By continuously listening to the needs of professionals, Lainox has developed a range of high-performance ovens with an eye on budget, but without forgetting initiatives aimed at training and sustainability.
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FUTURE GOALS |
Marco Ferroni, CEO of Lainox, takes stock of the challenges faced in 2024 for the brand manufacturer of ovens and kitchen and culinary lab equipment.
“2024 has certainly not been an easy year from a macroeconomic point of view: the escalation of the war in Ukraine, the war in Gaza and Lebanon, inflation that has continued to erode household purchasing power, and interest rates that are struggling to come down, have all contributed to the economy in Europe.
Despite this unfavorable situation, Lainox is more than satisfied with the result it has achieved in the past year since, in addition to consolidating the strong growth we had in 2022 and 2023, we were able to add additional business growth that leaves us excited and confident for 2025.”
What was new in 2024 on the product side?
The year 2024 was marked by the launch of our Premium Budget range. Lainox
has always been recognized in the market for premium and highly durable products,
that is, products with high performance and high reliability, designed to be in professional kitchens and laboratories around the world.
We realized, truth be told, already for the past few years, that our target market has been evolving rapidly with the emergence of restaurant or bakery formats that do not necessarily involve a kitchen or a processing lab, but only a product finishing or restacking hot spot, and as a result, this sometimes has caused our Premium products to appear as “over performing” for many.
So in 2024, we launched this new range, consisting of Foody and Puff, which are budget, yet premium ovens for the gastronomy and pastry markets, respectively. They are “Premium” because we offer customers a first-class customer experience through our fully customizable and easy-to-use touch screens, with a connection to Nabook included in the price, and pre-sales and after-sales service is included as well. Defined as “Budget” because, through simplified construction features, we are able to offer our customers a very appealing price.
What are the best-selling oven models in terms of pastry and bakery and what features do they have?
Definitely the best-selling product in the world of pastry and bakery is Aroma Naboo, the premium oven designed by Lainox for high-quality artisanal pastries and bakeries.
Aroma Naboo is particularly appreciated for its baking quality, in fact, thanks to its technological intelligence, it always guarantees pastry shops and bakeries the desired result without any surprises. Aroma Naboo is also chosen for its low energy consumption. Thanks to the Intelligent Energy System, we are always able to guarantee the lowest consumption according to the quantity of product loaded.
In addition, Aroma Naboo is equipped with a Smart Diagnostic System, a system that can perform a real automatic check up on the oven and report any anomalies. In addition, like all Lainox products, it is eligible to use the Industry 5.0 tax credit.
Another product, which is becoming increasingly popular in the pastry and bakery world, is Oracle, the Accelerated Baking Oven, with its concentration of technology that uses Impingement Convention and Microwave at the same time, allowing any dish to be cooked in seconds.
Thanks to its compact size, it can be installed behind the counter and does not require any equipment such as a fume hood, water loading and unloading, and so on. Just plug it in and you can start working right away.
It is therefore increasingly in demand by bakeries and pastry shops to offer customers a quality lunch break without the need for an expensive investment in a professional kitchen.
What are the main challenges in your market and how are you addressing them?
The food service world is constantly growing. Even in times of economic slowdown, the demand for meals which are eaten out continues to grow.
Our clients, however, have been facing a problem of staff shortages and high turnover for a few years now. Therefore, our biggest challenge is to provide support, and we do this in two ways. First, with our team of consulting chefs, who help clients transform their kitchens into a 5.0 laboratory, making consumption and processes more efficient by reducing or facilitating the use of human resources at certain stages.
We call this service “Lean Kitchen.” After that, we have structured a steady supply of training courses for the staff of bakeries and exhibitors through our “Naboo Experience” seminars.
What new developments/verticals do you foresee for 2025?
We are working on several fronts to be able to offer increasingly high-performing, intelligent, sustainable and reliable equipment, which we will launch later this year.
SUSTAINABILITY AND ZERO EMISSIONS
Lainox has implemented the DFE - Design for Environment - method for its products, which consists of analyzing each stage of the product's life, from design to end of life, when it comes to disposal.
Actions have therefore been planned and are aimed at reducing CO2 equivalent emissions at each step, focusing particularly on equipment efficiency. With version 5.0 of Naboo and Aroma Naboo, energy consumption has been minimized, becoming a benchmark for the target market. Lainox is 14001 Certified for the management of environmental practices, and a good portion of our models in the catalog have been Energy Star certified.
Ilaria Ricotti
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