The Business of Baking for Beginners, better known as “BOB,” is designed for people with 5 years or less in the bakery business or those looking to join the baking industry.  Brought to you by RPIA, the BOB is a full day of exposure with experts in the field.  Not only will they share secrets and tricks of the trade; but you’ll also have the opportunity to ask Certified Master Bakers your questions.  Five guys and over 200 years of experience is just waiting for you!

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Need to make your products stay fresh longer? Learn how you can improve the shelf-life of your bakery products “naturally” without adding more chemicals.

This session will look at how a point of sale system can increase your efficiency and sales forecasting in a retail bakery setting, including types of features available, the types of information that can be tracked and what it takes to set up a system.

Bakery owners will share their tips and ideas on how to make your bakery work smoother and improve both your efficiency and profitability. This session will provide very practical tips from ideas on which tools to use to ways to label and code your inventory.

In this class students will learn how to use silicone products to create molds for custom work to increase productivity and profit.  Included in class will be molding buttons, jewels and a small bottle.

Product sponsored by Make Your Own Molds

What is artisan bread? Are you interested in building a foundation for making bread in the artisan style? Maybe you are already dabbling in these techniques and want to clarify or learn more. This class will focus on the fundamental principles of artisan baking, specifically the use of yeasted pre-ferments.  Get familiar with the terms Poolish, Sponge, and Biga. Learn what these words mean and how they benefit your bread.

Sponsored by King Arthur and the Bread Baker’s Guild of America

Students will work with isomalt sugar and learn how to make sugar gems/jewels, how to work with molds, coloring techniques to enhance designs,
and more as time permits. The class will also include a demonstration on how to make sugar bottles. Whether you’re new to working with sugar or have worked with it before, you’re sure to learn a few new tips from the Winbeckler’s. (Students should wear long sleeves during class.)

Product sponsored by Get Sassie!

Back by popular demand!  Are you ready with modern piping techniques? Learn lace techniques, interesting side designs and contemporary borders, perfect for production geared bakeries.

Making pricing decisions for your bakery may seem daunting. Learn some basic techniques and strategies for calculating costs to set prices and make a profit. (This is a beginner session)

Hear about the latest trends and research in retail baking that you can apply to your bakery. Martin will help you understand how you can take advantage of information that Modern Baking magazine has collected and continues to update for the benefit of the baking industry.

Walk out of this energy-packed session with at least 10 different strategies to immediately improve not just the top line, but the bottom line as well.  Growing a baking business is a difficult task and frequently the end result, a great profit, can be a challenge.  During this business educational session you will learn the 5-Ways to increase profits by at least 61 percent.  Doug Winnie is the business accelerator who has helped over 100 local companies and will be your educator and motivator.  Doug is a strong believer in that every business is a tool, and when sharpened, can be the best tool for great riches and rewards.  For more information about Doug visit www.BusinessAsATool.com.

**Presented in Spanish** Successful bakers understand that making a quality product is absolutely necessary.  However, without an ability to control costs, bakers will not be able to sustain necessary profits.  Especially today, gaining necessary margins through price increases is more and more difficult.  There are many concepts used by large manufacturing companies that can be applied to the small-to-medium size bakery.  The focus is how to eliminate waste in the entire system, which reduces costs and increases profits.

Through humor and reality-tested techniques, Steve Gilliland reveals the way to face conflicting demands in an unforgiving business environment that keeps getting tougher. From the beginning when he shows people how to ignite their passion, to the end with his compelling challenge to never lose your focus, he releases an “explosion of enthusiasm” that is absolutely contagious. This keynote speech will challenge you personally and professionally. It is simple and easy to grasp — yet profound! Fasten your seatbelt and hold on as one of North America’s premier speakers outlines a roadmap for success and shows you how to Enjoy The Ride™.

Learn to write on cakes like a pro. This session will teach the basics as well as fancy script, Old English, imitation flow-in style, comical writing, etc. All these styles can be created with buttercream – no fondant cutout letters or royal icing needed. Don’t let messy writing ruin your beautiful cakes!

Attend this session and get hands-on experience with modeling chocolate.  Sculpt an animal and turn it into bronze.  Learn how to make this, when to use it and get a feel for the latest craze.

Learn to use Silhouette Cameo and its user friendly software, from cutting using icing images to designer sheets and the silhouette print and cut feature. Plus, learn the tricks for easy print and cut feature and designer cutouts.

Please Bring your laptop with the software below installed and we will make sure that you have a basic knowledge of this latest technology. Some laptops will be available to share. (www.silhouetteamerica.com)

This session is also offered on Tuesday from 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

High quality cakes and desserts depend on icings and glazes to sell the product.  When there are problems with icings and glazes, the results are lower sales and reduced customer satisfaction.  Bakers may see more problems when they change formulations or when environmental conditions such as heat and humidity change.  The stability of icings and glazes are critical to the shelf life of cakes and other desserts, and this session would give bakers ideas on how to control stability to assure high quality throughout the useful shelf life.

