Florianne Dudragne discusses Baking with Lesaffre and how the immersive L.I.F.E 2035 experience offers a tangible, sensory vision of a desirable future for the industry
In this exclusive interview feature, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Florianne Dudragne to discuss Baking with Lesaffre as well as L.I.F.E 2035 – the Lesaffre Immersive Futures Experience, an inspiring vision for the future of baking that was unveiled at IBA 2025 in Düsseldorf.
Could you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your role at Lesaffre?
I’m Florianne Dudragne and I am the Business Opportunity Manager for Lesaffre and more particularly for Baking with Lesaffre, meaning that my role is to understand what’s happening in the baking industry all over the world, both at consumer level – so what consumers are looking for in the future of bakery – and of course at our customers’ level, to help them find solutions for the end consumers.
Many of us already know that Lesaffre has a long-standing reputation in fermentation and baking innovation. Could you give us a quick overview of Baking with Lesaffre and how it supports bakers globally?
Well, Baking with Lesaffre works closely with populations around the world to develop innovative baking solutions: yeasts, sourdoughs, improvers, mixes, premixes and blends for craft and industrial bakers, chains, food services and the general public. Leveraging on our international network of over 50 Baking Center™, our industrial expertise, and our R&D capabilities, we are a trusted partner providing baking solutions that cater to the needs of today and the trends of tomorrow.
Could you expand on your 50+ Baking Center™ network and research and development teams? More specifically, how do they help you stay close to evolving consumer and market needs?
All over the world, within the group, we have a network of more than 50 Baking Center™ that are really close to our customers in different countries.
These are places where customers have the opportunity to exchange with our technical teams about issues they may have with their production, but also to discover new products and new innovations that will help them.
And from your perspective, what are the key baking trends and business opportunities shaping the industry?
I like to summarise trends around three pillars, because there are so many trends shaping the business that it’s difficult to speak about all of them in a short time.
First, we all work in an unstable environment. It’s getting more and more difficult to predict what will happen in the future. Today, geopolitical issues, pandemics, environmental challenges – these are no longer “what if” questions, but things we must consider in every project.
This means thinking carefully about raw materials: where we source them, their price, and possible fluctuations – especially for commodities like flour. Energy is another key element. So that’s the first pillar: instability and environmental pressure.
How do you see these issues influencing both industrial and artisan bakers when it comes to product development?
When it comes to product development, there are different ways of considering these issues.
First, raw material price and availability mean thinking more about local sourcing, which often also means reformulating products. We also think about energy: how to decrease baking times to lower energy consumption.
Optimising all production steps is really key today.
Then there’s the question of communication around sustainability. Bakers need to be able to share real proof with consumers – not just greenwashing concepts, but facts and labels that show what they are actually doing.
Read the full interview in our latest issue here
