For many consumers , pastries are associated with comfort food . When a manufacturer pushes such a concept to the mass production , everybody wins : consumers find their favorites on the shelves , while the producers and retailers increase sales .

THE BIGGEST PLAYERS WORLDWIDE According to Euromonitor , the big - gest pastry manufacturer in the world is now Grupo Bimbo , also the world ’ s largest baker . The Mexican company was established in the late 1800s , but its American story started in 1994 . Grupo Bimbo has acquired companies and extended its range of products to the pastry . Their pas - try history started in 2005 when the company acquired the operator of El Globo pastry chain . Then , El Globo was producing and selling quality pastries via four production facilities and in more than 170 stores . Now Grupo Bimbo presents on the shelves product brands such as Marinela , a delicious variety of pas - tries , and funny cookies - as the com - pany present them - Jos . Louis and May West .

AN IMPORTANT COUNTRY FOR PASTRY PRODUCERS : JAPAN Looking at the next largest global pastry producer we now move to Japan , where we find Yamazaki Ba - king , Japan ' s largest bread-baking cor poration which makes bread , ba - kery products and confectionery . Founded in 1948 by Tojuro Iijima , Yamazaki Baking Co . Ltd . began as a provider of reasonably priced , fresh , high-quality baked goods in the post-World War II era , when most of Japan was still experiencing severe food shortages . Nowadays , the com - pany ' s lineup centers on bread , sweet buns , Japanese-style confec - tionery , Western-style confectionery , processed bread and prepared rice and side dishes , as well as jam , desserts and prepared foods in re tort pouches . Companies in the Yamazaki Baking Group manufac ture a wide variety of products , including bis - cuits , crackers and sem bei ( rice cra c - kers ). These products are sold na - tionwide through super mar kets , con - venience stores and other sales chan - nels . Yamazaki Ba king has also deve - loped its own li censed stores - conve - nience stores and bakeshops . Surprisingly perhaps the third big - gest pastry producer is also from Japan : Fuji Baking Co . Ltd . In May 1922 , Jinju Funahashi opened a ba - kery ; however , the company was first established in 1951 . The com pany now has an annual turnover of YEN 255,600 million and approx . 16,500 employees . It produces bread , cakes and Japanese confectionery .

34 Spring 2016 • BISCUIT WORLD