The International Dairy Deli Bakery Association (IDDBA) announces that Food Network star and host Carla Hall and author and YouTube host Claire Saffitz will both take the stage during IDDBA 2025.

“Carla’s story of passion and belief that food connects us all is reflective of the people and industry IDDBA serves,” said Jeremy Johnson, IDDBA’s vice president of events.

IDDBA 2025 is June 1-3 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Register for IDDBA 2025 today!

“As host of the YouTube channel baking show, Dessert Person, Claire reaches over one million subscribers, is a former Bon Appétit Senior Food Editor, and shares her love of food with audiences through her award-winning cookbooks and books,” said Johnson.

Saffitz’s first cookbook, Dessert Person, published in 2020 by Clarkson Potter, won the IACP Julia Child First Cookbook Award. Her second book, What's For Dessert, published in 2022, was nominated for the James Beard Award.

Previously, she was senior food editor at Bon Appétit magazine. She currently hosts a baking YouTube channel called Dessert Person, which has more than 1 million subscribers. She also writes recipes and hosts videos for New York Times Cooking.

Saffitz, was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri and now lives in New York with her husband, cats, and chickens.

Hall first won over audiences when she competed on Bravo’s Top Chef and Top Chef: All Stars and shared her philosophy to always cook with love. She is a trained chef who has worked in several professional restaurant kitchens in and around the Washington, D.C. area and believes food connects us all, a belief she strives to convey through her work, her cooking, and in her daily interactions with others.

She spent seven years co-hosting ABC’s Emmy Award-winning, popular lifestyle series The Chew, and is currently featured on the Food Network as a judge on competition shows such as Summer, Holiday, and Halloween Baking Championships. Her latest cookbook, Carla Hall’s Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration, was published in 2018, landing on annual Best Cookbook lists across the country and receiving an NAACP Image Awards nomination.

In 2024 Hall is being honored by Les Dames d’Escoffier as Grande Dame, a lifetime achievement award and honorary title given to members in recognition of extraordinary contributions within the fields of food, beverage, and hospitality. She has also published a children’s book, Carla and the Christmas Cornbread (2021), a heartwarming tale loosely based on Hall’s childhood growing up in Nashville, TN. She is an ambassador for Caire Beauty.