It’s been said that fresh is best, and shopping the outside aisles of the grocery store is where you’ll discover the most wholesome foods. Whether placing fresh produce in their shopping carts or stopping at the deli, consumers are spending a lot of time in the perimeter of the supermarket.
Food Business News reported that 42% of last year’s total food retailer sales came from fresh departments. But which department soars high above the rest?
Among supermarket perimeter departments, bakery sales had the highest growth, rising 6.7% last year. To give perspective, fresh produce had only 2.2% growth.
A whopping 84% of retailers leveraged their in-store bakeries to gain a competitive advantage, and 58% said those efforts paid off. In response, one in four retailers plan to expand their in-store bakeries to meet the demand.
What does it all mean? Consumers crave easily accessible, fresh bakery products.
Sweet Baked Goods Stand Out in the Bakery Department
The bakery category is wide-ranging, offering a multitude of products. Those gaining the most attention among consumers are those with indulgent qualities like moist muffins and soft, chewy cookies.
Cookies, in particular, are helping to fuel significant growth. The total perimeter cookies category marked a 15.2% increase last year. Within the category, old stand-bys have generally stood out with the highest consumption, including:
- Traditional cookies — 15.8% growth
- Specialty cookies — 14.5% growth
- Iced/frosted cookies — 20.1% growth
- Multi-pack assorted cookies — 16.9% growth
Overcoming the Challenge of Maintaining Freshness
Packed with preservatives and highly processed ingredients, pre-packaged cookies, cakes and muffins located in the center aisle of the supermarket may last for months. However, those prepared in an in-house bakery often feature more wholesome ingredients and need to be sold and consumed quickly.
While the “best by” date for freshly prepared sweet baked goods may allow them to remain on the shelf for a week or so, their texture and quality often degrade after a couple days. This is mainly due to moisture loss, resulting in dry, crumbly products that lose their appeal. Products that don’t sell are often donated to food banks or disposed of, resulting in lost revenue.
Retaining just-baked freshness in sweet baked goods is critical to grocers looking to invest in perimeter bakery departments. The food scientists at Grande Custom Ingredients Group sought to prolong freshness in sweet baked goods using a natural whey ingredient. They developed Grande DuratoTM, a clean-label whey protein concentrate that replaces up to 100% of non-fat dry milk (NFDM) or other powdered dairy ingredients in frozen or fresh dough and dry mixes.
What sets Grande Durato apart from commodity whey ingredients is its proprietary functionality: it holds and retains moisture in baked goods both during the baking process and while on the shelf. By retaining moisture cookies are softer and chewier, while muffins and cakes have a more moist and indulgent mouthfeel.
Visual appeal is also important. Cookies made with Grande Durato had less spread than the control, and muffins rose higher. Furthermore, flavor differences were indecipherable among a sensory panel.
Consumers buy from in-store bakeries because they want fresh-baked taste and texture. Grande Durato can help satisfy this need from the day a product is baked and throughout its intended shelf life. Request a sample of Grande Durato today by reaching out to our team. Our formulation experts are happy to help you explore ways to incorporate this innovative ingredient into your applications and prove its value.
