Dear reader,
Bread and bakery products are booming in Asia, and possibly nowhere more so than in China. The consumption of bread and bakery products grew from a mere 2KG per person to 6KG per person today, and will grow to 10KG per person by 2020. For Larive International, this provided a solid basis to bring together a consortium of companies in the value chain of industrial bakeries, to jointly position the Dutch expertise in this sector in China. Hence, BakeryTechChina was born in 2016.
When thinking about bakery products and bread, Chinese consumers tend to think about the classical shape of a croissant or even a French loaf. Hence, countries like France and Germany appear in the imagination of the consumer.
Larive did a little experiment at its partner office in Suzhou; they asked the team to look at the potential ‘logo’ of the consortium. Larive showed the team members an image which portrays the shape of a classical bread slice and asked: “what do you see”. The answers included: “a strapless dress” and “a panda bear”…
In short, we have a lot of work to do to show the expertise and added value that the Dutch industrial bakery sector can bring to the Chinese bakery sector. So, we decided to change the game and invite the World Master Baker of 2018, Peter Bienefelt, to join us in this challenge. He enthusiasticly agreed. Peter will showcase his capabilities on the China Bakery fair 2018 in Shanghai by given two exiting baking demonstrations on Thursday (May 10th) and Friday (May 11th).
So who is this world’s best baker?
Peter Bienefelt won the title World Master Baker in February 2018 in the prestigious Masters de la Boulangerie competition. With remarkable concepts and courage, he managed to convince the jury of the special breads from the Netherlands.
Bakery China fair 2018
We decided, where better to show Peter’s skills than at the Bakery China fair. This is Asia Pacific’s leading event serving the entire value chain for the bakery and confectionery market. Annually held in Shanghai, the event enables global leading professionals to meet and share the latest innovations for the bakery industry. The show, held on May 9-12, occupies a stunning number of 17 halls at the exhibition centre in Shanghai (think: BIG). In 2017, the event featured over 2000 selected suppliers & manufactures from 30 countries and regions. This year, we will jointly make sure the Netherlands is placed firmly on the radar at this show!
BakeryTechChina
So what does BakeryTechChina do? Our consortium brings together Dutch expertise covering the entire value chain for industrial bakery products. This includes breads, pastries, cooking, cakes and pies. In technical terms, this means expertise in the field of ingredients, spraying systems, dough preparations, dough processing, aeration & crystallization, drying systems, modular tunnel rack ovens, refrigerating and total bakery system integration. Are you dizzy yet? All the things that we as consumers do not see (nor realize), but are essential to making a safe, healthy and quality bakery product. Both in the Netherlands, and in China…
With the Dutch equipment and expertise, the Chinese industrial bakery companies are able to produce (Chinese) artisanal bakery products in an industrial manner. This improves food safety and efficiency, whilst lowering the operational costs (we are Dutch after all). Also, it provides a high degree of flexibility (think, many products produced on 1 line).
From bakin’ to handshakin’
Enough said. If you are around in Shanghai from May 9-12, we cordially invited you to come and meet our consortium and the World Master Baker in the flesh at booth4A88 in hall W4:Equipment. See you there!
Written by Wouter van Vliet, Larive
