© 2023- Developeat - All rights reserved
A smart bread formula for the retail business
Client: Lagardere’ Travel and Retail
Challenge
Bread is a very present and indispensable food in most gastronomic cultures and is even at the base of the nutritional pyramid, so we cannot deny its great relevance in terms of nutrition.
This is why Lagardere’ Travel and Retail became aware of the great importance of this food in its establishments located in Northern Italy, such as bars and restaurants at the airports, train stations and highways, and contacted Developeat to come up with a disruptive alternative to increase the profitability of the sale of this product.
Thus developing a new range of partially baked frozen sandwich bread with which the employee at the shop just needs to warm it up quickly before serving.
Bread is a very present and indispensable food in most gastronomic cultures and is even at the base of the nutritional pyramid, so we cannot deny its great relevance in terms of nutrition.
This is why Lagardere’ Travel and Retail became aware of the great importance of this food in its establishments located in Northern Italy, such as bars and restaurants at the airports, train stations and highways, and contacted Developeat to come up with a disruptive alternative to increase the profitability of the sale of this product.
Thus developing a new range of partially baked frozen sandwich bread with which the employee at the shop just needs to warm it up quickly before serving.
Action plan
NPD & Formulation
Our main objective was to increase the efficiency and decrease the overall cost model of the retail company. However, in terms of food technology, this is a big and complicated challenge due to the rheological characteristics of bread. That is why after numerous small-scale tests and adjustments, we finally succeeded in developing that new bread range; which is produced, then cooked up to 90%, frozen and finally is shipped frozen to shops.
The main challenge was to deal with the crust flaking problem, where any step in the process can affect the final crust quality: flour quality; mixing conditions; fermentation conditions; dough condition at the end of fermentation; partial baking conditions; cooling condition; freezing condition; storage condition; and final baking condition. Generally, higher air humidity during the process minimises crust flaking and a higher temperature of the partially baked bread at the entrance of the freezer seems to increase this effect.
Finally, we were able to provide the solution to the crust flaking phenomenon and we provided the technical solution by adjusting the product formulation with functional ingredients and setting up carefully the process parameters: by playing around the humidity level and the post processing steps after cooking we accomplish the creation of a bread suitable for sandwich with excellent texture, even after freezing and without any issue on the crust.
Co-manufacturer selection and scale-up
Once we developed the most optimal method to launch the new frozen bread range, we selected the co-manufacturer responsible for industrialising the product for Lagarder. We did this based on several parameters, such as the cost of each ingredient of the product, the evaluation of the manufacturing technology, scalability potential of the partner, requirements in terms of certification and labelling set by the client. In addition, after choosing the most optimal co-manufacturer, we were supporting the scale up of the product from a technical perspective.
Consumer acceptance of the final product is also a relevant aspect to take into account. That is why, through the involvement of more than 200 company employees, we were in charge of designing and managing the whole sensory test, analysing the data to obtain a broad vision of which prototype was the most optimal for market launch.
Key Results
- We took care of the development of the new range of partially baked frozen sandwiches, with excellent texture even after freezing and without any issue on the crust.
- We provided the technical solution against the crust flaking by adjusting the product formulation with functional ingredients and setting up the process parameters.
- For studying the consumer acceptance of the final product, we involved more than 200 people.
Key Results
- We took care of the development of the new range of partially baked frozen sandwiches, with excellent texture even after freezing and without any issue on the crust.
- We provided the technical solution against the crust flaking by adjusting the product formulation with functional ingredients and setting up the process parameters.
- For studying the consumer acceptance of the final product, we involved more than 200 people.
Services provided in a nutshell
- We managed the product formulation and we carried out the whole NPD process.
- We were responsible for choosing the co-manufacturer for industrialising the production for Lagarder, taking into account the product cost, technology assessment, scalability potential of the partner, requirements in terms of certification and labelling set by the client.
- We designed and managed the whole sensory test, analysing the data to understand the best product to launch.
- We supported the scale up of the production from a technical perspective.
Services provided in a nutshell
- We managed the product formulation and we carried out the whole NPD process.
- We were responsible for choosing the co-manufacturer for industrialising the production for Lagarder, taking into account the product cost, technology assessment, scalability potential of the partner, requirements in terms of certification and labelling set by the client.
- We designed and managed the whole sensory test, analysing the data to understand the best product to launch.
- We supported the scale up of the production from a technical perspective.
