How Boston Baking balances artisan bakes with new-age tech

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How Boston Baking balances artisan bakes with new-age tech

13 Jul 2026

Mari Rydings

Mari Rydings is a versatile content creator, editor and marketer with experience developing dynamic, results-driven materials for B2B and B2C audiences. As the editorial director for Avant Food Media, she leads the day-to-day editorial operations for the company’s print and digital magazines, newsletters and social media platforms. Outside of work, she loves reading, hiking, putting together jigsaw puzzles and spending time with her husband and their twin daughters.

KANSAS CITY, MO — With a boisterous whoop, Bob Boschetto, CEO and founder of Boston Baking, makes his presence known on the production floor. Every team member within earshot echoes the call, eagerly awaiting the handshake, hug or pat on the back that’s guaranteed to follow as he makes his way around to personally greet every person.

This call and response epitomizes the Boston-based company’s culture and reflects a business model that’s been in place since the bakery opened its doors more than 48 years ago. It’s also indicative of how the bakery will handle the growth that’s on the horizon. When customers, consumers, trends and technology call, Boston Baking responds.

“Our objective is to make everyone’s day a little better,” Boschetto said. “What drives us is making sure people enjoy the Boston Baking experience on every possible level.”

It’s a philosophy that fourth-generation baker Kristen Boschetto, owner and GM, grew up with and embraces as she leads the company’s next growth phase. It’s already underway, happening physically with a new 10,000-square-foot expansion, operationally with the ramping up of technology investments and culturally as the team balances artisan with automation.

“We have always believed in a slow, incremental growth strategy,” Kristen said. “The fact that we’re not fully automated allows us the flexibility and versatility to give each one of our customers something different. That’s what sets us apart from our competitors.”

On any given day, the production floor churns out pastries, coffee cakes, brownies, pull-apart frozen cookie pucks, pie shells in various sizes, whoopie pies and blanks, fruit squares and more. Some products are for the Boston Baking brand, which goes to grocery chains, distributors, restaurants and institutions; others are co-manufactured for production partners.

“The fact that we’re not fully automated allows us the flexibility and versatility to give each one of our customers something different. That’s what sets us apart from our competitors.” — Kristen Boschetto | GM and owner | Boston Baking

Even with a wide range of SKUs — 150 and counting — the bakery is committed to preserving many of the hands-on techniques that deliver the texture, character and authenticity its customers expect, integrating automation where it makes sense.

“The balance between hands-on and automation is what attracted me to Boston Baking,” said Carla DePina, director of operations. “We are very careful with adding automation. We don’t automate to replace people; it’s to give them an opportunity to grow. That’s our culture. That’s our mission.”

At the same time, the Boschettos recognize that if they want to grow the business, automation must be part of the equation. In 2025, Boston Baking doubled the amount of capital it typically invests in equipment each year, adding an Empire spiral mixer for pie dough, two ProBAKE mixers, a Reiser HP depositor and break-and-bake cookie system, and a RONDO sheeter.

In the first quarter of this year, the company added a Wexxar tray former and ID Technology C-wrap and label print system from ProMach. And it took its first foray into AI with a Tutor Intelligence palletizing robot named Vega.

“We’re at that level of baking where we’re going to explode and grow,” said John Fisher, Boston Baking’s R&D pastry chef and the lead for identifying areas in need of automated solutions. “We know the future is AI, and we know that robotics is being used more and more in the bakery industry. We asked, ‘What can we jump into that’s not so scary?’”

Vega is one of the first AI-driven — vs. program-driven — robots in the industry. Tutor Intelligence’s rental program offers a low barrier of entry, allowing customers to get accustomed to AI palletizing technology without having to make a significant capital investment. Fisher said the team uploaded a picture of a preferred pallet configuration to Vega, and the robot immediately started to build it, learning how to correct its mistakes along the way.

“One of the reasons for bringing AI into the company is to help integrate the future of the bakery,” Fisher said. “It also improves the work lives of our team members. We want to make sure they still have positions and still feel like they are part of the company. We can move them from a simple job, such as stacking, into another position — like baker or line lead — where they can grow and help support our objectives.”

This story has been adapted from the 2026 New Products Annual of Commercial Baking. Read the full story in the digital edition here.

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