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our way to the East and West coasts to know what the trends are. With
11 stores, we react quite quickly. We can turn on a dime, create and get
to shelf right away."

Leading the innovation
IDDBA speaker and retail innovator Christina Tosi and Milk Bar
have come a long way in a decade. After opening as an offshoot
of Momofuku, the bakery chain now has locations in New York,
Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, and Toronto, with a new location coming
to Los Angeles. Just recently, it also received funding from RSE
Ventures to expand the reach of its innovative, beloved desserts and
snacks both online and offline.
The founder of Milk Bar and a James Beard Award winner for
Outstanding Pastry Chef, Tosi is seen as a culinary pioneer. Her
desserts have become nationally recognized for not only their taste,
but also their creative spirit. Milk Bar has earned a reputation as being
the home of innovative culinary creations such as crack pie, cereal
milk ice cream, and birthday cake truffles. Earlier this year, the iconic
bakery chain introduced Crack Pie, Cereal Milk, and B'Day Cake as latte
flavors at locations in New York City, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, and
Toronto, according to the company.

Niu (nee-yoo)
Dark Chocolate
Delicious NEW Organic 65% Dark Chocolate
Sweetened with Coconut Sugar!
*
*
*
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*

Certified organic
EZ-melt wafer form
Perfect for molding/enrobing
Made with pure coconut sugar
Kosher Dairy certification

Milk Bar originated as the bakery-inspired dessert branch of the
Momofuku (which means lucky peach) restaurant group, founded by
superstar chef David Chang. Since its opening in 2008, Milk Bar has
focused on putting a playfully American, approachable spin on familiar
home-style desserts and savory snacks using quality ingredients and
locally-sourced dairy. Another popular item is compost cookies, which
contain such ingredients as potato chips, pretzels and coffee.
Tosi loves to bake cookies and never tires of eating cookie dough.
In fact, given one choice of dessert for the rest of her life, she'll tell
you, without a moment of hesitation... cookie dough. "I'm really that
obsessed with it after all these years. It's the thing I eat after a long day,
and nothing can replace it." Tosi admits that she was an infamously
picky eater as a child, but also had an infamously sweet tooth. "All I
wanted was dessert for every meal of the day!"
Another innovative leader and trend setter to watch in the retail
bakery sector is Joanne Chang, winner of the 2016 James Beard award
for Outstanding Baker and co-owner of Flour Bakery + Cafe, a sevenstore retail operation in Boston.

Maple Orange Bonbon
coated in Niu Chocolate
Recipe by Chef Gabrielle Draper

www.vanleerchocolate.com

Chang recently sought to add a whole grain breakfast cookie and a
muesli to the menu, as well as update their double chocolate cookie
with rye flour. The end result is an innovative new project called
WHOLEflour, ushering in a major commitment to whole grains by one
of the most influential retail bakeries in the country.

instore * MAY 2018 * 85

http://www.vanleerchocolate.com https://www.instagram.com/vanleerchocolate/ https://www.facebook.com/vanleerchocolate/

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