At IBIE in September, International Bakery Editor Joseph Clarke sat down with Andrew Brimacombe, President of Puratos USA and incoming President Puratos North America, to discuss innovation, sustainability and consumer insights…
Could you give us an introduction to yourself and your journey to date with Puratos?
I started my career in management consulting, based in London, and then had the opportunity to move into the baking industry about 12 years ago. I worked for ARYZTA in Europe before transitioning to the United States around 11 years ago. I joined Puratos in 2018 as President of the US business.
It’s been a great journey so far. At the end of this year, Paul Bakus, who currently heads North America – which we organise as the US, Mexico and Canada – will retire. When that happens, my responsibilities will expand to include both Canada and Mexico.
What would you say you are hoping to bring to the new role over the coming years?
First of all, energy and passion for the industry. I love the baking industry and the people in it, and I want to see it succeed and thrive. From a business perspective, I think we’ve done a good job in the US, making clear strategic choices.
What we’ve tried to do is make those strategic choices guided by our Taste Tomorrow insights, following trends and doing things that genuinely help our customers succeed. I want to scale that good work and continue to have a positive impact on the industry.
The Puratos vision, both globally and across North America, is about making an impact on the industry and driving both the industry and the planet forward. I believe I have the energy, hunger, and passion to help us do that, and I’m excited to bring that to Canada and Mexico as well.
Moving into bakery developments, what would you say are the standout trends you’ve seen this year?
If we start at a high level, there’s a lot of geopolitical uncertainty in the world, and that’s influencing many forces in our industry. Because of this, at IBIE, we decided to organise our booth around three themes.
The first is speed of innovation. Customers are having to respond quickly and pivot because uncertainty is putting pressure on volumes. To support that, we’ve created a pilot bakery at our headquarters in Pennsauken, New Jersey, where we’ve added a scale-up line. We can now take concepts from the bench to commercialisation in a real production environment. We partnered with AMF to make that possible.
The second theme is cost pressure. You have to be either differentiated, premium, and leaning into health and wellbeing, or you’re under strong cost pressure at the other end. We’re seeing growth in both areas. We’ve introduced cost-reduction solutions to help bakers cut fat, sugar, and oil content while maintaining quality, helping them manage material costs.
The third theme is clean label. Here in the US there’s been a lot of talk around MAHA (Make America Healthy Again). I think whether you like MAHA or not, it has brought the idea of clean-label into the mainstream, and it’s made it a real discussion point.
Sustainability is another common discussion point, not just for this industry but across all sectors. What does sustainability look like at Puratos?
Sustainability is absolutely core to Puratos, and it was one of the main things that attracted me to the company when I joined. We look at sustainability through three key pillars: Better Life, Better Health, and Better Planet.
For Better Life, we focus on supporting communities. A great example of this is our Bakery Schools programme, which began in India. We now have 13 bakery schools around the world with roughly 600 students. The idea is to address two needs: our customers require skilled bakers, and many communities need opportunities for employment. The schools provide education and career paths for young people while helping the industry secure its future talent. We opened our first bakery school in an OECD country, in the US, in 2022, and it’s been a real success story.
For Better Planet, we’re working hard to reduce CO₂ emissions. We’re addressing Scope 1 and 2 emissions through projects like our CO₂-neutral plant and our zero-waste-to-landfill initiatives. But we also want to help customers reduce their Scope 3 emissions. Generally, Scope 1 and 2 account for just 3–4% of emissions, with Scope 3 making up the remaining 97%. So, we’re working with our supply base on practices such as regenerative agriculture to scale up solutions that make a broader impact.
And to round out the third pillar, Better Health, one of our global strategic goals, championed by Pierre, our CEO, is the belief that people will continue to seek higher-quality ingredients in their food over time.
In bakery, that means helping to deliver more of the good, less of the bad – less sugar and salt, more fruit, grains, and wholesome ingredients. Our product offering reflects that approach. For example, we have our Puraslim range, which helps reduce fat content while maintaining quality. These solutions improve nutrition and, in some cases, reduce costs too.
We also have a programme called Calling for Caring, which focuses on employee health and wellbeing. It’s not just about making great products – it’s about walking the talk inside our organisation. The programme includes initiatives around benefits, mental health, physical wellbeing, and the overall employee experience.
Read the full interview in our latest issue here
