British foodservice sales of sweet bakery and desserts up almost 10% in five years

In the year ending September 2015, British consumers ate a record 1.5 billion servings of sweet bakery (cookies, tea biscuits, scones, pastries & Danishes, muffins, doughnuts and croissants) and desserts (tarts, pies & crumbles, cakes, puddings and brownies). This is a 5.5% year on year increase in the number of servings, and is up 9.2% versus the year ending 2010, said NPD.

Sweet bakery accounted for 780 million of those servings in the past 12 months – up 11% over the past five years – while dessert servings totaled 677 million – up 7.4% compared with five years ago.

Brownies rising

At more than 400 million servings, cakes are the most popular sweet bakery item, with annual servings up 9.6% in the past five years, and brownies one of the fastest-growing, with servings up 72% to 149 million. The top five bakery items account for two thirds of the market (see chart).

But despite the boom in sweet treats, Britain’s traditional bakery outlets are not benefitting from the trend, with  servings down 3.1% year on year in the 12 months to September 2015. They are facing increasing competition from high-street coffee shops, said NPD, with such outlets accounting for 186 million servings of sweet bakery and dessert treats in the year to September 2015, an 8.9% increase on the previous year.

Brits’ passion for sweet treats had been boosted by the success of BBC TV show The Great British Bake Off, suggested NPG Group foodservice account manager Muriel Illig: “The figures show that when it comes to servings of the top sweet bakery and dessert favourites it’s very much a case of the Great British Bakery and Dessert Take-Off.​

“With another Bake Off series next summer, we’ll once again watch bakery come to life – and many more of us will be tempted by these goodies.”​

Bakers go to Hollywood

The success of sweet bakery goods in foodservice has been reflected in strong retail sales, with categories including cakes and puddings performing particularly well.

The Great British Bake Off has boosted the profile of host and baker Paul Hollywood, who has put his name to two UK retail product ranges announced this year. He has partnered with Premier Foods to create a range of sweet and savory baking mixes launching next February; and with Carrs Foods for a range of ready to bake bread rolls that launched this autumn.