LAS VEGAS — If a baker attended IBIE, it’s likely they visited — or at least saw — three of the show’s largest exhibitors — AMF Bakery Systems, Middleby Bakery and Linxis Group — who were all located in the $1 billion, 1.4 million square foot Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall that opened in June 2021. Each of these global companies owns several brands, which can be challenge when marketing diverse product lines under one cohesive banner during the biggest bakery show in the Western Hemisphere. How did they develop and execute their strategy for their massive footprints on the show floor? Award-winning tradeshow industry journalist Danica Tormohlen spoke with top executives at each booth to find out.
AMF Bakery Systems
With nearly 15,000 square feet of exhibit space across five booths at IBIE, AMF Bakery Systems, part of the Markel Food Group family of companies, made a big impression on attendees who arrived through the front entrance to the West Hall. Commercial bakery buyers could see equipment in action, grab a fresh latte from a barista and taste fresh baked samples in the Lights Out Bakery Café, where master bakers crafted a wide range of sweet and savory artisan bread and roll products that were made possible in highly automated environments on the AMF Tromp SFA sheeting line on display.
With a broad range of products, technology and solutions, AMF Bakery Systems supports bakeries with unit equipment and complete system solutions to optimize operations, improve product quality and empower a bakery team. The family of companies brings together its many brands: AMF Fusion, AMF Flex, AMF Tromp, AMF BakeTech, AMF Den Boer, AMF Vesta, AMF Convay, AMF PackTech, AMF Workhouse and AMF APEX.
“In terms of our family of brands, we want to present as one fully integrated company,” said Diana Boxey, global marketing director at AMF Bakery Systems. “The reason we present as sub-brands is because we’ve got a certain level of specialization within each area of the baking process, and having separate booths allows us to tell a clearer story.”
AMF’s footprint at IBIE 2022 was significantly larger than at the 2019 show.
“It’s a village of our family of brands,” Boxey said. “The Lights Out concept is focused on our moonshot vision to develop through digitalization and automation for sustainable bakery operations. Our brands have evolved, especially with the acquisition of the Tromp Group in 2016.”
The SFA Sheeting Line was honored in the 2022 IBIE Best in Baking awards for its sanitary design.
For more, watch Commercial Baking’s Innovation Minute with AMF Bakery Systems booth at IBIE 2022.
Middleby
With a two-story view from a meeting room in its collection of three booths, Middleby presented its turnkey bakery solutions to accelerate processing, increase yields, expand capacity, reduce costs, maximize sanitation, maintain consistency and practice sustainability.
“At this show, we’re showing industrial food processing and the commercial foodservice,” said Carolynn Coiner, marketing director, Middleby Processing and Packaging Technology Brands. “One of the reasons I chose to have a two-story meeting room was that you could see the full depth of Middleby from front to back. When you go up there, you can see the back-of-the-house kitchen into what’s behind the video screen, as well as what happens in the retail space and then also what has gone on in food processing.”
Baker attendees could consult with Middleby food technologists onsite for everything from recipe development to specific testing and product customization. “Our biggest desire here is for people to see the innovations that we’ve created and the opportunities we have in development for individual customers,” Coiner said. “We’re a group of many brands, but it doesn’t all just fall under one name.”
Middleby’s brands include Auto-Bake Serpentine, Baker Thermal Solutions, Burford Corp., Glimek, Spooner Vicars, Stewart Systems, Sveba Dahlen, Armor Inox, Hinds-Bock, Key-Log, ProPacInc, Scanico and Vemac.
“We feel it’s important to be at IBIE,” Coiner said. “There’s a lot of development that’s gone on, and obviously things are different as far as what’s happened with COVID and how the world is changing.”
For more, watch Commercial Baking’s Innovation Minute with Middleby’s Auto-Bake Serpentine brand at IBIE 2022.
Linxis Group
Shick Esteve, a Linxis Group company, offers full-system equipment solutions and process design. Located in a block of booths, Shick Esteve and other Linxis Group companies highlighted their cutting-edge innovations suitable for any bakery’s specialized needs.
“For us, it was very important to have all the Linxis group companies together right in one space,” said Jason Stricker, VP of sales and marketing for Shick Esteve. “We’re composed of global market leaders in various segments of the industry, and we wanted our customers to come to a centralized space and talk to those leaders and experts without having to go all across the show.”
Highlighting a wide variety of ingredient handling, mixing, flour recovery, depositing and other solutions, Linxis Group showcased the latest in automation and process design. Shick Esteve and its Linxis Group partners hosted daily receptions from 3 to 5 p.m.
“Our booth also gave customers an opportunity to experience our Linxis Group mentality, where we bring expertise together with customers to their benefit,” Stricker said. “When customers are in a centralized place like this, they really see the interaction. They understand we are a group. Even though we’re individual companies and brands, they know we integrate well together, we interact well together, and we all have the same mindset, which is how can we best apply what we do. That’s why we occupied the footprint that we did.”
For more, watch the video interview with Jason Stricker from Shick Esteve and Linxis Group booth at IBIE 2022.
