French yeast manufacturer Lesaffre has opened its baking centre in Austria to cater to the industrial bakery sector.

       The Vienna Baking Center has been opened to support the firm’s customers to develop new products and processes.

       Lesaffre CEO Antoine Baule said: “Innovation is part of the company’s genes and will be one of the keys to meeting the many challenges of tomorrow.

       “We want to help our customers by co-developing with them technical and industrial solutions that meet their own innovation needs. Setting up this Baking Center in the heart of a region that plays such an important role in the evolution of food trends is essential for Lesaffre.”

       “We offer our customers and partners the possibility to carry out tests on our premises by simulating their own conditions and constraints.”

       Spread over more than 600m2, the Vienna Baking Center features ‘an ultra-modern pilot industrial bakery’ that is built around four zones, comprising a dough preparation zone, a shaping area, a cold treatment section with a forced-air freezing cell, and a baking zone.

       This centre enables the firm to enhance the services offered to its industrial customers, thereby opening development opportunities in Europe.

       Additionally, the facility features a laboratory area dedicated to evaluating the quality of finished products.

       The Vienna Baking Center joins an international network of 40 centres across the globe. This centre is claimed to be first that is dedicated to the firm’s industrial customers.

       The establishment of this centre is in line with Lesaffre’s strategic priorities of innovation and customer service.

       Lesaffre Oriental and Central Europe Area president Jér?me Lebriez said: “In this new Baking Center, suited to industrial scale pilot trials, we offer our customers and partners the possibility to carry out tests on our premises by simulating their own conditions and constraints, and without disrupting their productions. This will allow us to develop tailor-made solutions with them.”