It’s hard to believe it’s already been a month since this year’s IBIE! The show gathered nearly 20,000 baking professionals in Las Vegas, filling the halls with energy, great conversations, and plenty of delicious samples. Across the four busy days, we reconnected with long-standing partners, built exciting new relationships, and showcased a selection of our bakery solutions designed for today’s manufacturers.
Alongside exhibiting our solutions, we also contributed to the educational programme. Dinnie Jordan, our founder and managing director, delivered a talk on ‘Functional Solutions for Sodium Reduction in Bakery’, shedding light on how much sodium we’re really consuming and the hidden sources in baked goods that we don’t always perceive as “salty.” This was reinforced by Matt Ayres’ Q&A with Lin Carson from Bakerpedia, which explored the impact of sodium from baked goods and how we help bakeries overcome the challenges of sodium reduction.
Now IBIE is over for another three years, we have gathered our findings and come up with our top 3 insights that emerged, from conversations at our booth to insights shared in the wider programme of talks, as well as business showcases.
- Cocoa Powder Replacement: A Global Challenge
- Recipe Reformulation Under Pressure
- Thirst for Technical Detail
Cocoa Powder Replacement: A Global Challenge
A common theme we heard from attendees of the show was the continued pressure to bring down costs in cocoa-based products. Rising ingredient prices, unpredictable supply, and reformulation targets are all pushing teams to look for a substitution for cocoa powder. Although many companies initially tried to “ride the wave” of surging cocoa prices, the current outlook for both cost and supply security remains bleak, driving companies to urgently seek solutions to bring costs down, while maintaining brand quality and identity.
R&D and purchasing teams alike were exploring options such as malt powders, barley extracts, and flavour enhancers, with no shortage of potential solutions on display at IBIE. Despite the plethora of cocoa substitution options available to bakers, attendees we spoke to often described challenges when using them. Although they typically deliver colour enhancement, these cocoa alternatives can alter the taste profile of baked goods, rather than deliver the chocolatey flavour their customers expect.
Visitors to the stand were excited to hear that we offer a different way to reduce cocoa costs – enhancing the cocoa, rather than replacing it. ZEUS™ C120 baking powder delivers the consistent aeration of a traditional baking powder, while also enhancing both the taste and colour of cocoa-based baked goods. This enables 25 to 40% cocoa reduction while maintaining flavour, stability, and texture, helping to deliver up to 10% reduction in total recipe costs.
A Thirst for Technical Detail
A clear theme that emerged at IBIE this year was the demand for technical depth and understanding. Customers are no longer satisfied with surface-level introductions to ingredients; they want to understand the science behind them. Directors, buyers, and NPD teams were asking for detailed insights into formulation impacts and application trials, while bakers were especially keen to see how changes in leavening could translate into tangible benefits such as cocoa reductions, healthier products, or longer shelf life.
This highlighted a clear priority: the need to provide not just innovative ingredients, but the technical expertise to apply them with confidence. It is no longer enough to present a solution, the industry wants the story behind it, the data to back it up, and the ability to learn directly from experts who understand the challenges of formulation at a practical level, and luckily, that is what we at Kudos Blends specialise in.
Recipe Reformulation as an Opportunity
Reformulation may not be new, but it’s clear that it continues to be one of the most exciting areas in the baking industry. Rather than a burden, many bakeries see it as a chance to create recipes that are more resilient, flexible, and aligned with future consumer and market demands. Rising ingredient costs, evolving regulations, and changing consumer expectations are driving fresh thinking, and pushing products to become better than ever.
Every baker we spoke with described the same challenge, but also the same opportunity: how to balance taste, quality, and cost while adapting to a fast-moving marketplace. And when approached strategically, reformulation does more than solve today’s issues, it builds recipes that stand the test of time.
Daily key areas of focus in NPD:
- Ingredient innovation – exploring new suppliers, alternatives, and smarter substitutions
- Functionality meets expectations – ensuring texture, flavour, and appearance remain consistent
- Smart cost management – protecting margins while keeping products delicious
- Speed to market – responding quickly to shifting consumer trends and retailer demands
- Processing hurdles – overcoming differences between bench-top trials and full-scale production
In such a fast-moving environment, technologies that ease this process are invaluable. Our goal at IBIE was to demonstrate exactly how our solutions can help reduce the pressures of reformulation and provide bakeries with the flexibility and resilience needed to future-proof their recipes against an unpredictable market.
Looking Ahead
Our four days at IBIE 2025 were more than just time on the show floor to exhibit our products, they were a window into where our industry is heading. From health and flavour innovation to performance demands and smarter cost management, it’s clear that the industry is embracing change with energy and creativity.
We’re grateful for the conversations, the fresh perspectives, and the chance to strengthen old relationships while building new ones.
And of course, we’re already looking forward to seeing how far the industry will have moved by the time IBIE 2028 rolls around!
