Articles by Douglas J. Peckenpaugh

These days, you can have your cake and eat it, too. Today's sweet bakery treats like cakes, pies, cheesecakes, and cookies often combine the best of multiple worlds, bridging apparent gaps between indulgence, better-for-you and specialized dietary choices, clean label, sound functionality, and globally minded sustainability.

During the interview for our September issue cover story profile on fast-growing entrepreneurial brand Ka-Pop! Snacks, a company founded and led by Dustin Finkel, he talked about the need to keep the joy in better-for-you snacking.

Ka-Pop! Snacks launched in April of 2018 with a core line of Ancient Grain Popped Chips, and the word about the brand started to spread. Then an appearance on "Shark Tank" to kick off 2020 brought Finkel's visionary snack concept to the world, catalyzing brand growth. Most recently, Ka-Pop! Snacks added a line of Ancient Grain Puffs, and product distribution continues to expand across the U.S., and into international markets.

Freshness attracts attention in today's baking industry. It communicates the quintessential ideal of product quality and enjoyment. It's essential to the success of any bakery product.

We are a nation divided. America has grown increasingly polarized across our political and social spectrum, and this national anxiety will, unfortunately, increase as the COVID-19 pandemic continues and the November elections approach.

One of the fascinating aspects of today's snack industry is the supreme flexibility of the term "snack." Almost anything can constitute a snack, given the right portion size, its relative convenience, and requisite craveability.

Flavor trends across the snack and bakery market can gain inspiration from any number of directions, including prevailing currents in foodservice, ethnic items gaining more-widespread appeal, interest in better-for-you foods, and more.

In early 2020, as the COVID-19 crisis began to ripple through our global society, we largely retreated to our homes, and began snacking.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S., shoppers began to frantically stock up on select food products. Due to its convenience and comfort-food appeal, frozen pizza was a top choice, and retailers soon found themselves with dwindling supplies as American society braced for the worst.

The past year has provided several key indicators that fresh bread products, including packaged bread, bagels, and English muffins, are gaining new levels of consumer interest.