KANSAS CITY — While the baking industry has excellent household penetration, it is a strength that may be in peril, said Vince Melchiorre, Bimbo Bakeries USA.

A member of the Grain Foods Foundation checkoff committee, Mr. Melchiorre participated in a panel discussion about key baking industry issues to be addressed by a baked foods checkoff program.

“With younger people, in terms of (baked foods) purchase frequency, we’re not as strong as we were,” Mr. Melchiorre said.

The panel discussion featured participation by numerous leaders of the milling and baking industries.

Moderated by Joshua Sosland, editor of Milling & Baking News and president of Sosland Publishing Co., the panel discussion was conducted during 2020 and is being distributed in brief segments by the GFF.

Mr. Melchiorre’s comments may be heard in their entirety by clicking here.

Other committee members participating in the panel discussion (conducted in two sessions) were Chad Donvito (King’s Hawaiian), Brian Dwyer (The Kroger Co.), Dan Dye (Ardent Mills), Pete Frederick (steering committee co-chair; Grain Craft), Tony Martin (Martin’s Famous Pastry Shoppe), Mr. Melchiorre (Bimbo Bakeries USA), and Debo Mukherjee (steering committee co-chair; Flowers Foods).