IBIE Announces 2025 BEST In Baking Awards Winners

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE) — the largest and most comprehensive event in the Western Hemisphere 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, Sept. 15, beginning at 9 a.m. in the West Hall lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

2025 INDUSTRY HONORS INCLUDE:

1. 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
Avena Foods Ltd. – Best Pulse Visco Enhancer (PVE) | Booth 7548
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

2. SUSTAINABLE Packaging Innovation — NEW FOR 2025

This category recognizes companies that have introduced sustainable packaging, including primary or secondary product packaging, for retail, wholesale, food service, e-commerce, 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
KLR Systems – Terra Clip | Booth 2675
Formost Fuji Corp. – Alpha 8 Horizontal Flow Wrappers Booth 1500
Puratos – EcoPak: Journey to Sustainable Packaging | Booth 4131

3. 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 3477
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

4. 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

5. 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 suite of release agents | Booth 2146

AUTOMATION & 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, Vice President, Food & Beverage, CRB Group
Anton Rozich, Director of Project 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,” said 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.”

ABOUT IBIE

The International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE) is recognized worldwide as the grain-based food industry’s largest, most comprehensive trade event in the Western Hemisphere. A “working show” where millions of dollars of business is conducted daily, IBIE brings the entire professional baking community together, offering the complete range of equipment, supply, and ingredient solutions and showcasing the newest baking technology—all under one roof. IBIE is owned by the American Bakers Association (ABA) and the Bakery Equipment Manufacturers and Allieds (BEMA), with support from the Retail Bakers of America (RBA). All proceeds from this non-profit event are invested back into the industry. 