Category Intelligence: Baking Mixes and Ingredients
Transforming norms Home bakers want better ingredients, more variety and … fun By Dana Cvetan
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develop clean label baking mixes.
here’s a shift underway in the baking mixes and ingredients category that reflects the public’s changing values and tastes. Consumers are backing away from processed foods, artificial ingredients and preservatives, and that has greatly impacted the baking mixes category. Market intelligence agency Mintel projects a steady, long-term decline across all segments, forecasting a total U.S. sales drop from $4 billion to $3.6 billion between 2010 and 2020. Even so, there’s hope for reviving the category, the agency says in its report, “Baking Mixes, U.S.” from January of last year. Grocery shoppers in general are choosing fresher, less-processed alternatives. Some key groups, such as households with children and Hispanics, still choose mixes for convenience reasons. Millenials are more likely to buy mixes because they enjoy baking and consider it a fun activity to share with others. “Millennials are a very social generation and often tend to view cooking at home as a platform for getting together with friends and family and trying new products and recipes, (so) marketing messages that emphasize these elements rather than convenience are likely to resonate most with millennials,” the report states.
Cleaning up “In the baking mix category, manufacturers are focused on cleaning up ingredients. This includes removing artificial colors, artificial flavors, preservatives and genetically modified ingredients. Ingredient listings should include recognizable ingredients and be as short as possible,” says Samantha McCaul, marketing manager for Concord Foods LLC in Brockton, Md. The clean eating trend is the biggest trend that’s affecting the market today, McCaul says. Citing data from The NPD Group, she says 40 percent of primary grocery shoppers “are interested in pursuing clean eating when clean eating is defined.” To stem decline, store brands need to provide “better for you” mixes and ingredients, Mintel says. Not only are consumers more likely to regard mixes that are free from artificial colors, artificial flavors and preservatives as more healthful, they will likely perceive them as being better tasting as well, the report says. Mintel also advises introducing a wider range of organic products, noting that natural channel sales of organic baking mixes and ingredients grew about 1 percent from late 2013 to late 2015.
No bleach In the ingredients sector, unbleached flour is the next big thing, says Pat Kelly, manager of sales support for Renwood Mills in Newton, N.C. People are ignore consumers’ becoming more penchant for sophisticated convenience in their baking. and smaller Although there are not many portion sizes. unbleached
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Store Brands / March 2017 / www.storebrands.com