Interestingly enough, what made it possible for "craft made" ice cream, beers, breads and cheeses were modern food manufacturing technology that made it possible to do high-quality food on a larger scale and at lower cost. I've talked with people who work for "artisan" bakeries when I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area and they all told me that couldn't make a lot of "artisan" breads without modern food processing technologies that makes it possible to do stone-ground multi-grain flour on a really large scale.
I’m not talking about equipment as much as ingredients and processes. Ask your friend about the impact of stabilizers, yeast nutrients, relaxers, flavoring agents, preservatives and the million and one techniques that allow for cheaper, faster and more efficient production.
Sum them up and you’ll find a qualitative difference.