Britain’s customers are TV-mad, and currently broadcasting channels are providing an excellent promotion platform for Britain’s bakery industry, headed by the mega-popular Great British Bake Off program.
To add to the influence from the highly-addictive TV weekly series, which saw amateur bakers competing against each other, currently there are spin-off programs such as a series using sports celebrities as bakers, and run to popularize the BBC’s flagship Charity, Sport Relief. Sales are up of everything, from ingredients for home baking, up to top-range patisserie products for entertaining.
Delice de France
This bakery recently launched a Paris Brest patisserie, prior to the TV program. Probably not one in a hundred British customers would have known what this pastry was before, but when eight million viewers watch contestants struggle to make this, most will have now have an idea. So Delice de France introduced a Paris Brest product last Autumn, as part of their new range of Premium Patisseries from Coup de Pates, saying “we have launched an exciting range of stunning fruit-topped tarts and individual desserts. This month, we are championing a genuine French patisserie triumph, The Paris Brest. This a traditional French specialty, named after the bike race from Paris to Brest in Brittany. A praline cream of hazelnuts and almonds sandwiched between two wheels of choux pastry and topped with toasted flaked almond.” Also in their range is a Ciabatta d’Antan; a Tiffin Traybake, savory Tarts and an ever-popular Black Forest slice. Adding to the baking bandwagon, ever-popular TV chef Jamie Oliver has been out and about, searching out old British bakery favorites to revive for his current TV series, and recently came up with “Tosset Cakes”, actually a crisp shortbread-type of biscuit made with caraway seeds.
The marketing boys at Booths supermarkets must have been watching this TV program, picked up on the idea, and are currently about to launch Tosset Cakes in their stores. They are being produced for Booths by Waterfields, a family run bakery with its roots firmly established in Lancashire, having been run by three generations of the family since 1926. Booths Buyer, Julian Valentine, explains: “Booths has a 166 year heritage of sourcing the best quality food and drink our regions have to offer, made using time honored traditions, and many of our suppliers have been working with Booths for decades. We are proud of our northern roots and believe in preserving our heritage, which makes us ideally placed to revive the Tosset Cake, which has been eaten by Lancashire families dating back for centuries. Tosset Cakes will be the latest product brought to our shelves as part of our Forgotten Foods campaign which, through an alliance with Slow Food UK, aims to revive endangered British specialties. We work alongside the Slow Food UK Ark of Taste Commission to identify products at risk of extinction and bring these special foods to our shelves. This has seen us revive products such as Morecambe Bay potted shrimps, Formby asparagus and Lyth Valley damsons.” Meanwhile, reviving the Tosset Cakes hasn’t done Booths any harm, with Prime Time TV showing Jamie Oliver and partner Jimmy Doherty showcasing the cakes on their current show, with several mentions of the supermarket.
Frozen Desserts
Following on from their traditional British theme, ASDA has come up with a range of deserts featuring old recipes for sweet dessert treats; these will probably be unknown to the majority of European customers, but are part of most British people’s childhood memories of favorite treats. However, knowing how many European customers now enjoy traditional Christmas Pudding, it may not be long before these make their way across the British Channel. These desserts include traditional favorites which ASDA hope will give customers fond childhood memories, such as Rhubarb Crumble, several dishes featuring apples, a range of Sponge puddings, and Spotted Dick – “a sticky, suet-based pudding filled with currants and sultanas, that is dear to the hearts of many British men” – although any nutritionist would shudder at the ingredients. All this range is sold at a low price of GBP1 per pack and designed to be cooked from frozen. Meanwhile, pondering to its possibly more up-market customers, Waitrose has gone for the ever-popular chocolate option, with a tray of 16 mini Chocolate patisseries. And Ocado, again possibly reflecting on their customers’ wallets, leads in their range at GBP1.50 per pack.
