Bread is Back — Again!

Bread is Back — Again!

Almost four years ago, our Corporate Chef published a post called “Bread is Back!” and I couldn’t help thinking of that same title as I sat down to write this post.

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I keep running into signals that people are loving bread — and not afraid to admit it.

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Of course I get to eat bread, look at beautiful photos of bread and hear about sales increases from our local Great Harvest owners daily, but recently I started wondering — are we the only ones experiencing this? Or is it a broader market trend? I keep seeing signs of the latter.

The most flamboyant example is a recent announcement by Oprah. Even though there is some controversy surrounding her statement, her passion still comes through:

click_to_tweet_bread_is_back_be_happy.pngFor our readers who love numbers and data:

  • America’s rekindled love affair with bread is happening while the restaurant industry as a whole has not been experiencing good times. Restaurant traffic was down 2% in December 2015 compared to the previous year and sales were up only 0.6% in the year-over-year comparison (in Nation’s Restaurant News).

A few more data points about bread’s growing popularity, according to a Mintel analysis of menus across a broad range of restaurants:

  • The bread category was mentioned 1% more in the period from October to December of 2015 when compared to the same period in 2012.
  • trending_bread_sticks.jpgWithin this bread category, toast drove a significant amount of the growth, with a 12% increase in menu appearances between the same two time periods (Q4 2015 versus Q4 2012). Our Corporate Chef covered the new gourmet toast trend here
  • Bread Sticks also experienced a jump in popularity and drove 16% of the bread category’s growth between the two time periods. 

So what do you think? Is bread “back” from your perspective?

There has never been a better time to start making dough with Great Harvest.

 

Learn about franchise opportunities in our hottest future markets:

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Read more about bread trends in these posts:

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