and How Much Does It Matter?

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If you’re paying attention to food industry news, you know Clean Label is the buzzword of the moment. Clean Label essentially means avoiding any substances that consumers might find unacceptable or undesirable in your products. In some ways, that’s easy. In others, it’s abstract. No added artificial color or flavor. No preservatives. Got it. But, how far beyond that does it go?

Do Non-GMO and Organic now fall under this Clean Label umbrella? Are all health claims now just a piece of the Clean Label puzzle? Will this overarching idea continue to grow in scope? Does Clean Label suit all categories of consumer goods or is it really an issue in health food? Does Clean Label have a place in snack foods? Baked goods? Are consumers looking for health claims in their sweets and snacks? Are there people looking for Clean Label items at fast food restaurants? Obviously, there are lots of questions.

I don’t have answers to all the questions, but I can tell you this much: We are ready to formulate with any ingredient inclusion, exemption, or Clean Label requirement your next project may call for. Fill out our Sample Request Form or call us at 312-254-3539 to get started today!

A Bit of Good News for the Baking Industry

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It’s been a long while since every headline in world news, and industry news alike, wasn’t troubling. “Doom-scrolling” used to apply to the endless heaviness of social media feeds. Nowadays, reading the news, wherever you consume it, has become doom-scrolling in and of itself. Why am I pointing this out? Because last month I read an article with a positive outlook, and it’s become such a rarity that it’s still stuck in my head.

The best news for those of us in the baking industry is that the beacon of positivity is directly tied to the outlook of in-store bakery. Technomic data, as reported by our friends at The Food Institute, is predicting 18% higher in-store bakery sales than pre-Covid numbers. I could read that sentence over and over again. Hello, good news! It’s so nice to see you!

One of the main reasons for this sunshiny outlook is that consumers are returning to the stores – not just for their big grocery hauls – but for smaller trips as well. The increased frequency of store visits leads to more impulse purchases. After a few years with little to celebrate, more indulgent, convenient items are making their way home with more consumers. Emotional eating is real. Sometimes that pastry in the middle aisle is just what you need to get through another tough day/week/month/doom-cycle.

This outlook presents a big opportunity to the baking industry at large. Whether fresh or frozen, 2023 is going to be a big year for in-store bakery. The only way to win in this space, with the supply chain challenges we’re facing, is aligning yourself with strategic partners you can count on. That’s where SIS comes in. We pride ourselves in rapid product development and unparalleled technical experience that can help you go from ideation to commercialization quickly and smoothly.

Give us a call today 312-254-3539, or fill out our Sample Request Form today to get started!

How Functional Are Your Ingredients?

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In a sense, we’ve always made functional ingredients at SIS. Formulating fillings and toppings for specific water activity levels and machining performance, with specific ingredient inclusions and exclusions, IS creating functional ingredients. Over the last few years, however, the entire idea of functional ingredients has taken on a whole new meaning.

All natural and organic products, which were once the primary challenge, are now only part of the puzzle. “Better for you” foods with functional ingredients continue to grow in popularity and availability. We’re seeing new products hit the market everyday which highlight the inclusion of ingredients meant to support memory and cognitive function, digestion, energy levels, and even disease prevention. The pandemic brought about a demand for immunity boosting ingredients. CBD products are popping up in nearly every aisle.

Consider a product like kombucha. Due to its vinegary odor and intense tartness, you might not expect it to have mass appeal. A global value of roughly 6 billion dollars certainly suggests otherwise. Would the market for kombucha be nearly as big if it wasn’t rich in probiotics? You have to assume not. That’s the power of functional ingredients.

The growing interest in functional ingredients is clearly not a passing trend or food fad. How do you respond to the demand as a food producer? R&D, innovation and strong supplier partnerships are essential. If you’re looking for a reliable partner to help formulate new products that answer these emerging consumer demands, give us a call today at 312-254-3539 or fill out our Sample Request Form!

New Year, Same Problems

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Not to state the obvious, but 2021 was a challenging year in business. The supply chain issues we’d hoped would only be short term challenges eventually turned into long term nightmares. Unpredictable, unreliable ingredient and packaging supply, skyrocketing costs, unexpected Covid-related absences and more combined and conspired to make the future feel more uncertain than ever.

When the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s, nothing really changes. The problems don’t disappear. The nightmare doesn’t end. Regardless, there is still something so refreshing about a new year. A fresh chance to make this year better than the last. To be more adaptable. To be more nimble. To come up with creative solutions you couldn’t quite envision in the trenches of 2021. We’re facing the same old problems with renewed tenacity and fresh eyes. We WILL continue to be the most reliable supplier our customers know because that’s what we do.

