Key Business Outlooks For 2026: Matthew Acheson, CEO, Baker & Baker
From a product perspective, we are seeing growth and customer interest in different cookie formats, particularly at the premium end of the category. We are looking carefully at where we believe the strongest growth segments are. We expect that customers and consumers will continue to demand an increasing diversity of product and packaging formats in order to serve different consumption occasions; therefore we continue to work on developing and broadening our portfolio.
We asked the most important players in the European and American baking industry about their expectations for the year ahead. They talked about opportunities, changing consumer expectations, what type of support the industry needs, but also about the drawbacks of an unstable political climate and the challenges that come with labour shortage and energy prices increasing.
Matthew Acheson, CEO, Baker & Baker
How would you assess your company’s performance over the past year?
2025 was another solid year for Baker & Baker, particularly considering ongoing inflation across key bakery ingredients such as cocoa and eggs, and continued macro-economic challenges which continue to impact consumer sentiment and spend.
We’ve retained our position as a leading supplier of American Sweet Bakery products, we’ve deepened relationships with key customers and have continued to make real progress in the food service channel.
While the external business environment continued to be both dynamic and challenging in 2025, our teams have worked hard to deliver another profitable year across our European Group.
What are your expectations for 2026, taking into account the evolving market dynamics?
We are cautiously predicting that some of the significant inflationary pressures that dominated the market over the last few years will stabilise through 2026. This in turn should lead to a renewed focus on growth and innovation, with more opportunities opening up in the market.
Across the board, we are expecting a more settled year, giving bakery businesses more confidence to invest and grow.
How do you foresee the global and regional bakery markets evolving, and what are your company’s top priorities for 2026?
We expect the consolidation of European bakery markets to continue, with larger players continuing to grow their market share.
We expect strong activity in the Foodservice channel, which will likely outperform other channels in terms of growth.
We are focusing on serving our customers and growing our market share in 2026, with our plans facilitated by continued investment in our manufacturing sites and a number of exciting new product launches.
Finally, we have made a significant investment in rebranding our premium Black Label brand, and will be rolling this out with customers early in the new year.
What have been your primary growth drivers over the past year, and what is the most significant lesson you’ve learned in managing your operations?
Our strong relationships with our customers have driven growth throughout our European markets across multiple channels, and we have opened up new opportunities as a result of the strong partnerships and connections that we have cultivated.
We’ve had to keep a close eye on commodity inflation, particularly cocoa, as well as monitoring and reacting to regulatory changes and requirements impacting our industry.
In terms of market volume performance, we have seen variation across different product categories, so we have continued to monitor this in order to ensure we can serve our customers efficiently.
As competition in the baking industry intensifies, what strategies are you employing to strengthen your market position? How do you balance operational investments with innovation and R&D?
Our relationships with key customers have always been critical to our strong market position, and we continue to place a strong emphasis on serving our customers and driving growth.
We have developed a strong operational investment plan for 2026 which supports operational improvements while also opening up innovation and R&D opportunities, which remain key to respond to the changing needs of our customers.
What unexpected developments occurred in 2025, and how did they influence your business operations or strategies?
Inflation was higher than we would have predicted in 2025, so tracking inflationary effects and mitigating the impact of higher costs remained a high priority through the year.
Trends – by definition – often appear unexpectedly. For example, the sudden and unpredictable explosion of consumer interest in Dubai chocolate. The Dubai chocolate concept translated well to bakery, and we developed a range of products throughout 2025 including brownies and bars that have performed well in the market.
What are the most significant forces driving change in your business for 2026, and how is your company preparing to address them?
From a product perspective, we are seeing growth and customer interest in different cookie formats, particularly at the premium end of the category. We are looking carefully at where we believe the strongest growth segments are.
We expect that customers and consumers will continue to demand an increasing diversity of product and packaging formats in order to serve different consumption occasions; therefore we continue to work on developing and broadening our portfolio.
Operationally, we are looking at a number of emission reduction projects on our journey to achieve our near-term SBTi targets. In 2025, we installed a significant solar panel array at our Santo Tirso site in Portugal, and we have a number of other projects in the pipeline for 2026 and beyond as we transition to becoming a more sustainable bakery business.
From your perspective, what policy, regulatory, or market shifts would most benefit the baking sector in 2026, enabling businesses like yours to thrive?
Our number one ask would be for clarity and consistency. There was a significant degree of uncertainty across policy and regulatory decision-making, within both the UK and EU, throughout 2025. This includes the tax burden and other measures that have weakened business confidence within the UK, and multiple changes to EU ESG regulation such as the CSRD and EUDR.
Businesses require consistency to be able to make sound and pragmatic investment decisions, and we hope politicians heed these messages from the business community. Regulatory frameworks must not hinder growth generation or business confidence, which was a hallmark of 2025.
Looking ahead to the next five years, what is your vision for the industry, and how is your company positioning itself to shape and contribute to its future growth?
The European bakery market is a thriving, vibrant community. We believe the industry should continue to develop great tasting, indulgent products that meet ever-changing consumer tastes, whilst offering a multitude of price points to meet every need.
At the same time, the industry will need to consider how it can effectively respond to the evolving health agenda whilst still delivering on taste and enjoyment.
We also foresee the bakery industry investing in alternative ingredients, for a multitude of reasons such as health, climate or availability, and we therefore expect there to be significant growth opportunities in some bakery ingredient segments.