FDBusiness.com

A new UK report by Baker & Baker, a leading European bakery products manufacturer, shows the significant opportunity for growth in the vegan sweet bakery market. Research, included in the report ‘Bakery Bites – the rise of the flexitarian: the growing interest in vegan sweet bakery products’, was undertaken by FMCG Gurus and is available for download at Vegan Products – pure taste without compromise (bakerandbaker.eu)

“We’ve launched the Bakery Bites report concept at a time when so much is happening within the bakery sector, with the aim of sharing insights across the industry,” comments Helen Sinclair, UK marketing manager at Baker & Baker. “The first Bakery Bites report focuses on the vegan sweet bakery market, and the findings highlight a significant opportunity for bakeries, food service operators and retailers who offer quality vegan products that do not compromise on taste.”

The research involved a survey of 1,000 UK consumers and was undertaken in Q2 2022. The standout finding is that there is continued rapid growth in flexitarians (those that make a conscious decision to eat less animal-based products). A total of 34% of consumers across the UK say that they follow a diet around the avoidance or moderation of animal-based products, an increase compared to the 28% of people who stated that two years earlier.

In the sweet bakery category, when asked: “Why would you be more likely to purchase a sweet bakery product if it carried a vegan-friendly claim?”, the top three reasons consumers gave outside of diet were:

• better for the environment
• fewer bad ingredients
• more natural / less processed.

In contrast, in response to the question: “You state that you would be less likely to purchase a sweet bakery product if it carried a vegan-friendly claim. Why is this?”, the top three answers consumers gave – not including diet – were:

• taste
• lack of understanding around vegan
• price.

“Flexitarian and vegan diets are now mainstream and will continue to grow,” continues Helen Sinclair. “We launched our range of UK vegan products earlier in the year based on offering products that also delivered on quality and taste.”

More Bakery Bites reports will be published throughout 2022/2023 looking at other issues impacting the bakery industry.

To learn more about the research, download a copy of the ‘Bakery Bites -– the rise of the flexitarian: the growing interest in vegan sweet bakery products’ report here Vegan Products – pure taste without compromise (bakerandbaker.eu).