Will future outlooks on starch availability improve for us, and the entire baking industry as a whole? Only time will tell, unfortunately. Do we have the time and resources to determine perfect replacements and alternatives if the outlook doesn’t improve? If we identify perfect alternatives, can we secure necessary volumes in order to continue production uninterrupted? Can we weather this storm?

I’m not sure how I would have answered you at the end of 2021, but with the sun shining and a fresh outlook in 2022, the answer is emphatically YES. We will continue to do what we’ve done since my Great-Grandfather started this business: adapt, innovate, develop and deliver. We will continue to be a certain during times of great uncertainty. We WILL continue to be the most reliable business partner in the industry.

Navigating the market volatility without solid, innovative partners is simply not an option in times like these. Looking to change that reality? Give us a call 312-254-3539 or fill out our Sample Request Form today and let us show you how we can help.

The Seasonality of Food Cravings

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Since the beginning of time, humans have eaten seasonal diets. What was borne of necessity and availability has become, in many ways, more about trends and marketing in the modern era. Am I craving a Peppermint Latte because of the chill in the air, or because the idea has been sold to me throughout my lifetime that this is peppermint’s time to shine? Frankly, it makes almost no difference. I’m having the latte either way.

This time of year, in the bakery fillings category, consumers typically demand more from apple, pumpkin, stone-fruit, and cream based products. The things we typically consider “summer fruits”, like strawberries, take a back seat to highly seasonal items like cranberries. We know that limited time, seasonal products sell. Whether it’s a genuine personal craving or one highly influenced by beautiful advertising and catchy jingles, consumers buy in. All the way in.

Formulating new seasonal products is one of the things we love most at SIS. Knowing the product you created is going to enhance someone’s enjoyment of the season, the holiday, the year, is truly a special feeling. Whatever the season, whatever the craving… whether you’re looking to fill a donut, top a coffee cake, or co-extrude fillings into a bar… we’re here to help you create the perfect consumer experience.

Every product we make is custom developed to meet your sensory and performance requirements. Ready to turn an idea into reality? Give us a call today 312-254-3539 or fill out our Sample Request Form!

Seasonal Pie

It’s all-things-pumpkin season!

Supply Chain WHOAS

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If you’ve been paying attention for the last 17 months or so, you know we’re living through some pretty interesting times. On top of an ongoing pandemic, we’re experiencing one of the most difficult forecasting, pricing, costing and sourcing periods in modern business. An enduring shipping quagmire, massive labor shortages and global supply chain bottlenecks are affecting virtually every industry.

For those of us in food manufacturing, the price of essential ingredients and materials skyrocketing is an issue, but only if we’re first able to secure the volume required to keep production moving. Availability is hurdle number one. CAN we get this ingredient? This packaging item? This essential? If we’re able to fill the need, in time for production, the next question is one of cost. How much more will it cost than normal? Can we absorb this increase or will we be forced to raise price on our own customers? CAN we move price to cover the cost or are we locked into contracts?

We’re seeing major issues and shortages in the availability of packaging materials, sweeteners, starches, food colorings, fresh/frozen fruit and more. The ports continue to back up. The cost and availability of freight remains troublesome. Something’s gotta give… right?

We’re extremely fortunate to have had a strategic purchasing approach in place since long before we found ourselves in this current sticky situation. We’ve contracted ingredients where possible and aligned ourselves with incredible partners that allow us to pivot and respond real time to any and all challenges. I’m not saying we’re pandemic proof but we’ve set ourselves, and our customers, up for success in any climate.

If you’d like to learn more about how we do what we do, give us a call today 312-254-3539

Fresh apple prices are soaring

Food, Our Sense of Smell, and Nostalgia

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Our sense of smell is the one most connected to our memories and feelings of nostalgia. Countless examples of smells that transport you to another time or place exist. Fresh cut grass, a charcoal grill and wildflowers all have the power to evoke memories of summers past. No other smell, however, connects us so directly to specific memories as much as the smell of food.

What food smell most connects you to your summer memories as a child? A fresh baked apple pie? Corn on the cob? Hot dogs and peanuts at the ballpark? Burgers on the grill?

I have intense feelings of nostalgia when I smell cherries on our production floor. Growing up only a few hours away from Door County, that smell is firmly solidified in my nostalgia memory banks. Similarly, when we work with lemons it makes me pine for my grandmother’s lemon frosted yellow cake. The smell of apples and cinnamon transport me back to the pumpkin patch and hayrides with my brothers in the fall. The connection is powerful and undeniable.

