Euromonitor: The future of Bread in Europe

Growing concerns over food wastage are making consumers reconsider multi-buy offers, which the entire baked goods category is relatively reliant on.

By Lamine Lahouasnia, Head of Packaged Food at Euromonitor International

The recent gluten-/wheat-free movement has not helped either. So exactly what can the bread industry do to maintain interest in one of the best-established and most-commoditized food categories? We look at a couple of the more interesting new developments in bread and how they are adding value to the category.

With per capita bread consumption declining (or stagnating) in 65 out of 80 markets over 2012-2013, there is a clear need for the industry to adapt to the new environment that it is finding itself in. This is particularly true in North America and Western Europe, where consumers are diversifying their eating habits away from bread towards other, more exotic staples such as rice and noodles.

Merging health and taste

Adding value to offset market maturity can be achieved by merging health and taste.

Health is a big trend in the consumption of bread. Consumers are shying away from bread from bread on the grounds of it being too high in carbohydrate, in wheat or gluten. Manufacturers are already tapping into this growing trend by launching healthier variants of their existing products with a tasty twist.

Vegetable bread is an up-and-coming trend in Canada, the UK and Germany. The Canadian bread manufacturer Demster’s has recently launched a vegetable bread containing carrots, tomatoes and herbs, which also boasts a wholegrain claim.

Tortillas are also witnessing innovation. Mission’s new product is a multi-grain variant of its standard tortilla and is being marketed as “Tortilla’s Plus” to attract health conscious consumers.

Vegetable bread on the menu

Veggie bread is by no means a completely new innovation. In fact we have previously commented on how it may actually be the biggest thing since sliced bread.

As part of the broader switch away from carb-heavy staples to more protein- and mineral-rich foods, consumers are looking for their five a day in whatever product it comes in.

New veggie bread reformulations have become increasingly palatable to consumers and whilst it may not quite taste like bread, the gap is starting to narrow. There are early signs that it is making its way into the mainstream with one of Canada’s largest bread producers, Maple Leaf Foods Inc, launching Dempster’s Garden Vegetable. The product features ingredients such as carrot and pumpkin in its recipe, but without a major retailer listing it is confined to niche product status.

Read the entire article in European Baker, July/August, including portion and consumption trends, new products and more!