The new trade show All Things Baking shouldn’t need much description. The goal of its sponsors — the Retail Bakers of America (RBA), the American Bakers Association (ABA) and BEMA — is to bring together everything related to the baking industry under one roof for three days of meeting suppliers, catching up on the latest industry trends and finding creative ideas for products and the business. The show takes place Oct. 2-4 at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center in Schaumburg (Chicago), IL.

All Things Baking replaces the annual RBA convention. According to Kimberly Hardcastle, marketing director of All Things Baking, this change came about when the industry began perceiving RBA as largely a cake decorating show, and RBA was losing bread bakers and other culinary professionals. All Things Baking welcomes bakers, caterers, restaurateurs, pastry chefs, chocolatiers and bakery directors as well as cake decorators. RBA, ABA and BEMA hope to fill the need for a national trade show in the gap left by the triennial International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE) while targeting a more specific audience than IBIE.


While much of All Things Baking revolves around retail bakeries, AIB International will be leading educational sessions every day of the conference on topics directly related to the commercial baker (see “AIB Seminar Schedule” to the right). Each session costs $10, or attendees can purchase a $75 all-access pass. ABA, BEMA, Kendall College and The French Pastry School will lead some of the educational sessions, which will provide solutions and ideas bakers can apply and adapt to their own businesses. Some sessions will cover business topics such as managing today’s employees and pricing strategies for the current economy. Representatives from bakeries of all sizes and capacities attending All Things Baking can also participate in demonstrations and hands-on and interactive baking classes.

Those registering before Sept. 24 will pay $50, and later registration runs $75. For more information or to register for the show, visitwww.allthingsbaking2011.com.