Adapting Food Manufacturing to Gain a Competitive Advantage

Food manufacturers are always looking for an edge. In the competitive healthy snack market, the need to stand out from competitors is a must. Previously, the best way to go about differentiating oneself from competition might be to offer consumers new flavors, or different health benefits. But when the list of nutrition bar flavors and health benefits is already too complicated for average consumers to appreciate, manufacturers need to find new ways to stand out from the crowd.

The Benefits of a No-Bake, No-Freeze Nutrition Bar

Baking and freezing are so entrenched as key methods in our food production processes that many manufacturers choose to overlook the inefficiencies and quality control issues inherent in these methods. If producers were to eliminate freezing and baking from the production process, not only could they create better products, but they may be able to do it at a lower cost with a shorter production schedule.

Baking may often cause nutrient loss in foods due to the high temperatures involved and can also lead to quality control headaches as small variations in temperature or timing can affect quality and consistency. As a result, baking requires additional resources to ensure a high-quality product that meets expectations. Similarly, freezing can sometimes alter the texture or flavor of certain foods and requires specialized storage space which can limit production capacities.

On the flip side, there are several potential producer and consumer benefits to no-bake, no-freeze bars, including:

Friendly Ingredients - Baked foods often contain common allergens such as wheat, eggs, and dairy. No-bake bars are easily made without these allergens, making them accessible to a broader group of consumers. Additionally, no-bake bars are versatile. They are easy to customize if you want to adjust sweetness, and texture, or add additional healthy ingredients. Not to be outdone, no-freeze bars preserve the integrity and nutrient content of delicate ingredients like fruits, vegetables, and popular superfoods.

Streamlined Production Process - Freezing and baking require energy, bulky specialized equipment, storage space, and expert human resources to maintain the schedule of production needed. These factors add to production time and costs. No-bake, no-freeze bars are more sustainable and can be quicker and easier to produce in large quantities

Cost and Convenience - In addition to reducing production costs by streamlining the manufacturing process no-bake, no-freeze bars may also have longer shelf lives than traditionally produced nutrition bars. They are convenient for producers, retailers, and consumers alike as they are easy to store and transport, and don't require refrigeration.

Strategic responses to changing food trends usually fall into one of two categories. Passive, such as providing better nutritional information, or educating consumers. Or active, such as developing new product lines for specific dietary needs, and reformulating existing products to reduce/remove or replace some ingredients. However, one of the most overlooked active responses to a changing market is the production process itself. If you have the courage to embrace change, adapting your manufacturing process to become more agile and streamlined often produces amazing results.