Fredy’s
The premium frozen baked products manufacturer fredy’s uses Cetravac vacuum technology to condition its croissants, Danish pastries, cheesecakes, carrot cakes and tartlets, as well as softbreads, tinned breads and kilo breads, before they go into frozen food storage. This allows the company to achieve not only quality improvements such as crispness, volume and gloss, but also capacity increases and shorter processing times.
Vacuum before storing frozen food
Fredy’s bakery business in Baden near Zürich produces top-class frozen baked goods for major consumers. Fredy Hiestand, who founded Fredy’s, invested in Cetravac vacuum conditioning plants in 2017. Operations Manager and technology expert Marcel Baumgartner tested all the suppliers for a long time, and finally decided in favor of Cetravac plants.
Fredy’s now uses Cetravac vacuum chambers for croissants, Danish pastries, cheesecakes, carrot cakes and tartlets, as well as softbreads, tinned breads and kilo breads. Baumgartner says: “We combed through our product range to find the products for which vacuum technology can yield benefits, and developed the optimum process sequence for each product.” This resulted in a series of products that are now treated using Cetravac vacuum conditioning immediately after baking and before shock-freezing, which enables the company to keep the ice crystals formed during shock freezing smaller than without the use of vacuum. Simultaneously, the company can shorten the baking time, by 30% in some cases, and can also retain more moisture in the end product.
Baumgartner lists other benefits gained by the company through using Cetravac vacuum technology. Firstly, fat layers in the baked products are now a thing of the past, crusts are better and volume and gloss are enhanced. Secondly, vacuum technology gives the company a significant capacity boost, on the one hand through shorter baking times, and on the other the goods can go into the freezer considerably faster. Cetravac vacuum technology yields profits not only to Fredy’s, since Fredy’s customers also benefit. All the products delivered to them now need only an identical baking program and the same bake-off time for the remaining finishing process. That’s an enormous simplification for caterers and the retail.
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