Keep your bakery competitive with the help of automation

Butter. Sugar. Automation. For today’s bakeries, secret ingredients are looking a little different.

But with the tighter margins, more expensive ingredients, and talent shortages, Canadian bakeries are feeling the heat.

There’s no singular fix to address the rising input costs, labour gaps, and consumer demands, but automation is emerging as a powerful tool that can help businesses stay efficient, competitive, and innovative.

So, what role could automation play in your bakery and what should you consider before taking the plunge? Let’s find out.

The baking industry’s current challenges

Before we can talk about automation, let’s talk about the challenges facing bakeries across the country.

Increased economic pressure

Over the past three years, sales of baked goods have been influenced by price increases. For 2025, Farm Credit Canada Economics forecasts sales to decline by 3.9 percent and volumes (sales adjusted for inflation) to fall by 1.8 percent.

Today’s bakeries will continue to deal with high costs of sugar, egg, oil, and cocoa prices. This will put even more pressure on margins that are already tight from 2023’s grain price increase, which impacted the price of flour (a baking staple).

Labour shortages

Like many industries, the baking industry is the midst of a talent shortage. Particularly, bakeries are having a hard time finding and retaining skilled bakers, along with general labourers.

These days, bakery owners may want to consider attracting a new generation of worker or re-skilling their existing ones to meet the mechanical and technical requirements of future production lines.

Consumer trends

Customer preferences are always evolving. And so should your bakery. More and more people are looking at ingredient lists and, as such, the demand for gluten-free, whole grain, and artisanal products has increased. To meet these expectations, along with seasonal and regional preferences, your bakery needs to be agile.

How automation can help

Automation is quickly becoming a practical solution for many of the issues your bakery may be facing. Perhaps you need to combine your ingredients with precision, adjust your production based on real-time demand, or scale your packaging. Automation can help you be faster, more consistent, and more labour efficient.

Here’s how it can help:

Labour support:

Automated systems can take over repetitive tasks, like tray stacking or wrapping products. This reduces the strain on your workers and decreased the need for manual labour in some of the more hard-to-fill roles.

Waste reduction:

AI-integrated solutions can help you adapt your production to actual demand which, in turn, sets you up to avoid both running out of products and end-of-day spoilage from too many. Consistent portioning and baking times also cuts down on ingredient waste.

Product innovation and flexibility:

Modern automation systems allow your bakery to test and launch new products faster, helping you to meet the evolving demands of your customers. In addition to new products, these systems offer you the flexibility to handle different product formats, shapes, and sizes. All while ensuring the same great quality.

Please keep in mind that automation doesn’t replace your team. What it does is improve their productivity and supports your bakery’s ability to scale, adjust, and deliver goods of consistent quality.