The International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE)—a conference for the grain-based food industry—together with Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery, will recognize its 2025 BEST in Baking award winners during the triennial trade show, taking place Sept. 13-17 in Las Vegas.

Introduced in 2010, the BEST in Baking program recognizes suppliers and bakers who are leading the way in tackling some of the industry’s most paramount topics: sustainability, workforce development, sanitation, packaging innovation, plant efficiency, and automation/robotics.

The coveted BEST in Baking designation brings with it a bevy of benefits, including features in the pre-show issue of Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery and industry-wide recognition in press releases, videos, the IBIE website, and mobile app. Winners and honorable mentions will be presented with their awards during the Baking Expo at the RBA Bakers Center’s Presentation Stage, where winners will have the opportunity to share about their achievements with the attendees. The awards ceremony will take place Monday, September 15, beginning at 9 am in the West Hall lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The 2025 BEST in Baking honorees include:

Sustainability: This category recognizes equipment, ingredients, packaging, technology, or other processes that improve efficiency, reduce energy use, diminish environmental impact, and/or otherwise bring notable sustainability to the baking industry.

Ingredients Suppliers:

• Top Honors: Puratos – Cubease dough conditioner | Booth 4131
• ADM Milling Company – re:generations regenerative agriculture program | Booth 6747
• Beneo, Inc. – BeneoPro FB ingredients: faba bean protein concentrate and faba bean starch-rich flour | Booth 8049
• Innophos – Levair ESL | Booth 7238
• Lallemand, Inc. – glaze management solution | Booths 3037, 3137
• Tourlami Inc. – Plant-Based Butters: Tourlami All Purpose and Tourlami Premium | Booth 5563
• Vantage Food – OPTIRELEASE suite of release agents | Booth 2416

Equipment suppliers:

• Top Honors: Mecatherm S.A. – Energy Recovery System combined with Hygro Control System | Booth 2333
• Air Management Technologies, Inc. – Scavenger Waste Heat Recovery with Condensing Technology | Booth 1565
• Flynn Burner Corp. – Flynn Electric Hybrid Burner | Booth 2664
• GEA Group – E-Bake electric tunnel oven | Booth 4255
• Verhoeven Bakery Equipment Family – Repeatloaf automatic high-precision fermentation system | Booth 2070

Sustainable Packaging Innovation — New for 2025

This category recognizes companies that have introduced sustainable packaging, including primary or secondary product packaging, for retail, wholesale, foodservice, ecommerce, and/or direct-to-consumer.

Retail bakeries:

• Top Honors: Jammpco The TA-DAA Box 

Wholesale bakeries: 

• Top Honors: Kind Snacks – Paper Wrapper Pilot
• Bimbo Bakeries USA – Arnold Organic 22 Whole Grains & Seeds / 30% PCR resin Bread Bags
• Sugar Foods LLC – Fresh Gourmet Homestyle Country Ranch Croutons

Suppliers:

• Top Honors: Ardent Mills – Stretch Wrap Reduction Program | Booth 5919
• Bedford Industries Inc. – TagBack | Booth 2465
• Formost Fuji Corp. – Alpha 8 Horizontal Flow Wrappers Booth 1500
• KLR Systems – Terra Clip | Booth 2675
• Puratos – EcoPak: Journey to Sustainable Packaging | Booth 4131

Sanitation: Considering a sanitation strategy is of utmost importance to bakery facilities in the wake of contamination, recalls, and other public events, this category recognizes bakers and suppliers developing or using innovative sanitation equipment, infrastructure like floors and walls, products, technology, or software that improve sanitation procedures, streamline facility maintenance, improve food safety, reduce environmental impact, or otherwise brings a notable level of innovation to the baking industry.

Wholesale bakeries:

• Top Honors: Nummies Bakery – Supreme Sanitation Program

Suppliers:

• Top Honors: Goodway Technologies – PureBelt Modular Cleaning System | Booth 347
• Airgas, an Air Liquide company – Cryo Tunnel FP1 | Booth 857
• Best Sanitizers, Inc. – Portable EZ Step2 Foot Activated Dispenser | Booth 5908
• Sani-Matic Inc. – CyClean 35 Parts Washer with Sanitation Carts | Booth 5655

Workforce development: Despite a booming economy, bakery manufacturing positions are going unfilled and skilled workers are hard to come by. This category honors bakers and suppliers developing programs that foster sustainable development and ongoing growth of the baking industry workforce.

