California Raisins was in charge of organizing the forum “Innovation in bakery for retail”. For the first time, California Raisins introduced an innovative online forum format, attended by numerous VIP guests, moderated by Darinel Becerra, editorial director and partner of Retailers.mx, and led by Marc Misseri, independent chef and consultant, with a 40-year trajectory in gastronomy, being the creator of La Balance in Mexico and serving as Innovation Director at El Globo until the end of 2021.
One of the theme lines of the event was that “innovation is going back to the basics with iconic products from the world’s bakery, with re-studied formulas aligned to the new demands of the consumer”, as Marc Misseri Bastide pointed out, and at the same time, he exposed the concept of “reasoned and reasonable abundance, since we are making better nutritional products every time; but in retail, sometimes we don’t give them the significance they deserve”.
This webinar aimed to reach an audience of more than 300 bakery professionals and talk about the different ways in which California Raisins can be included in the baking industry, with two of the most important opinion leaders as speakers.
The renowned Chef, Irving Quiroz, addressed different topics on existing trends at baking in this free webinar, obtaining more than 2,300 download requests, and exceeding 660 attendees, which included bakery professionals and gastronomy students.
In November 2021, California Raisins sponsored the International Gourmet Festival in Vallarta. We were able to generate over 30 trade leads and have presence during the event with raisins and cheese boards in 2 of the participating restaurants during the opening as well as during the wine festival, with the participation of the best international and Mexican vineyards.
The California Raisins Administrative Committee participated in Expo Pan (the pioneer exhibition for the bakery, pastry, pizza, ice cream and coffee industry in Mexico) with over 500 visitors.
Chef Irving Quiroz prepared a recipe using and mentioning the versatility and quality that California raisins provide to the bakery.
The event, in addition to the digital campaign on Expo Pan’s Facebook (with 55k followers), was supported by a campaign with a newsletter, publication in a digital magazine and banners on the Alfa Editores site, with a reach of 434,400 impressions.
To support this activity, Irving Quiroz conducted a Webinar with Larousse Cocina called “Baking Techniques to Attract New Customers”, where bakery professionals were invited and were taught the business side of the industry and how to be more attractive to consumers, this campaign achieved a total of 2,314 registrations.
One of the objectives of California Raisins is to provide information and promote the consumption of raisins around members of the industry. Due to this, Imalinx contacted FORSUA, the #1 company in Training and Consulting for the Food and Hospitality Industry.
The companies held a two-day webinar focused on the snack, cereal and granola industry. With around 18 attending companies, the webinar “Production and marketing of snacks with raisins”, provided information on how to develop an operations plan to produce snacks using California Raisins as an ingredient that adds value to the products.
The workshop addressed 4 general topics; from the overview of the snack industry to the presentation of the product and labeling. Among these topics, it was also mentioned how to enter the global snack market, being prepared to know how to take advantage of ingredients, packaging and functionality, main topics and crucial drivers for the successful development of snacks and healthy products.
Public relations programs changed completely as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, many of the face-to-face events were canceled, and brand launches migrated to digital.
Fernanda Alvarado, is a teacher in community nutrition with an International Master’s degree in Nutrition and Dietetics from the European University of the Atlantic. She is co-author of the Manual “Learning to Live with Diabetes” of the Universidad Iberoamericana and for more than 10 years, she has been working on the creation of editorial content related to nutrition and a healthy lifestyle for the food industry.
Fernanda is convinced that digital media are an important vehicle for prevention and health care, which is why she generates content that seeks to improve the diet of Mexicans and publishes them on her Blog Bien Comer, Instagram profile with more than 15,300 followers; and YouTube channel with 54,300 subscribers; she also hosts a podcast, a leader in the nutrition, health and wellness category.
Due to the impact of her communication, Imalinx decided to work with Fernanda to increase brand awareness of Pasitas de California, Real California Milk and Kiwi Zespri Vita in the nutritional field.
The campaigns lasted 12 months where 100% digital activities were developed to talk about the benefits of incorporating raisins in the daily diet, even in the bakery, as well as fighting the myths of dairy and promoting its qualities of a natural product . On the other hand, the Kiwi Zespri had a great boost by positioning it as a fruit that provides more than 100% of the vitamin C necessary for an average adult.
Among the most outstanding activities is the Well Eating podcast recorded together with Chef Irving Quiroz to talk about Diet and Bread, with key messages of the contribution of raisins in the bakery. Said podcast reached the # 1 position of the most listened to podcast in 2020. (Listen to it here)
As well as a Youtube Live with Sol Sigal, to talk about the benefits of vitamin C in high performance athletes. And YouTube videos with topics such as: “Are dairy necessary?” / Raisins, a healthy sugar substitute “/” All about butter “/” Dairy myths “. With a total of +121, 245 views.
On December 15, an online seminar was held by Chef Irving Quiroz with a live demo of two seasonal recipes sweetened through California raisins. During the 90-minute session, Chef Irving Quiroz highlighted the natural attributes of raisins, how to incorporate them into seasonal products, and shared about his experience in the fields of Fresno, California when he learned about how are raisins made.
