The Breakfast Snack: A Treat for All Occasions
Though sweet pastries are often consumed throughout the day, they continue to carry strong links with the breakfast market, reports Jonathan Thomas.
Consumption of sweet pastries remains widespread throughout the world, representing one of the largest and most dynamic sectors within the global market for bakery goods. According to data from Mordor Intelligence, the global pastries market was worth more than USD65bn in 2024. Sales are expected to increase by an annual average of almost 3% during the period leading up to 2029, by which time the market is forecast to reach almost USD75bn. Many types of pastries have a rich and established heritage, meaning that many are sold at comparatively high prices by artisanal bakers and other similar establishments, although lower cost industrially produced varieties are also available via various retail channels.
Much of the recent market growth can be attributed to experimentation by manufacturers with new formats, shapes and flavours, while indulgence continues to represent a key driver of purchasing behaviour. In many western markets, sweet pastries have come to be seen as an affordable treat, while sales have also benefited from the ongoing expansion of the café culture throughout Europe. Another market driver in recent years has been the emergence of products positioned on a health platform (e.g. clean label), as well as sweet pastries catering towards specific diets, with gluten-free one example. However, the sector continues to face challenges, such as the widespread perception that sweet pastries have negative health associations, such as being high in calories or sugar.
The global market for sweet pastries is dominated by products such as croissants and pain au chocolat. Although croissants are most frequently associated with France, their origins are often linked with bakers in Vienna. In the 17th century, the city’s bakers designed a brioche in the shape of a crescent to celebrate Austria’s victory over an invading Turkish army from the Ottoman Empire. It is largely for this reason that products such as croissants, brioches, pain au chocolat, etc. are referred to as ‘viennoiseries’, which translates as Viennese pastries.
Both pain au chocolat and Danish pastries also carry strong historical links with Austria, according to popular lore. Pain au chocolat was first introduced to 19th century Paris as the ‘schokoladencroissant’, a crescent-shaped brioche filled with chocolate. Danish pastries are believed to have originated in 1850, when Danish bakery owners hired Austrian workers to fill in during a strike. When they returned to work, the Danish bakery workers adopted many Austrian ideas and recipes.
The Importance of Breakfast
Products such as croissants and pain au chocolat carry strong associations with breakfast across large parts of Europe, especially in Mediterranean countries such as France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. However, consumption is believed to be lower in the Scandinavian countries, where many people eschew sweet foods earlier on in the day, preferring options such as crispbread. Although breakfast continues to represent the main eating occasion for sweet pastries in the European market, products such as croissants, pain au chocolat and Danish pastries are also making inroads into the snacking sector, while they can also be consumed as a dessert.
Breakfast habits have undergone numerous changes throughout Europe in recent years. In some countries, consumers have been turning away from sugary foods such as sweet pastries for health reasons. Another significant trend is the tendency to skip breakfast amongst certain sections of the population. This habit is generally frowned upon by nutritionists and health professionals, as it has been shown that skipping breakfast on a regular basis can lead to people missing out on key nutrients, while it has also been linked with a greater risk of becoming obese.
A Norwegian study carried out in 2022 found that 23% of secondary and upper secondary school adolescents regularly skipped breakfast during the week. This habit is not confined to Europe, since it is estimated that up to a quarter of US individuals skip breakfast almost daily. In the US, studies have shown that 13% of school-age children regularly skip breakfast, rising to 27% of adolescents aged between 12 and 19. This habit appears to be most ingrained with teenage girls, with reasons for doing so including the perceived risk of weight gain and having no time to eat first thing in the morning.
Despite these tendencies, the potential breakfast market for sweet pastries remains sizeable. In the UK, for example, it is estimated that 98% of people eat breakfast regularly, while YouGov data illustrates that 62% of consumers make time for eating breakfast five or more times per week. Furthermore, research from Delifrance suggests that 22% of UK consumers are now eating breakfast more often compared with previous years.
Research carried out in the UK by Delifrance during 2024 demonstrates a strong link between breakfast and sweet pastries. Over 90% of consumers buying into the category ate them during breakfast time, although the percentage of people eating them as a snack later in the day was also notably high. For breakfast occasions, plain croissants represented the most popular choice, ahead of pain au chocolat and chocolate-flavoured croissants. The situation was rather different for snacking occasions, where pain au chocolat were the most popular form of sweet pastry, ahead of plain croissants and cinnamon-flavoured pastries.
Consumption of sweet pastries has also benefited from the rising popularity of out-of-home (OOH) breakfasts in Western European markets such as the UK. This sector appears to have recovered from a severe decline during the pandemic, with data from Delifrance indicating that almost a quarter (24%) of UK consumers now eat breakfast out of the home at least some of the time during an average working week. The same research found that 11% of UK consumers regularly eat breakfast on the go during the working week, although this figure decreases to 9% at the weekend. Sweet pastries are ideally positioned to capitalise on the growth within both these markets, as they are widely viewed as the ideal accompaniment to a hot drink such as coffee. Some of the leaders in the UK market include McDonalds, which accounts for over 12% of all OOH breakfast eating occasions, ahead of Greggs, coffee shop chains (e.g. Costa Coffee and Starbucks) and pub group JD Wetherspoon.
Market & Product Trends
The UK has one of Western Europe’s largest and most dynamic markets for sweet pastries. According to Delifrance, 42% of consumers claimed to be eating pastries more than once a week in 2024, up from around 24% four years earlier in 2020. During the same period, the percentage of people eating them at least once a week rose from 53% to 63%. Some of the largest increases in consumption between 2020 and 2024 were for consumers with children, as well as those aged under 45 and residents of London, Yorkshire and the North-East. Appearance and smell were cited as the most important reasons for purchasing sweet pastries and viennoiserie, both mentioned by over 40% of respondents.