Retail bakeries:

• Top Honors: Rising Above Bakery Inc. – Individuals with special needs as equal members in the bakery's workforce
• Cake Craft Shoppe – Cake Craft Shoppe Baking Academy
• Nick Vina Artisan Bakery – Workforce development and bakery sustainability

Wholesale bakeries:

• Top Honors: Craftmark Bakery – The Power of Lean Training to Maximize Operational Efficiencies and Employee Engagement
• Crown Bakeries – Leadership Essentials
• New Horizons Baking Co. – Career Ladder Program

Suppliers:

• Top Honors: Puratos – Calling for Caring: Our Commitment to Employee Wellbeing | Booth 4131
• Dawn Foods – Dawn Inspire Internship Program | Booth 2400
• The Butter Book – The Butter Book | Booth 6575

Plant efficiency: This category salutes equipment, ingredients, packaging, technology, or another process not related to automation or robotics that improves operational efficiency.

Wholesale Bakeries:

• Top Honors: Bimbo Bakeries USA – Baked for Nature: Strategic Energy Management and Net Zero Carbon
• Aspire Bakeries – Green Champion Program & Energy Efficiency Focus 
• Bimbo Canada – Zero Loss Strategy

Suppliers:

• Top Honors: Intralox, LLC – ZeroSplice Technology | Booth 2965
• AB Mauri North America – Data Collection for Process Improvement | Booths 1545, 5412
• AccuSpray, a Bundy Baking Solutions Co. – AccuSpray Pan Oiler | Booths 2625, 6132
• Dams Machine – Tortilla Bread Production Line | Booth 6713
• Hygiena – Time Tracker – Kleanz | Booth 4164
• IFF – Enovera 3004 | Booth 3855
• Lallemand, Inc. – Essential BTR Prime | Booths 3037, 3137
• Leaven Foods – Leaven Instant Sourdough
• Mecatherm – MyMecatherm | Booth 2333
• Regal Rexnord Corporation – Rexnord 6400 Series KleanTop Plastic Spiral Cage Belt | Booth 975 
• Topos Mondial Corp. – MFR-730 melting filtering reservoir | Booth 4001
• Vantage Food – Optirelease rsuite of release agents | Booth 2146

Automation and robotics: This category recognizes equipment or other technology that automates a manual process, improving throughput and reducing labor requirements.

Wholesale bakeries:

• Top Honors: New Horizons Baking Co. – Smart Autonomous Bun Production System (SABPS)
• Bimbo Bakeries USA – Digital Transformation & New Manufacturing Management Model

Suppliers:

• Top Honors: JLS Automation – Peregrine IS Robotic Cartoning System | Booth 3215
• ABI Ltd – Katana 2.0 Robotic Scoring System | Booth 2333
• Blueprint Automation – Spider 100v | Booth 4345
• Apex Motion Control – Baker-Bot Quad | Booth 3167
• Cimcorp Automation Ltd. – Dreamfield, Order Fulfillment Solution | Booth 6133
• Gyrdis – Gyro-pancake | Booth 7472
• Houdijk North America Inc./Royal Houdijk – Cookiebot XP | Booth 4466
• Koenig Baking Systems – Dough sheeting line Artisan SFE EC | Booth 3865
• Meritech – CleanTech Automated Handwashing Stations with the Sole Clean enhancement | Booth 5265
• Niverplast NA Inc. – CombiPlast Case Erecting & Bag Placing Machine | Booth 3275
• PackNWood – Revolupack Industrial Tabletop Sealing Machines | Booth 7822
• Pcdata Logistics Automation – Robotic Order Picking | Booth 2364
• Schmalz Inc. – Finger Grippers (mGrip) | Booth 5873
• Simply Bread Co. – Simply Bread App | Booth 5771
• Twin Peaks Online – MyOnlineBakery.com | Booth 6408  
• Vantage Food – Mallet CPG 1100 | Booth 2416
• Wherefour Inc. – Wherefour ERP Software | Booth

The BEST in Baking judges were selected based on expertise in sustainability and baking best practices. These experts were tasked with evaluating entries based on a number of criteria, including impact on the environment, community, and workforce. Judges included:

• Cara Koza, project manager, Burns & McDonnell
• Jason Robertson, VP, food and beverage, CRB Group
• Anton Rozich, director of product planning, The Austin Co.

“The BEST in Baking awards are a powerful platform to showcase incredible innovations and recognize outstanding work across the baking industry,” says Jorge Zarate, IBIE chair. “These awards allow remarkable companies to set themselves apart from competitors.”

Douglas J. Peckenpaugh, publisher, Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery, oversaw the evaluation process for the BEST in Baking Program. “We are honored to partner with IBIE on this show program spotlighting sustainability across the baking industry,” he said. “Sustainability-focused innovation is alive and well in baking. The 2025 IBIE BEST in Baking Program companies offer a wealth of solutions and inspiration to continue moving the global baking industry more toward a truly circular economy.”