Highlighting local producers
Realizing that mass-produced food is not the most popular subject with the media or customers – most supermarkets have latched onto the appeal of food produced and baked by local producers. Supermarket walls feature blow-up posters of beaming producers, photographed in artisan bakeries, or anywhere that suggests a healthy, home-made local source. This is all part of the marketing mix to counter the credit squeeze, adverse publicity, etc. and seems to be producing results with major Supermarkets (except for Morrisons) posting excellent trading figures for the latest Christmas trading period. Mr. Crumb, the Irish company, is one that is featuring this local, home-made image. Its website says “Mr. Crumb is a small food company based in the rural village of Finea in Ireland’s lake lands. What we do that’s different is that we have a team of cooks (well to be precise local ladies with a strong traditional food heritage) who prepare and cook a range of fresh food”. This message highlights the folksy, locally-produced message, however modern the production line needed to mass-produce the product. Known for stuffing and breadcrumbs, Mr. Crumb also make burritos, party food, and toppings … all handmade using high quality ingredients. Winning international awards, they emphasize they are “a family business (myself, my mum and my dad all being involved) which believes in community and the power to make positive changes to peoples’ lives through business”. The company was founded in 1996 by Bernard Coyle. Working as a salesman for a major bakery, he noticed a gap in the market for fresh breadcrumbs as an ingredient for stuffings, puddings, bread sauce etc. He decided to take a chance and go out on his own. Having initial difficulty getting the products listed with the retailers, he decided to move up the value chain and make the actual stuffing.
2014 warnings
However homely and local is a supplier, recently a worrying report from the London-based International Grains Council (IGC) says “Harvests of grains including corn, wheat and barley will total 1.935 billion metric tons in the 2014-15 crop year, less than the 1.94 billion tons expected this season,” they said recently in an annual e-mailed report detailing the supply and demand outlook for the next five years. The global crop of corn, or maize, was pegged at 944 million tons in 2014-15, down from 948 million tons this season. Wheat output will rise 0.4 percent to 699 million tons. “Current prices suggest more favorable returns for soybeans and wheat in 2014-15,” the IGC said. “Farmers may therefore elect to plant less maize next year.” And consumers can expect yet another price hike.
Fat is an issue
Another problem currently looming is that Britain’s media is full of horror stories highlighting overweight issues, with Britain said to be in the grip of an “obesity crisis”. Doctors have looked at patients, and realized that a huge proportion are overweight and not just in Britain. This time the blame seems to be on “hidden” sugar in foods, and the public is at last realizing that ready-meals, including main and meat dishes, can contain a hefty proportion of hidden sugar as flavor-enhancing agents. Customers are urged to pay more attention to lists of ingredients on packages, particular the percentage of sugar. For the moment, ready-baked meals seem to be holding up, but with more and more newspaper and TV articles highlighting hidden sugars in our favorite foods, worried shoppers perusing packaging labels are already to be seen in aisles. This should now be easier for consumers, following the new law created by the Food Information for Consumers Regulation
Frozen ready-made pastry
However, sales of ready-made pastry are doing well: puff (especially all-butter) and shortcrust; as well as filo pastry now increasingly fill more and more shelf space in chiller and freezer cabinets. Again, TV has provided a boost to sales, with Michelin-starred Chefs not being ashamed to promote this product as making life easier for viewers. Jus-Roll now has developed Rosemary-flavored products, in particular Focaccia, a very popular addition, especially with the popularity of Italian products.
Celebration cakes
With the “wedding season” coming up, this is a marketing opportunity for stores that either have a tie-up with a cake-maker, or wish to develop one. Some stores are cashing in by lending cake stands and special stands for the fashionable cupcakes which are now popular – instead of the traditional three-or-five tiered wedding cake. Cup cakes can also save on cost, as charges for wedding cakes can now go up to the thousands. Many stores now act as agents for individual master cake bakers; if you don’t have a tie-up, more and more artisan bakers are now developing special lines, and seem very keen to have a working relationship with a major store. Marks and Spencer have developed this into an art, even supplying a video that shows how easy it is to assemble their cakes. One idea that is worth copying is their “taster cakes” – brides can buy a small cake (4 portions for GBP5) to try out the recipe, before ordering. So stores are aware of customers’ worries about obesity, but are happy to add to traditional bakery and pastry lines to entice customers.