This session will explore why packaging is an important element of a quality product. Attendees will learn about different uses and materials for packaging along with the importance of branding and placing your name and logo on packaging.  Learn how quality packages are valuable in maintaining freshness as well as protection.

Sponsored by Unger Company

Hands on that gun!  Learn which gun to use, what to shoot through it and other practical uses. You will get some practice with Bronwen’s favorite weapon. Bring your own for an individualized lesson, or use one of ours.

Students will learn how to work with rolled fondant to create whimsical figures for birthdays, showers and holidays. No prior experience with rolled fondant is necessary. Students will see how few tools are necessary to create figurines that can become collectibles for their clients and can add to the finish of their cakes. The students will receive instructions on how to make at least 6 different figures and will actually get to do several in class to take home (the number will depend on the speed of the class).

Are you buying frozen croissants and puff pastry? How about your Danish Dough? Do you currently make them but wish they were better? Learn the fundamental principles of lamination from start to finish. Discuss the difference between using butter and shortening…the benefits and precautions.  You will leave with a solid foundation of knowledge to make better yeasted and unyeasted laminated pastry.

Sponsored by King Arthur and Bread Baker’s Guild of America

Passionate about cake artistry? In a retail bakery, cake shop or cupcake shop, making a profit is essential for success. Learn how to set up your business, stream-line your production, do cake consultations, cost artwork and protect your designs and reputation. Julie Bashore, who consults nationally and internationally has the formulae to help you, no matter where you are based. She will provide you with real examples of business forms, consultation sheets, costing charts for wedding and special occasion cakes and example legal agreements. This will be an interactive class from consultations with clients (you the audience) showing how to start the process, through to sealing the deal.

Learn from the masters of cake sculpture. The Winbeckler’s will share their knowledge of which cakes and icings work best for sculptures, how to shape and sculpt, and how to create the details that make their sculptures “come to life.” Each student will sculpt and decorate a sculpture that includes an internal support during class. There will also be a brief discussion on how to create various types of internal support for other sculptures. All techniques and adequate time to create a stand-up sculpture are provided during class; however, individual completion of project is dependent on student work pace.

Whole grains are a great way to add nutritional value and perceived health to bakery products. Learn key strategies and techniques for incorporating whole grains into your bakery products from other bakers.

Sponsored by Bay State Milling

Building foot traffic and purchase frequency is a goal for many fresh bakeries, considering the average shopper purchases most products from the in-store bakery a handful of times per year. Jonna Parker from the Nielsen Perishables Group will share the latest sales trends and consumer insights revealing strategies that bakeries can use to help make the bakery an everyday destination.

**Session presented in Spanish** In today’s marketplace, food safety is of paramount importance.  However, even experienced bakery employees often develop habits that could compromise the integrity of baked products. In addition to this risk, bakeries often deal with high levels of employee turnover, and many new employees have no idea of how to properly handle food.  This session will draw on AIB’s deep knowledge of food safety, but yet the concepts discussed will have a very practical focus.  Utilizing these tips will allow the participants to have more confidence and less worry about their own products.

Pies are making a comeback. Hear tips and tricks for making great tasting  pies from bakers who specialize in pies.

In today’s marketplace, food safety is of paramount importance.  However, even experienced bakery employees often develop habits that could compromise the integrity of baked products.  In addition to this risk, bakeries often deal with high levels of employee turnover, and many new employees have no idea of how to properly handle food.  This session will draw on AIB’s deep knowledge of food safety, but yet the concepts discussed will have a very practical focus. Utilizing these tips will allow the participants to have more confidence and less worry about their own products.

By viewing a complaint as a “gift” you take control of a potentially negative situation and change it into something positive. Whether you use the complaint as an opportunity to correct a mistake, satisfy a customer, positively promote your bakery or to just make someone feel good about your product or service. Participants will learn how to accept a “gift” even when it comes in different packages; secrets to staying calm, courteous, and confident even when faced with “problems” all day; and how to prevent complaints from happening in the first place. If you’ve received feedback from people within and outside the bakery– you will appreciate the tools this session will provide.

Successful bakers understand that making a quality product is absolutely necessary.  However, without an ability to control costs, bakers will not be able to sustain necessary profits.  Especially today, gaining necessary margins through price increases is more and more difficult.  There are many concepts used by large manufacturing companies that can be applied to the small-to-medium size bakery.  The focus is how to eliminate waste in the entire system, which reduces costs and increases profits.

Friends, fans, tweet, poke, tag, like, connect … social media has as many terms as Lady Gaga has costumes (or Twitter followers). It’s enough to make even the most outgoing person become anti-social. If you are wondering whether your company should give a tweet, then this session is for you. Join Christine M. Hollinden, CPSM as she leads this lively exploration of social media.

Would you ever open your office window and throw out a few boxes of your company’s money?  Of course not.  But if your employee training programs are ineffective, it amounts to the same thing. Understand the adult learner and how to set the stage for learning. Learn how to make information “stick”.

