2025 Impact Report
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.” — WINSTON CHURCHILL
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CONTENTS 04. About Avant Food Media 05. The Team 06. Social Impact 16. Sustainability
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avantfoodmedia.com
About Avant Food Media was founded in 2020 with a clear mission: modernize trade media for a new era. Our leadership team — president Paul Lattan, executive VP Steve Berne, and VP Joanie Spencer — brought decades of experience in baking media and a shared belief that the industry needed a new approach. From day one, we’ve been trying to build something different. Avant’s digital-forward model is designed for today’s decision-makers, cutting through the noise to deliver fresh insights on the trends and innovations transforming the business of baking. Our work is grounded in the belief that great storytelling can spark better decisions and, ultimately, better industries. But our responsibility doesn’t end with our readers and advertisers. As a company, we’re committed to operating with intention: supporting the communities we serve, minimizing our environmental footprint and contributing to a more equitable future for all. We’re proud to be part of a growing movement of businesses working toward positive change. This impact report reflects our ongoing commitment to doing business in a way that elevates people, the planet and the baking industry we call home.
“We’re committed to spotlighting the people and ideas shaping the future of baking from the ground up, especially the ones that are traditionally overlooked.” — JOANIE SPENCER VP | AVANT FOOD MEDIA
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The Team Lily Cota
Maddie Lambert
A S S O C I AT E E D I T O R
A S S O C I AT E E D I T O R
Maru Garnica
Erin Zielsdorf
Annie Hollon
AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST
AC C O U N T E X EC U T I V E
D I G I TA L E D I T O R
Olivia Siddall
Jordan Winter
Mari Rydings
M U LT I M E D I A D I R E C T O R
C R E AT I V E D I R E C T O R
E D I TO R I A L D I R ECTO R
Joanie Spencer
Steve Berne
Paul Lattan
VICE PRESIDENT
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
PRESIDENT
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SOCIAL IMPACT
Web Coverage Commercial Baking offers fresh takes on trends and innovation for the baking industry.
Craft to Crumb delivers insights and inspiration for the retail baking community.
In 2025, we published 855 web stories, covering topics such as...
In 2025, we published 339 web stories, covering topics such as...
UPCYCLED FOODS
WOMEN’S INITIATIVES
HIRING PRACTICES
COMMUNITY INITIATIVES
REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE
OPEN HIRING
FOOD WASTE, INSECURITY
REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE
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COMMERCIAL BAKING
Widening the Women’s Health Lens As the food industry recognizes more health interests particular to women, companies are responding with new products and marketing strategies tailored to women’s n utritional needs. The women’s global health industry is valued at more than $35 billion and growing at a CAGR of 3.2%, per Fortune Business Insights, and it’s evolving as consumers broaden their definitions of health. Hormones, gut health and mood are a few areas related to women’s overall wellbeing. READ MORE
CRAFT TO CRUMB
Moxie Bread Co.: Keeping It Simple Rooted in community and purpose, Moxie Bread Co. has grown from a neighborhood bakery into a newly minted Certified B Corp that just keeps growing. The Louisville, CO-based operation supplies its three locations with a 5,000-squarefoot commissary kitchen. Read the full story on this mission-driven bakery and its unique practices, like sourcing heirloom grains from regional family farms and investing in on-site milling and regenerative agriculture. READ MORE
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SOCIAL IMPACT
Industry Innovators Commercial Baking’s exclusive Industry Innovators program recognizes and elevates the rising talent shaping the future of commercial baking. Industry Innovators spotlights emerging leaders in every area of baking, including product development, operations, HR, sustainability, engineering, marketing and many more — individuals whose passion and ingenuity drive meaningful progress in every corner of the supply chain. By designing and hosting this program, we’re doing more than honoring excellence — we’re helping build a stronger, more inclusive pipeline of future
leaders. Industry Innovators amplifies diverse voices, celebrates fresh thinking, and provides recognition that can accelerate careers and open new opportunities. Our team’s commitment to this initiative reflects who we are as a company. We believe social impact is rooted in empowering individuals, nurturing talent, and creating space for new ideas to thrive. Through Industry Innovators, we’re investing in the next generation, strengthening the workforce, and ensuring that the baking industry continues to evolve with purpose, creativity, and resilience.
In 2025, we featured 13 of these change-makers. 9
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SOCIAL IMPACT
Social Impactor of the Year Every year in Commercial Baking’s Innovations Annual issue, we celebrate one baking company for its dedication to making a positive social change. The 2025 Social Impactor of the Year is Chabaso Bakery.
This New Haven, CT-based Certified B Corp supports its team, community, region, and budding food and beverage businesses while also supplying grocers and retailers throughout the East Coast and Midwest with an array of artisan breads.
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SOCIAL IMPACT
BAKERS
DOING GOOD GOOD GOOD GOOD
Bakers Doing Good We launched this new section of our quarterly Craft to Crumb mini-mag this year. It shines a light on retail bakers that give back to the communities they serve.
