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British appetite for bakery products hits the sweet spot

4th Dec 2019 - 05:00
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Nearly ten years on from the start of the Great British Bake Off, British foodservice is benefitting from a growing appetite for bakery products.

Global information company The NPD Group says the popularity of savoury and sweet bakery products is helping to increase eating out visits in an otherwise sluggish industry.

Britain’s eat out market has the slowest growth of the top five European markets (France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Great Britain). The wider out-of-home visits only increased +0.3% for the year ending September 2019.

Bakery servings increased by 2.5% (year ending September 2019) to a total of 6.2 billion with bakery representing over 21% of all out-of-home servings in Britain. Savoury bakery products are growing slightly faster (+2.5%) than sweet bakery products (+2.2%).

 

Bakeries on the rise

British consumers can find bakery products in most foodservice channels including high street bakery outlets, supermarkets and pubs as well as travel hubs.

Over 40% of all off-premise visits in Britain include the purchase of a bakery product and £7.9 billion is spent on bakery products a year (around 14% of spend across the entire foodservice industry).

Peter Linden, insights manger foodservice at The NPD Group, said: “Bakery is outperforming the total eat-out market in Britain for three key reasons. First, breakfast on the go is popular with consumers who want baked products such as croissants or savoury baps for their first meal of the day.

“Second, bakery taps into the fast growth in delivery, drive-thru and work-related food-to-go purchases – the ‘off-premise’ side of the industry that is growing seven times faster than ‘on-premise’.

“Third, sandwiches and wraps meet the need for convenience and represent an affordable way of buying quality, variety and often healthier bakery options.”

 

Savoury for work and sweet for a treat

The NPD Group’s Bakery Tracker has revealed the British public have a growing appetite for both savoury and sweet bakery products.

When people are at work they want savoury products and this accounts for around one in five visits to an outlet selling bakery products. The top five savoury products are sandwiches, wraps, toast, bagels and sausage rolls.

Sweet products are seen as more of treat and the most popular sweet bakery items included cakes, croissants, cookies, brownies and doughnuts. Almost 300m visits and £500m of spend are driven by a desire to eat healthier bakery products out-of-home.

 

Vegan bakery a growing trend

Vegan bakery seeks to replace butter, milk, eggs and meat with plant-based alternative ingredients including nuts, pulses, vegetables, fruit and tofu. Most bakery and coffee shop chains already offer vegan cakes, brownies and sausage rolls.

NPD’s Foodservice Outlook service predicts bakery visits could increase by as much as +10% (or +470 million) led by savoury bakery products (+12% visits) by year ending September 2022.

Linden added: “British bakery is full of innovation so perhaps it’s no surprise that servings of old-fashioned staples such as toast and sausage rolls are struggling. At the same time, artisan breads with new flavours and contemporary twists on traditional recipes are enjoying a renaissance.

“The growing trend for ‘seasonal bakery’ is helping to drive visits and revenue in the all-important final ‘golden’ quarter of the year. As well as seasonal limited-edition hot drinks themed around Halloween and Christmas, more vegan seasonal products are being introduced, for instance vegan roast dinner panini and vegan mince pies.

“Although much of the innovation is happening in London and the major cities, in time vegan bakery and artisan bread will reach every high street in Britain, bringing more choice and with it the chance to continue expanding the sector.”

 

Written by
Edward Waddell