What is it that makes people get excited to absorb information? Understand what triggers them to actually apply the information they learned after the training session and how to keep the learning going!

Students will learn to work with gum paste to create a rose, calla lily and stargazer along with leaves for your wedding cakes. Even better, all the flowers are created using just 2 cutters! Students will learn how to dust the flowers and will also receive instruction in making and coloring leaves. They will learn about using steam or glaze to set the colors and will take home several flowers at the end of class. Students do not need to have prior gum paste experience, but it is helpful.

Building a comfort level with an airbrush system can make life so much easier. This hands-on class will teach airbrush tricks using stencils as well as learning to use petal dust for painting Gumpaste flowers and other tricks for getting the most out of an airbrush system. All Students will receive a 8 color kit from Americolor, compliments of your Instructor and the wonderful folks at Americolor.

Today’s baking industry has many different production options: scratch, mix, frozen, pre-proof frozen, thaw-and-sell and par-bake.  This session will touch on ideas to organize these options, helping bakers to more effectively learn how to evaluate changes in costs of ingredients, labor and overhead. We will also discuss options in handling peaks and valleys of product demand.

Consumer views, industry initiatives and labeling regulations are changing the way sugars are seen in the marketplace. Get the full story on high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) with The Changing Ingredient Game, a comprehensive business case. This presentation will examine:

- New government and industry dietary initiatives that are changing the ways consumers think about food and beverage ingredients.
- The transient nature of public perceptions of ingredients.
- The science of HFCS and other sweeteners.
- Market research into what consumers say compared to what they do.
- The facts about “HFCS-free” marketing strategies.
- What your company can do to get ahead of the changing ingredient game.

How are bakers dealing with a turbulent commodities market and the rising cost of gas and services? How do you stay on top of pricing?  This panel discussion will show how bakers from across the country are approaching this challenging task.

Decorating technology is a must in all bakeries.  By using decorating technology in your bakery you can reduce decorating time, create decorations that are too advanced to be created by hand, and lower your operating costs. Learn the basics of electronic cutting and edible printing using the Silhouette Cameo electronic cutter and an Icing Images edible printer. Learn how easy it is to work with the software and print, cut and decorate amazing cakes.  iiDesigns, a new edible printing designing program will also be introduced.

While we will have some laptops available, take advantage of the convenience of using your own laptop and have everything set up so you can use it immediately when you return to your bakery.  You can bring your laptop with the software below installed and we will make sure that you have a basic knowledge of this latest technology. (http://www.silhouetteamerica.com/software.aspx)

This session is also offered on Sunday from 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Learn how to do bows with texture, with pearlization and with glitter edges. Learn how to make edible brooches for wedding cakes and flowers in gumpaste that have brooch or bling centers. This class will show you how to respond to the current obsession with glitter, disco dusts, pearls, lusters and metallics.

Sourdough is a whole other world on its own. This class will demystify the myths and explain the principles behind making bread with no commercial yeast. Learn the basics of sourdough and how it behaves differently than yeasted dough.  Learn how to manipulate your process to fine tune the characteristics you are looking for in your bread. This class assumes you know the basics of artisan bread, including ingredient selection and the use of yeasted pre-ferments.

Sponsored by King Arthur and Bread Baker’s Guild of America

Many decorators dread the cake order with people figures – don’t be that decorator. Let the masters of “people figures” show you how it’s done. Hand-formed people figures are great on wedding cakes, special occasion cakes, etc. These figures can set your bakery apart and add profit to your bottom line. Students will learn the principles of creating people figures from modeling chocolate, fondant, and/or gum paste.

Over the past several years, there has been an increase in the overall consumption of cookies.  Controlled portions, ability to eat on the run and innovative new products have enabled this growth.  While cookies have grown in popularity, some bakers have increased the sales of pre-packaged cookies.  In this segment of the business, the control of production becomes more critical.  In other words, if the cookie has too much variation in height or spread, the product might not fit into the package, or it might not look good in the package.  The session will also discuss management of texture and shelf life.

Anyone with a cake business knows how important it is to stay current with technology. We all have websites, blogs, Facebook and Twitter, but there’s always something new around the corner that seems to be next big thing. Pinterest, anyone? Beth Fahey of Creative Cakes in Tinley Park, IL explores time-effective ways of using social media, implementing digital (iPad) wedding cake catalogs and making the most out of traditional, face-to-face marketing avenues like bridal shows and wedding cake consultations.

You already know the perfect recipe for sweet treats, but creating the right combination of social media efforts can be far from delicious. Join Christine M. Hollinden, CPSM as she presents solid methodologies to get the most from your friends, fans and followers. Christine will be joined by Houston’s own Sara Brook of the Dessert Gallery to present a live case study. Christine and Sara will discuss the social media strategy implemented at the Dessert Gallery, the decision-making process, results and lessons learned. You’ll walk away with proven techniques to make social media the frosting on top.