3 megatrends

1. Premiumization is on the rise

Consumers are looking for higher quality and are willing to pay extra for food and beverages that offer a little extra indulgence. 

For bread, a premium experience is typically related to:

1. specific ingredients (speciality flour, superfoods or ancient grains such as spelt, quinoa or chia seeds)
2. inclusions such as cranberries, nuts or olives
3. bread with a handcrafted appearance

Artisan baking methods such as natural sourdough, slow fermentation and stone baking also add value in the eyes of consumers, and can justify a higher price on many occasions.

2. Health and nutrition are essential

A route to higher profits is offering food choices that accomodate consumers’ increasing savvy health consciousness. For bread, research tells us that the key health triggers are wholegrain and fibres. Other important health cues are:

⇒ ‘Free from’ meaning no artificial additives/clean label or reduced salt, sugar and fats.

⇒ ‘Goodness going in’ meaning natural ingredients with perceived nutritional benefits such as oats, rye, vegetables, chia, hemp seeds or quinoa.

3. Sustainability and ethics continue to be relevant

Consumers are increasingly politically conscious. Manifestations of this trend range from 'clean label', 'free from', 'natural' and 'organic' to increasing demand for smaller packs or portion sizes to reduce food waste.

Another accelerating trend is vegetarian/vegan, and fortunately bread automatically satisfies this consumer need with its four key ingredients of flour, yeast, salt and water.