When the end of a year draws close, it’s a good idea to look back and see where you did a good job, where you didn’t exactly hit the mark, and how you think you might improve upon the previous 12 months as you head into the next 12 months.

I’m one of those people who believes in taking stock of things at the end of a year. I’m not a perfectionist, but I am interested in doing better, and not just in my personal life (usually, I could stand to eat better and exercise more going forward). I also want to do better in my professional life—not just performing better, but having more fun. I’d like to extend that to Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery, too.

Why do I care about doing better at work? For starters, my late father—a human resources manager who headed a number of companies, including Sara Lee, over his long career—was a big believer in taking pride in your work and striving to do better every day (he also believed in playing hard, as you likely may notice in the pic of him headed to the pool in trunks covered with kittens).

Also, I feel like I owe it to my readers to give them a better SF&WB every time they visit the site to read breaking news, or peruse our latest digital edition. After all, like Al Spinner, you work hard and do your best making delicious snacks and quality baked goods every day, so you deserve an awesome reading experience every time you visit.

To start off, here are some of the things I think we did really well:

The September cover story
The team behind fast-growing snack brand Jackson’s has an awesome origin and growth story that almost writes itself, but I think we did a good job balancing the human and business sides of the sweet potato chip maker.

Candy Industry coverage
We brought the popular CI site into SF&WB this year, and Senior Editor Liz Parker continues to excel at keeping her finger on the pulse of the industry, sharing relevant news, and conducting fun, fascinating interviews with industry leaders (like this trends chat with Jeff Greenwald of CandyRific and Hilco).

Our New Product Highlights videos
When we came up with this idea to run down the most notable product launches for the month each month, we didn’t know it would be so much fun, or that these short videos would attract the occasional fan letters from our audience

Fast forward to today, where candy and snack manufacturers are giving a frighteningly long list of options that puts the trick or treat offerings of yesteryear to shame. In addition to longtime favorite sweet treats, producers now offer a range of savory snacks and better-for-you offerings that even health-conscious parents won’t find scary. That’s It, for example, offers its Spooky Fruit Bites, which features 40 fun-size no-sugar-added fruit bars (half banana, half mango) in a festive pack. Hershey’s SkinnyPop savory snack brand sells its vegan, non-GMO popcorn in a 12-bag pack, complete with friendly monsters on the front. Also, chickpea snack maker Hippeas recently launched a limited-edition multipack of its Vegan White Cheddar Puffs, with spooky ghosts adorning the 12-count bag.

Then, as for the things we could do better, I’d like to ask you to weigh in. What do you enjoy about reading SF&WB and CI ? Are there areas where you think we could improve or increase our coverage? What are we missing? Click the button below to email me and let me know. We value the opinion of smart, savvy professionals like you, and we thank you for your support and readership throughout the years.

See you in 2024! SF&WB