Bakery

There were around 815 million bakery occasions in 2020 (Lumina), with over half of Brits eating Danish pastries and croissants weekly (Opeepl), highlighting demand for mood food.

Although there was a big switch from foodservice to retail in sales of baked goods in the past year because of the lockdowns, the re-opening of cafés, restaurants and hotels will bring opportunities to drive sales of bread, pastries and other bakery items as people increasingly choose to eat out or pick up a treat on the go.

In both foodservice and retail, baked goods suppliers are focusing on innovation, as well as convenient and hygienefriendly solutions. For example, Lantmännen Unibake UK has developed a new range of fully-baked Thaw and Serve Danish Pastries, enabling operators without an oven to offer their customers a sweet treat at any time of day.

Already listed by Brakes and Bidfood, the new range under the Schulstad Bakery Solutions brand consists of three individually-wrapped classics – Maple Pecan Plait, Vanilla Crème Crown and Apple Crown.

There is also a Mini Danish selection – a handy variety pack of five modern favourites comprising Mini Maple Pecan Plait, Mini Apple Coronet, Mini Cinnamon Swirl, Mini Raspberry Square and Mini Blueberry Square.

To complement the range, Schulstad Bakery Solutions is offering individually-wrapped Pain aux Raisins.

The easy-to-serve Danish pastries are ideal for the out-ofhome, hospitality and leisure sectors, where operators do not have the facilities to bake fresh, and they also allow caterers to control costs and wastage.

With 57% of consumers saying that they choose Danish pastries as a between-meal treat (Opeepl), they provide an incremental sales opportunity for operators.

Paulina Gorska, marketing manager at Lantmännen Unibake, says: “As the go-to Danish pastry experts we’re dedicated to developing the latest innovations to save our customers valuable time. We aim to recommend the best solutions to help outlets achieve profitability, whilst also offering convenience and efficiency.”

Lantmännen Unibake UK’s brands consist of Schulstad Bakery Solutions –high quality, ready-glazed Danish pastries, Viennoiserie, sweet treats, continental savouries, speciality and French breads, and dough pucks –and Americana fastfood breads. All products in these ranges are supplied ready to bake or as ‘thaw and serve’ for convenience.

Meanwhile, for the retail sector, the Schulstad range includes Maple Pecan Plaits and Cinnamon Swirls, which are frozen and ready to bake by consumers.

Brioche fits into the Viennoiserie category, which is doing well in the pandemic with a 16.8% increase in sales overall (Kantar). Brioche Pasquier reports that its brioche products have proved to be particularly popular.

Retail sales manager Charlotte Hulbert adds: “As the country slowly emerges from the pandemic through 2021, economic uncertainty will remain an issue. We believe that consumers with rattled confidence will continue to want the type of bakery products that we can offer them. Reassuringly familiar, long-lasting, great tasting, versatile products which can be used for meals at any time of day will drive the bakery category forwards.

“Our Croissants and Pains au Chocolat provide breakfast inspiration, our plain Brioche Rolls and Sliced Brioche Loaf are perfect at any time of day and our Pitch products please children with a sweet treat after school or sport.”

Brioche Pasquier continues to be “firmly behind wholesalers and retailers”, supporting them with advertising and pack promotions. It also has a strong social media presence and offers recipes and competitions to engage consumers.

As a business, St Pierre Groupe is up by 52% year on year, and its business through the wholesale channel is ahead by 32%. “That growth is no mean feat when you consider the challenges of the pandemic,” says Louise Reynard, commercial manager. “More impressive still is the fact that our figures in foodservice remained level, despite most of the sector being unable to operate for a large part of the year.”

St Pierre is the UK’s No.1 brioche burger bun brand.

“In-store, we have outstanding branding and display options, supporting retailers with creative free-standing display units (FSDUs),” says Reynard. “In the foodservice sector, we increasingly work alongside operators to improve the experience they provide with our brand. From branded greaseproof paper to marketing materials for menus, we are helping the whole sector to boost margins.” The St Pierre individually-wrapped range was expanded last year with two new lines –Pains au Chocolat and AllButter Croissants –after a boom in takeaway coffee sales meant that operators not offering a hygiene-friendly food-to-go option were missing out. As a result, sales are up on that range too.

The company has a series of campaigns planned throughout the year targeting both trade and consumer audiences.

According to Reynard, the Baker Street brand is going from strength to strength, particularly in wholesale, where its extended-life proposition carries particular appeal. “The brand’s wholesale sales are up 26% year on year and, due to sustained investment, it is up 10% in foodservice,” she reports.

As UK consumers continue to be more adventurous with their food choices, speciality breads or bread alternatives have never been more popular, points out Kim Hartley, executive business development chef at Mission Foods. “Therefore, getting the right product to reflect the demands of the market is of the upmost importance for foodservice operators,” she says.

Mission Foods claims to be the UK’s No.1 branded tortilla manufacturer and offers advice to foodservice operators on expanding menu choices with more speciality bread options.

The Mission Naan Wrap is one of the company’s latest innovations and is designed for handheld and on-the-go menus. Another recent newcomer is Durum Tortilla, which has a Middle-Eastern taste profile and has been created for kebabs and other grilled meat or vegetable applications.

New York Bakery Co, the UK’s favourite bagel brand (Kantar), has launched a £2 million advertising campaign titled ‘New York or Nothin’.

The initiative is designed to reinforce to UK consumers that New York and bagels are synonymous and set the New York style bagel apart from its competitors.

New York Bakery Co leads the branded ambient bagel category with a 57.8% share and is up in value by 32.9% year on year, ahead of the category, which is up by 25.9% (Kantar).

Parallel to the TV campaign is a marketing push across print media, social media, PR and influencers.

During the pandemic, baking at home became a way for people to entertain themselves and their children (Mintel). Around 960 million loaves were baked at home between March and September 2020 (Lakeland).

Carr’s Flour offers a selection of easy-to use bread mixes for use in a bread maker or by hand.

Three premium products have recently been added to the range. These are Six Seed Mix, Malted Grain and Sundried Tomato & Chilli. Each mix comes in a 500g pack (rsp 95p) and produces one large loaf or eight rolls. CCM