SIC 2051 Bread, Cake, and Related Products
SIC 2051
This industry is comprised of establishments that make fresh or frozen breads or rolls and perishable bakery products such as cakes, pies, and pastries. Manufacturers of dry bakery products such as cookies and crackers are classified in SIC 2052: Cookies and Crackers. Establishments involved in manufacturing frozen bakery products other than bread are classified in SIC 2053: Frozen Bakery Products, Except Bread. On-premises, retail bakeries are classified in SIC 5461: Retail Bakeries.
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Commercial Bakeries
The value of goods shipped by the commercial bakery industry in the mid-2000s totaled $23.8 billion. In 2004, private label brands dominated the traditional sliced white bread category, holding a 27 percent market share. The remainder of the industry was distributed among numerous national and regional bakeries, with Wonder Bread holding the number-two position, but only 5.3 percent of the market share.
By 2004, although consumers were buying less bread, they were buying more expensive, higher profit labels. Bread is the second most purchased item at grocery stores, behind carbonated beverages. As a mature industry, bakeries generate most of their growth through higher-end specialty breads. Cost cutting and industry consolidation also have helped to buoy profits. During the 2000s trendy sandwich shops, bakery cafes, and high-end bakeries became increasing popular, which opened up new markets for local and regional bakeries that could provide "hot-out-of-the-oven" European-style breads. In addition, once the diet research moved away from saturated fats and toward whole foods, the low-carb craze lifted the industry's profits back up, since bakers make the least profit on white bread and the most on whole grain, low-carb varieties, which the new low-carb diets promoted.
Historically, the baking industry established itself close to population centers. Because bread and cake products were perishable, proximity to a customer base was a primary concern. One way growing bakeries overcame this geographic constraint was through the purchase of companies in other areas. Many acquisitions and mergers within the industry during the last decades of the twentieth century transformed baking establishments with regional shipping systems into large conglomerates with national distribution networks. In addition, large baking establishments often attracted the attention of other investors. Since 1960 many of the nation's top wholesale bakeries were purchased by food processing companies.
The practice of buying or merging with existing firms had benefits in addition to overcoming problems related to delivering fresh products to the marketplace. Buying and refurbishing existing facilities was often less expensive than building new plants. Buying also helped avoid problems associated with creating excess capacity in specific geographic areas. Despite the trend toward building large corporations, many independent family-owned bakeries remained successful. In 1987 an estimated 56.3 percent of all wholesale bread and cake plants operated with fewer than twenty employees. These small establishments, however, captured only 2.3 percent of the industry's total sales.
The baking industry was monitored and regulated by several governmental agencies. For example, the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare set the definitions and standards used to identify wheat and related products. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulated product quality and mandated procedures by which food additives were to be approved prior to use. Finally, the National Research Council's Food and Nutritional Board (along with the American Medical Association's Council on Foods and Nutrition) published guidelines for enriching bread products with nutrients.
The oldest existing written record of a baked grain product dates back to about 2600 B.C. The earliest known breads were flat and were baked on smooth stones or clay plates. According to a theory held by some historians, the ancient Egyptians created the world's first leavened breads. Leavened bread was made with ingredients possessing the chemical properties necessary to make dough rise. By contrast, unleavened breads were made from doughs that did not rise.
The ability to bake leavened breads may have been developed along with the ability to brew beer, as both processes relied on fermentation. Fermentation refers to a complex chemical process in which organic compounds are broken down into simpler substances. In alcoholic fermentation, the yeast converts a mixture's sugar or starch into carbon dioxide and alcohol. Recipes with sufficient liquid produced beer-like beverages. In mixtures with less liquid, the carbon dioxide produced by the fermentation process made the dough rise.
Fermentation of wheat and water mixtures was accomplished through the incorporation of yeast. Yeast is a member of the fungus family. Although an individual "yeast" is a single-celled organism, it lives and grows by multiplying into cultures consisting of thousands of cells. In order to grow, the cells eat the sugar and starch in dough mixtures. Early yeasts were incorporated into recipes by letting doughs sit out for a period of time to "sour." These wild yeast cultures, once established in a dough mixture, were carefully maintained through a process whereby some dough from each batch was saved to incorporate into the next batch. Before the development of commercial yeast, all leavened bread was made from sourdoughs. Sourdough breads are still made from flour, water, yeast, and bacteria.
Although many grains and other products could be fermented, wheat flours were the only ones to exhibit leavening. Wheat possessed a type of gluten (plant protein) unlike the gluten of other grains. Wheat gluten, when kneaded, formed an elastic structure that had the unique ability to trap the carbon dioxide given off by the yeast and to stretch and expand as more gas was created. When leavened doughs were baked, the heat killed the yeast but the dough's expanded structure remained. As a result, leavened breads were lighter and more airy than their unleavened counterparts.
The ancient Egyptians are also sometimes credited with inventing ovens. According to one theory, the first "ovens" were earthen pots. Early bakers discovered that when dough was placed inside preheated pots, it cooked more evenly than it did when placed on top of a heat source. The construction of permanent oven structures soon followed. Along with the development of ovens came the development of bread varieties as bakers experimented with different shapes and different ingredients. Sweet cakes first appeared in the twelfth century B.C. During the classical era, the Greeks modified oven designs and introduced the use of more innovative ingredients including milk, oil, wine, cheese, and honey.
Commercial bakeries first appeared in the Roman Empire. Under early Roman rule, baking progressed to an art form. As the Empire began to crumble, however, bakeries were taken over by the government, and commercial baking became virtually nonexistent. White flour was a luxury available only to royalty. During the Middle Ages, only monasteries and manor houses baked large quantities of leavened...
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