SIGEP: Consumption of Holiday Sweets is Recovering
Consumption related to sweet bakery is recovering, announces SIGEP, reaching 3.3 billion products served (+1.4% compared to 2022), approaching pre-pandemic levels. SIGEP, the international ice cream, pastry, artisan bakery and coffee exhibition of the Italian Exhibition Group, returns for the 45th edition from 20 to 24 January 2024 in Rimini.
The market data collected by Circana – leader in the analysis and interpretation of consumer behavior – tell of a positive 2023 for ‘away from home’: until September – the latest data available in the study on a quarterly basis – spending is expected to be around EUR50.7bn with an average of EUR4.56 per visit, a growth of 11.9% compared to the same period last year. Also positive were the 11.1 billion ‘visits’, i.e. the number of people entering and leaving food-related businesses, including delivery, with an increase of 5.5%.
“’Away from home’ consumption in Italy is growing compared to last year even if growth rates are slowing down,” says Matteo Figura, head of Foodservice for Circana Italia. “Attendance is stabilizing at pre-pandemic levels, while regarding spending numbers it must be remembered that the growth is also due to the general increase in prices.”
The consumption of sweet bakery fits into this context: “The recovery in recent years is evident: we are currently at 3.3 billion products and there is little left to return to the 3.5 billion of 2019. This propensity to consume has been stable over the years: to close the gap with 2019 levels it will be necessary to make up for the visits that are missing due to less mobility outside the home, especially on occasions such as breakfast which drive the sweet bakery sector.”
Trends and Innovations for Christmas 2023
“Christmas orders are going well,” says Salvatore De Riso, from Salerno, president of AMPI (Academy of Italian Pastry Chefs). “Panettone, which we offer in 16 flavors, remains the ‘King’ and we have had a boom on the half kilo one: all 10,000 pieces that we usually expect have already been sold. The reason? I think people want to spend a little less, especially after the well-known increase in interest rates and prices in general. In any case, traditional panettone reigns supreme: out of 1,000 pieces of our 16 flavors, 30% remain classic. Finally, online: during the pandemic, approaching Christmas, we exploded from 1,500 orders to 12,000, and now we are still at 10,000, with the bulk of e-commerce arriving precisely in this period”.
“Christmas is always Christmas, and so even those who say ‘I won’t give any more presents’ at the last second always come back,” says Iginio Massari, from Brescia, president of APEI (Pastry Chef Ambassadors of Italian Excellence). “As for trends, we had a strong interest in the panettone for the 50th anniversary of the opening of the business, launched in 2021, with candied orange peel, sultanas, honey, vegetable fibers, orange paste, lemon paste and vanilla pods: the we have put it back on sale with numbers limited to around 10 thousand units. In terms of consumption, we are roughly in line with last year. Online sales, however, are increasing and now represent 20% of the total.”