As food producers, what we’re truly striving for is the consumer connecting with our product on an emotional level. We endeavor to create the most pleasurable eating experience possible, but also the one that leaves them with a sense of urgency to return to that moment. That memory. That scent.

One of the most powerful ways we can create that sense of urgency is by keeping the feelings of warmth, comfort and nostalgia in mind when formulating and designing products. Simple adjustments can have tremendous effects on the final sensory experience. Aromatics can tug directly on heart strings when done right.

Whether you’re looking to reformulate or create an entirely new product, we’re ready to help you create the most powerful nostalgic consumer experience possible. We work with cherries, berries, pumpkins, apples, citrus fruits, cheeses and more, for pre and post bake applications.

Fill out our Sample Request Form or give us a call 312-254-3539 so we can get started today!

Challenges Can Also Be Opportunities

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Doing business in 2021 has been a lot of things. Boring isn’t one of them. We’re currently seeing record high shipping costs, historic labor shortages, starch and sweetener shortages, another Covid-19 surge via the Delta variant, drought and wildfire threatening much of the West, and rising prices across virtually every category.

Costing and forecasting are as difficult as ever.

What will the apple and berry fruit crop look like this year? Will the drought and wildfires be game changers? Will much of the workforce return in September as has been widely speculated? Will the shipping backlog and soaring shipping costs be further exacerbated by the Delta variant? Will there be any resolution in the starch and sweetener shortages?

Times of uncertainty, like the one we find ourselves in now, are where we truly shine as your partner in business. Over the decades we’ve developed innovative purchasing strategies and costing solutions that have prepared us to face the challenges at hand and ensure that our variable costing is as competitive as any manufacturer in the industry. Whether you’re looking to reformulate or start from scratch, challenges can also be opportunities if you have the right team.

Call us today 312-254-3539 or use our Sample Request Form so we can get to work.

Navigating Market Forces to Maintain Product Integrity and Margin

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If you’re in touch with food industry news these days, you know there are many forces conspiring to make doing business harder and more expensive than ever. Widespread crop loss, supply chain bottlenecks, shrunken and “sunburnt” fruit from excessive heatwaves, the “Great Backlog” in shipping ports, labor shortages, grasshoppers… Yes, grasshoppers.

With so many forces at play, which ultimately complicate the ability to source ingredients, packaging, freight and labor, how can product integrity and margins be maintained? The quick and easy answer is having dedicated, forward thinking, innovative ingredient suppliers who can help you pivot and react real time.

Whether the market forces are pushing you to look for innovative costing solutions, reformulations or back to the drawing board with new products, Stewart Ingredient Systems can help solve your problems – current and future. With over 100 years of combined custom innovation and formulation experience and intimate familiarity with optimizing for specific machining requirements, we have the answers.

Fill out our Sample Request form or give us a call at 312-254-3539 today.

Consumer Focus: Functional Ingredients, Sustainability, Fair Trade and More

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As food and market trends are ever changing, adaptability and reliable ingredient sources are as important as ever. Over the last year we’ve seen shifts in consumer behavior brought on by the chaos and confusion of the Covid pandemic. Many consumers turned their focus to one of the few things they could control: the food they put in their bodies.

In 2020 alone, 130 million people in the U.S. searched for Fair Trade and ethical ingredients online, and according to Nielsen the U.S. sustainability market is projected to reach $150 billion in sales this year. Elderberry and acerola are growing in popularity for immunity support. The lesser known Maqui Berry is being sought out with for its cholesterol and blood sugar controlling antioxidants. The desire to cut out sugars, preservatives and artificial colors and flavors is growing and not likely to slow down any time soon.

One of the biggest questions facing food producers today is: how do you react quickly to emerging trends, while maintaining peak machining performance, all without breaking the bank? A simple answer to this question is: a partnership with Stewart Ingredient Systems. Our product developers and R&D team boast a combined 100+ years in functional product formulation and innovation.

We have answers to virtually every ingredient issue, we have extensive experience optimizing products for different machining and equipment needs, and our in-house purchasing systems ensure that our variable costs are as competitive as any manufacturer in the category.

The market will never stop changing. Align yourself with an ingredient supplier who can help you innovate, pivot, and thrive no matter what comes next.

Fill out our Sample Request Form or call 312-254-3539 today to get started.

Our Company

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.