Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was an uncertain year for many bakery products in terms of sales growth. However, bread saw exceptionally strong sales growth throughout the year and this strong sales growth is expected to continue over the holidays.
Tim Grzebinski, client insights principal for dairy and bakery for IRI, said the strongest sales growth in essential food categories in 2020 was in bread products compared to other baked goods like cookies, crackers, snacks or pies and cakes.
When the pandemic initially hit in March, dollars spent on grocery store trips increased 7%, according to IRI, as people stocked their pantries but people were going to the grocery store less frequently as the overall trips to the grocery store declined 2%.
Bread trends followed a similar pattern except on a much larger scale. Over the last year, pantry-stocking purchases of bread and rolls increased 32% compared to the same 52-week period in 2019. Meanwhile, shorter “fill-in” trips to purchase bread dropped 52%.
The entire bread industry has seen an increase over the last year, from white bread to better for you options, all products have seen increased sales and this trend is expected to continue over the holiday season.
La Brea Bakery surveyed over 500 consumers to get a sense for how they are planning to celebrate and how they plan to incorporate bread into their holiday meals. Most respondents will be incorporating bread in their holiday meals this winter and in some very interesting ways.
Fifty-five percent of survey respondents that plan on making stuffing over the holidays will be using bread pieces to help prepare it; 93% of respondents will be serving bread at their holiday meal, with dinner rolls being the most popular bread type; 75% of respondents said they will be serving them.
The last way people are incorporating bread in their holiday meals is through sandwiches, 79 % of survey respondents said they will be using their remaining bread to make holiday sandwiches.
Bread will be a key component for consumers meals over the holiday season, only 9% of survey respondents felt that bread was not a necessary part of a holiday meal. With strong sales growth over the last year, the holiday season will see a similar trend of growth for the bread industry.