Key takeaways:
- Industrial bread is closing the gap with artisanal quality, making it harder for consumers to distinguish between the two.
- Rising input volatility and clean label demands mean consistency must now be actively managed rather than assumed.
- As price pressures intensify, artisanal bread may struggle to justify its premium if industrial products deliver comparable quality.
For years, the baking industry has operated on a clear distinction: industrial bread delivered consistency and scale; artisanal bread delivered quality and authenticity. Edouard Gestat believes that distinction is starting to weaken.
“The consumer will not see the real difference between industrial-type bread and craft-made bread,” he says. “That’s a very exciting movement.”
If that proves true, it changes how bread is sold. Much of the value in artisanal baking rests on perception - on the idea that it offers something visibly and tangibly better. If that difference becomes harder to recognise, then the premium attached to it becomes harder to justify.
Gestat, recently appointed baking marketing director for Baking with Lesaffre – a 173-year-old fermentation group operating in more than 180 countries – isn’t framing this as a threat. But his comments point to a market where expectations are rising and competitive lines are becoming less defined.
He took over the role from a member of the founding family, in a business built on continuity. That model still holds, but the environment around it is changing. Product performance remains critical, but it’s no longer the only point of differentiation.
“It has been an honour to succeed Thomas [Lesaffre],” he says. “My first priority is to carry on what is already in place. We tend to be very focused on the product, especially on yeast. Now we want to focus more on the customer and what their experience is.”
Gestat isn’t new to the shift in the landscape. He’s spent more than 20 years within the baking and fermentation space, moving across technical and commercial roles, which gives him a view of both how products are developed and how they’re used in practice.
Industrial moves into artisanal space
The consumer will not see the real difference between industrial-type bread and craft-made bread.
Industrial bread isn’t trying to replicate artisanal baking perfectly: it doesn’t need to. It only needs to narrow the gap enough that most consumers stop noticing it.
“We’re seeing a broader range of bread across many markets,” says Gestat. “More grains, more sourdough and a wider variety of flours.”
That shift reflects how manufacturers are responding to demand. Bread is still a staple, but expectations have moved beyond basic functionality. Consumers want variety, texture and flavour, even in everyday products.
Industrial producers are investing to deliver those qualities at scale. Fermentation plays a central role, allowing more complex flavour development and improved texture without fundamentally changing production models.
The result is a category where the visual and sensory cues associated with artisanal baking are no longer exclusive to it. That creates a more competitive environment. Industrial producers can offer products that look and taste closer to artisanal bread, while still benefiting from pricing, distribution and volume.
The challenge is different for artisanal bakers. Their advantage has always been rooted in perceived quality and authenticity. As industrial products move closer to that position, those attributes need to be reinforced more clearly, whether through provenance, freshness or direct consumer connection.
In practice, that often means doing more with less margin for error. If industrial bread can deliver ‘good enough’ versions of artisanal quality at scale, the risk is that price and convenience start to outweigh provenance and craft.
Quality rises as inputs become less predictable
At the same time, the foundation of the category is becoming less stable. Wheat supply has been disrupted by geopolitical events, most notably the war in Ukraine.
“When the Ukraine war started, the shipment of wheat was not available,” says Gestat. “Some countries had to find, in a matter of urgency, wheat from other regions.”
Supply flows have largely recovered, but the disruption exposed how dependent many markets are on specific sourcing regions. More importantly, it highlighted how quickly those supply chains can shift.
However, even where supply is available, consistency isn’t guaranteed. “It’s not only the quantity, but the quality. The wheat you have one year is not the same the following year.”
Climate variability is now a major factor. Rainfall patterns, temperature changes and extreme weather events all influence protein content and water absorption. These variations directly affect how dough behaves in production.
“You have a lot of rain and then the quality of wheat is definitely not the same. The following year you have a lack of rain and everything is different.”
For bakers, that means recipes cannot remain static. Adjustments are required to maintain a consistent end product. That’s where specialists like Lesaffre step up.
“We help the baker to adapt their bread recipe to make the same final product,” Gestat says.
But this is also where the pressure intensifies. As industrial producers aim to deliver higher-quality products, the tolerance for variation decreases. At the same time, the raw materials they depend on are becoming less predictable.
Consistency isn’t built into the system. It has to be actively managed, often in real time.
Clean label and experience reshape the value proposition
Alongside supply pressures, consumer expectations continue to tighten, particularly around clean label.
“I think the consumer is still on clean,” Gestat says. “They are not shifting away. [In fact,] they are increasing the expectation.”
What has changed is the willingness to compromise. “They want to have the clean label, but they don’t want the compromise. They don’t want to see the taste or the colour or the shelf life being affected.”
That expectation sits alongside another pressure: cost. Recent consumer research by Lesaffre shows that among those reducing bread consumption, price is the leading factor, ahead of health concerns such as weight gain or dieting. In that context, the premium for artisanal bread becomes harder to defend, particularly when industrial products are narrowing the perceived quality gap.
This creates a more complex formulation environment. Removing additives is one step but replacing their functionality without affecting performance is more difficult. That challenge is amplified for industrial producers. Reformulation must work consistently across large volumes, while still delivering the sensory qualities consumers expect.
At the same time, product variety must expand. “If you always have the same bread, the consumer might get bored,” argues Gestat.
But while that expectation for novelty keeps the category moving, it also increases operational complexity. More products, more formats and more formulations mean more opportunities for inconsistency.
This is where Gestat’s focus on experience becomes more relevant. In the past, Lesaffre, he says, tended “to be very focused on the product. Now we want to focus more on the customer and what their experience is.”
In practice, that shifts attention from ingredients alone to how those ingredients perform in real-world conditions. Technical support, troubleshooting and adaptation become part of the value proposition.
Lesaffre’s network of more than 50 baking centres is designed to support that model. These facilities bring together experienced bakers who work directly with customers to solve problems and develop products.
“The baseline is baker to baker,” Gestat says, describing a system where expertise is shared between practitioners rather than delivered as a standardised solution.
As the gap between industrial and artisanal bread narrows, that type of support becomes more important. The competitive advantage lies not just in what is sold, but in how it’s applied.
An industry that doesn’t stand still
After more than two decades in baking, Gestat doesn’t talk about the sector as if it’s settled or predictable. If anything, he describes it as harder to navigate now than when he started.
“There are so many ideas today,” he says. “The issue is to select what is relevant.”
That’s not just a comment on innovation. It reflects a market where expectations are pulling in different directions at once. More variety, cleaner labels, better quality – all delivered consistently and often at lower cost.
For someone in his position, that means making choices about what to prioritise and what to leave behind. His career across both technical and commercial functions shapes that perspective: less emphasis on big resets, more on adapting what already works.
“I’d have liked to have been a farmer,” he says. “I always enjoyed being close to the food process.”
The remark offers a glimpse into how he sees the industry. However complex the system becomes, it still depends on raw materials that cannot be fully controlled. And that’s where the pressure sits. Industrial baking is moving closer to artisanal quality, while the inputs behind it are less predictable and the expectations placed on it more demanding. That means there’s less room for error.
He doesn’t overstate the point, but his earlier comment carries weight. “The consumer will not see the real difference.”
If that becomes the norm, the question is no longer whether industrial bread can match artisanal quality. It’s whether artisanal baking can continue to justify its difference.
