Baking group focuses on advocacy in tough setting

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. — Amid a “more complex and unpredictable environment than any one of us in this room could have ever predicted a few years ago,” the American Bakers Association is making major moves to better position the baking industry for future success, said Eric Dell, president and chief executive officer of the ABA.

In a presentation that included announcements of new initiatives, Dell launched the general session of the ABA annual meeting April 20 at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs with a review of the group’s stepped-up advocacy work over the past year, including industry-wide efforts to change the ingredient profile of baked foods in line with changing consumer preferences. The ABA plans will devote even greater resources to these efforts in the year ahead, Dell said. He also reviewed two new planned industry group affiliations announced in recent months and then unveiled a third, global affiliation.

Federal policy, including the latest version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and Dell said the ABA has stepped up its advocacy activities with Congress. He highlighted the group’s Bake for America campaign, aimed at reaching “key policy makers during the creation of the MAHA (make America healthy again) report.”

“We made a deliberate and strategic decision to directly engage the policymakers in Washington with an advocacy communications program that reinforced the positive role that this industry has in creating American jobs, strengthening our communities and providing safe, accessible and affordable food for all of our communities,” Dell said. “This campaign was about education and was strategically time to reach key policy makers during the creation of the MAHA report.”

Building on the Bake for America campaign and tapping into the success of the 2025 IBIE, Dell announced the ABA is “launching the next phase of this effort” through the engagement of a global public relations firm.

“This timely, six-figure, investment made possible by the IBIE proceeds will amplify our reach through Washington and across the country,” Dell said. “In the States, the focus is on expanding engagement with the people shaping future policy.”

Dell credited the bakers for “tangible commitments in the ingredient space,” including the phasing out of certain artificial colors in schools and the broader marketplace and completing the elimination of ADA (azodicarbonamide, a dough conditioner and bleaching agent) and potassium bromate (dough conditioner) in baked foods.

To succeed in the marketplace, the baking industry will need to walk a tightrope in its advocacy and its actions, staying mindful of market realities that in some cases do not appear to be grounded in sound science.

“We’re remaining committed to science-based advocacy while meeting the consumer where the consumer is,” Dell said.

Even as he discussed the ABA’s expanding commitment to elevating the industry’s voice, Dell said instant fixes to the gap between what baking does and the public perception should not be expected.

“This work is a marathon and not a sprint,” Dell said.

To shore up its advocacy capabilities, especially at the state level, the ABA has engaged HB Strategies, a Washington-based consulting group with 13 offices spread across the country, Dell said. The relationship allows the ABA not only to track legislative activities at the state level but also positions the organization to engage in advocacy at the state level.

The group also is stepping up its efforts in the Capital.

In a panel titled “Shaping the Future of Baking,” American Bakers Association president and CEO Eric Dell (far left) moderated a chat on the current state of the baking industry with (left to right) Paula Marshall, chair and CEO of The Bama Companies; Brian LeComte, president and chief operating officer of Gold Medal Bakery; Tyson Yu, CEO of Aspire Bakeries; and Bill Quigg, president of Richmond Baking.

| Photo: American Bakers Association

“We established the UPF (ultra-processed foods) member task force to build industry consensus on one of the most complex and evolving issues that the industry is facing,” Dell said. “The ABA has moved to strengthen the flow of communication with our members of Congress and their staff members on Capitol Hill through the congressional baking caucus.”

To maximize the effectiveness of its advocacy work, establishing and strengthening affiliations with other baking groups has been an area of major activity for the ABA over the past year. In addition to highlighting steps already taken, Dell said the ABA is not finished yet, emphasizing in each case value propositions for each organization involved in the partnerships.

“The recent announcement for the intention to affiliate with the Retail Bakers of America will build upon our already close working relationship with RBA,” he said. “Creating a unified voice between the retail and commercial baker in the advocacy space is critical to the success with policy makers. This collaboration will deliver all of that, plus an enhanced value to both of our memberships.”

He noted that earlier in April, the ABA and the RBA signed a memorandum of understanding with the Baking Association of Canada to explore a “deeper relationship across North America.”

“Like our affiliation with RBA, this effort is about aligning where it makes sense, while respecting the unique role that each organization plays for their unique membership,” Dell said.

Even as the groups work to formalize their relationships, they are finding meaningful ways to work together immediately, Dell said. For example, he said the three groups are in the midst of planning a joint webinar seminar addressing on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that he said “will provide advocacy value across all three of our memberships.”

Dell went on to announce for the first time a third partnership that the ABA was working to establish, this time with the Association Internationale de la Boulangerie Industrielle (AIBI) ­— a trade organization representing commercial bakers across Europe.

Dubbed the Global Baking Council, the initiative envisages bringing together bakers from around the world.

“Because the challenges we face are no longer confined by our borders, we are taking decisive action to bring together these associations who advocate on behalf of the baking manufacturing industry across the globe,” Dell said.

Strengthening commercial baking’s advocacy worldwide will be the group’s principal focus, together with sharing insights about emerging trends, he said. An inaugural gathering will take place in May at an AIBI conference in France.