These programs help provide people with disabilities with job skills, give second chances to previously incarcerated people, provide community education via classes, and more.
In 2025, we promoted 16 of these bakeries, including... Photo courtesy of Justice of the Pies
Photo courtesy of The Pastry Project
The Pastry Project
Justice of the Pies
The Pastry Project’s purpose is to break barriers to employment and make pastry and culinary education in the Seattle area more accessible. The bakery offers a free baking and pastry training program that provides people with real-world experience, including technical pastry expertise and problem-solving skills. When students graduate, bakery staff helps them apply for entrylevel positions with its hiring partners.
This Chicago bakery considers itself a social mission in bakery form. Several times a year, Justice of the Pies hosts “I Knead Love,” a one-day workshop that fights food insecurity by helping children from low-income communities learn basic cooking skills and how to get creative in the kitchen. In 2020, owner Maya-Camille Broussard founded The Broussard Justice Foundation, a non-profit focused on decreasing healthrelated disparities in underserved communities.
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SOCIAL IMPACT
Corporate Donations Avant Food Media is proud to support the work of Church World Service (CWS). The global humanitarian organization is dedicated to eradicating hunger, alleviating poverty, assisting
with solar-powered boreholes and purified water systems, helping remote villages gain sustainable hygiene and health infrastructure.
refugees, and responding to disasters.
In Eastern Europe, CWS worked to ease the burden on refugees, providing shelter, supplies and long-term support for displaced families.
This year, CWS provided critical relief after a devastating earthquake in Myanmar, by providing clean-water systems, sanitation facilities, community toilets and solar lighting. In rural communities in Kenya, CWS supported water access
Supporting nonprofits is an important part of who we are. Our donation reflects our commitment to giving back and investing in positive change beyond our immediate industry.
In 2025, we donated $1,500 to Church World Service.
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SUSTAINABILITY
Print with Purpose Printing Commercial Baking magazine is our biggest environmental impact. In 2025, we printed 4,312,972 total pages, weighing 58,110 lbs. of paper. On the next page, you’ll see how we’re giving back more than what we take, thanks to our partnership with the
National Forest Foundation. We also meticulously curate the circulation list for Commercial Baking magazine, ensuring that only those engaged with the content receive the printed magazine. As a result, we reduce paper waste and minimize the number of trucks and fuel required to ship our product.
In 2025, our printing produced 6,956 lbs. of carbon emissions, which equals... 8,036 MILES DRIVEN BY GASOLINE-POWERED CAR
3,505 LBS. OF COAL BURNED
355 GALLONS OF GASOLINE CONSUMED
3.1
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145
ONE-WAY FLIGHTS FROM
ROAD TRIPS FROM
TREES ABSORBING CO2
NEW YORK TO LOS ANGELES
KANSAS CITY TO CHICAGO
FOR ONE FULL YEAR
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SUSTAINABILITY
Sapling Program As a media company that still believes in the power of print, we also recognize the environmental footprint that comes with producing our physical magazine, Commercial Baking. From ink to paper to transportation ... it all adds up. In 2025, we continued our partnership with the National Forest Foundation’s Sapling Program, which plants new trees in forests affected by wildfire, insects, disease and climate stress. For every print ad page sold in Commercial Baking, we fund the planting of one tree — a simple, measurable commitment that grows each year. By tying our business model to reforestation, Avant Food Media is turning a traditional publishing practice into a forward-thinking sustainability program that makes our work better for the planet.
Graphic courtesy of the National Forest Foundation
This year, Avant Food Media is helping NFF plant 416 trees. This small forest represents a 33% increase in trees planted since last year. Every seedling reflects our efforts to give back more than we use. 19
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SUSTAINABILITY
Educating the Industry Avant Food Media was the Gold Media Sponsor for the International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE) 2025. As one of the world’s most influential baking events — especially through its IBIEducate program — the Baking Expo serves as a powerful platform for companies to share knowledge on best practices and solutions for sustainability and beyond.
and ingredient suppliers on the importance of food waste and upcycled foods and how to strengthen supply chains while meeting rising consumer expectations for environmentally responsible products. Other members of the Avant team also presented at the show. Digital editor Annie Hollon shared insights from her original Craft to Crumb series, To Build A Bakery; editorial director Mari Rydings covered generational marketing trends; and editor-in-chief Joanie Spencer spoke on Craft to Crumb’s CMB Study Hall series.
Associate editor Maddie Lambert presented “Circular Economy Trends: Regenerative Agriculture and Upcycled Foods,” educating emerging and established food manufacturers
DID YOU KNOW...
Regenerative farming on 40% of the world’s cropland would save around 600 million tons of emissions. Source: Sustainable Markets Initiative Report
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“As our industry evolves, so do we. Setting a positive example — for other businesses, for our community, for our future — is part of our mission.” — PAUL LAT TAN PRESIDENT | AVANT FOOD MEDIA