Modern Dessert Trends Drive Bakery Industry Innovation
The bakery and pastry industry in Indonesia continues to develop in line with the public’s growing interest in bread, cakes, and modern desserts. Consumers now consider not only taste but also appearance, texture, and the overall experience when enjoying a product. This condition is pushing businesses to continuously innovate in order to compete in an increasingly dynamic market.
This shift in consumption trends has also made skill enhancement a crucial need for bakery businesses, ranging from micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to large-scale bakeries. Beyond mastering production techniques, business owners are required to understand the characteristics of raw materials to produce consistent products with high market value.
Sugianto Soenario, President Director of PT Wahana Interfood Nusantara Tbk, stated that innovation is the key for bakery businesses to respond to changing consumer tastes. He explained that the company aims to share application techniques and knowledge about raw material characteristics so that participants can create quality products that add value to their businesses.
According to him, practical education is one way to help businesses develop their products while increasing competitiveness. This was realised through a training session called Baking with Schoko, which featured demonstrations of modern bakery and dessert-making techniques.
During the training, participants learned to make several menu items considered to have business potential, such as London Layers Chocolate Cake, Iceberg Cheesecake, Nagasari Maizena Chocolate Lumer, and Brazilian Cheese Bread. In addition to hands-on product making, participants also discussed recipe formulation, processing techniques, raw material application, and methods to maintain consistent production quality on a business scale.
The phenomenon of increasing innovation needs in the bakery sector aligns with the growth of the national food and beverage industry. Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows that the food and beverage industry has remained the largest contributor to Indonesia’s non-oil and gas processing industry in recent years. Meanwhile, the trend of consuming desserts and artisanal products continues to grow, influenced by social media and the rising public interest in unique culinary experiences.
Food industry observers assess that the success of a bakery product today is no longer determined solely by taste. Attractive visual factors, ease of sharing on social media, and the ability to provide a novel experience are important considerations for consumers, especially the younger generation.
Consequently, businesses are required to be more adaptive in reading trends without neglecting raw material quality and production efficiency. Recipe innovations that are easy to apply and have economic value can be a strategy to expand the market, particularly for the MSMEs that dominate the bakery sector in Indonesia.