The recipes that Chef Irving developed were a traditional Stollen and a Kouglof, a specialty of German origin whose main characteristic is the “mountain” style shape. The digital recipe book was available to download for each of the registered participants.
The webinar had a total of 527 people registered, and 49% total attendance with 351 users connected. At the same time, it was broadcasted via Facebook with a total of 4,700 views.
The event had an excellent response from the Pasitas de California community, the save the date communication was published on social networks resulting in 2,140 people reached from different areas, mainly Mexico City, Monterrey, the Dominican Republic, Colombia and even some cities in Europe.
During the month of December, Imalinx coordinated a program with 5 renowned chefs from mexico who had the opportunity to cook with dried fruits, dairy and fresh products.
With the aim of promoting the consumption of products such as yellow onions, raisins, California cheese and butter during the holiday season, Imalinx with the support of Beto Lanz coordinatedthis program with 5 renowned chefs across Mexico.
Participating Chefs: Pablo Salas, Bianca Castro, Andrea Martínez, Juan Emilio Villaseñor and Christian González, who developed easy-to-replicate recipes using the previously mentioned ingredients as the star ingredient.
Each of the recipes were published on the Chef’s own digital channels and replicated on the social networks of the brand in order to amplify the reach.
Pablo Salas, from the Amaranta Restaurant, developed a recipe of NY Sliders with yellow onion.
Bianca Castro. Biscottis Pastry baked a total of 3 recipes with California raisin butter, as well as a yellow onion crumble.
Andrea Martinez, from Casa Liebre prepared 2 recipes with California cheese and butter and a pork rind in Raisin Adobo. Also a Pasta made by yellow onion
Juan Emilio Villaseñor, from La Cocinoteca presents us with a recipe for mole with raisins, a butter with garlic and yellow onion stuffed with Cod.
Christian González from Boulangerie Amasijo, innovated by creating a raisin chamoy and a crisp shortbread based on California butter.
Luis Serdio from Corazón de Pollo, with a unique concept of gourmet rotisserie offered a limited edition Buffalo Chicken Sandwich and Mac&Cheese box with California cheeses.
On December 2020, California Raisins held the first edition of the contest “Christmas Bread” with Colectivo Mexicano de Panaderos, A.C. (COMEPAN A.C.).- Mexican Bakers’ Guild The contest was open for every bakery lover with or without experience, but with the same passion: baking.
The objective of the contest was to create a Christmas bread recipe with a unique condition: the bread must include California raisins. The participants sent at least 3 photos in high definition along with a short story about what inspired them to make that recipe. All recipes were presented and submitted for qualification to the jury, with Paulina Herrera, Miren Karmele, Carlos Ramírez, Pietro Lembo and Kenny Kuri; Mexican chefs and bakers that support the Bakery Sector in Mexico.
For the first edition, COMEPAN receive a total of 27 participant recipes, and selected 5 winners who surprised the jury with their Christmas bread recipe and receive $100USD as a prize. Among them was Daniel Sánchez who obtained 1st place in the contest with his product “Christmas Basket”.
After the contest, Pasitas de California developed a digital recipe book with all the creations of the 27 participants who showed their creativity, talent and Christmas spirit into a baked product that captivated the jury at first glance. (link a Receta)
About COMEPAN A.C.
The Colectivo Mexicano de Panaderos (Mexican Bakers’ Guild) is a meeting point for all bakery enthusiasts, professionals, entrepreneurs and enthusiasts in general who share the philosophy of good bread and good baking practices to obtain it, as well as the interest in professionalization and social valuation of the baker’s trade in Mexico.
The month of August began with two online seminars in collaboration with the Mexican Bakers Guild (COMEPAN), a project created by Chefs and Bakers: Irving Quiroz, Bernardo Flores, Kenny Kuri and Carlos Ramírez Roure. The event was sponsored by Real California Milk, California Raisins, and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Monterrey Office.
The invitation was open to the general public with the aim of captivating enthusiasts for the bakery that could later be part of the guild itself. The Seminar was carried out on two dates; August 12 for Mexico City and August 13 for Monterrey, achieving a total record of 3,081 people who connected from Mexico, the United States, Spain and Colombia.
The first date was covered with the participation of Kenny Kuri and Carlos Ramírez Roure who produce Cocoa Bread with pasitas, Vienna Bread, Rye Bread and Peasant Bread. On the other hand, Bernardo Flores and Irving Quiroz showed the techniques For achieving a low fermentation Ciabatta, Marbling Box Bread, Sourdough with Oat Atole and Dark Chocolate Babka.
View stream:
Results.
The Mexican Bakers Guild is a meeting point for all bakery enthusiasts, professionals and entrepreneurs in general who share the philosophy of the goodness of bread. A survey was conducted to explore the opinion and segments of attendees:
| Type of Industry | % |
| Consumer | 22% |
| Distributor | 1% |
| Foodservice | 5% |
| Other | 32% |
| Bakery | 40% |
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| What type of content would you like for future seminars? | % |
| Interviews | 0% |
| Explanation of ingredients | 7% |
| Recipes | 18% |
| Baking techniques | 70% |
| Tips | 5% |