Industry | 2009.05.23
Rising sales suggest renewed love for the loaf
Bread is back. After three and a half decades of falling sales, British consumers are renewing their love affair with the loaf. According to analysis by independent retail experts TNS, sales of loaves rose by 0.5% over the last 12 months, the first year-on-year increase since 1974.
It might seem only a modest rise, but for the nation\'s bakers it offers hope that after years in the doldrums their fortunes are about to change.Statistics gathered by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs show that in 1974 the average Briton ate 1,029g of bread a week. By 2007 this had fallen to just 677g a week - a 35% decline.
But last year the average consumer ate a little over 700g a week as the recession altered the nation\'s eating habits. "The credit crunch has led to a huge return in the popularity of the packed sandwich, with more of us now likely to take them to work or make them for our kids to take to school in a bid to save money," said Scott Clarke, bakery director for Tesco.
Other supermarket chains confirm the vogue for people to make their own packed lunches. Last year J Sainsbury plc reported a 36% rise in sales of plastic lunch boxes.
Industry experts said the return of the loaf was part of a wider trend. "People are returning to staple products, particularly white bread," said Gordon Polson, director of the Federation of Bakers. "Bread is good value and healthy, and it\'s pretty cheap." But Anthony Kindred, director of the National Association of Master Bakers, said: "In the supermarkets, the cheap stuff is on the bottom shelves and all the space is now given to the premium brands. It\'s that which is selling well."
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2[...]/24/bread-sales-of-loaves-rise
