Baking Students Explore Toronto’s Culinary Scene through Bakery Product and Menu Development

HLOs:

Baking and Pastry Arts Management students in the BAKE 200: Bakery Product and Menu Development course experienced a dynamic integration of baking, hospitality, and tourism through an innovative, city-based learning journey across Toronto’s top culinary destinations.

The course bridges classroom learning with real-world application, guiding students through the principles and techniques of designing bakery menus for diverse audiences and occasions. By exploring key hospitality and tourism hubs such as St. Lawrence Market, The Distillery District, and The Well Toronto, students analyzed a range of bakery and café concepts firsthand, evaluating menu design, customer experience, and market positioning in authentic professional settings.

Throughout the term, students applied critical thinking to assess how factors such as facility layout, product and labour availability, and customer demographics influence menu development and pricing. Each destination visit offered opportunities for experiential learning—students observed merchandising strategies, analyzed display techniques, and discussed menu innovation directly with industry professionals.

The course also emphasized the importance of the menu as a contract, introducing students to the legal and ethical dimensions of menu writing. These foundations will extend into BAKE 253: Bakery Management and Entrepreneurship, where students will further develop costing and facility layout plans for their own bakery concepts.

By combining technical baking knowledge with hospitality and tourism insights, BAKE 200 cultivates well-rounded, industry-ready graduates equipped to design creative, sustainable, and market-responsive menus. This experiential approach reflects Humber’s commitment to applied learning, empowering students to connect classroom theory with Toronto’s vibrant food culture and the global bakery industry.“This course gives students the chance to step outside the kitchen and understand the bigger picture of bakery operations—from concept to customer,” said Chef-Instructor Kenneth Ku, who leads the course. “They begin to see how every menu decision connects to branding, marketing, and the guest experience.

For many students, the experience was eye-opening. “Visiting places like The Distillery District and St. Lawrence Market helped us see how menu design and storytelling can shape a bakery’s identity,” shared William Nguyen, Baking and Pastry Arts Management student. “It made us think like entrepreneurs, not just bakers.”

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