News and Trends

Source: Asda Asda had a giant croissant commissioned to mark the launch of the new single serve pastry fixtures Asda has introduced a new single serve pastry and cake fixture within its in-store bakery (ISB) department, with all items priced at under £1. The retailer has rolled out the fixtures in 109 stores as it looks to tap into grab and go demand for pastries and sweet treats throughout the day. Options include new and improve favourites, such as All Butter Croissants and Pain Au Chocolate, as well as familiar favourites such as Cinnamon Swirls and Pain Au Raisins – all priced at 53p. As well as the classics, new products will also be available including a Pesto & Parmesan Swirl and Cheese Croissant, both priced at 77p each. Notably, this brings Asda’s croissants in under Lidl’s. The discounter  recently cut the price of some of its bestselling bakery lines  which saw the All Butter Croissant discounted from 65p to 59p. The full list of available products and their pri...

 

Beer crawls are out and bakery crawls are in, with people arranging whole days, weekends or even holidays around the search for the perfect loaf or croissant J ust one day into a 225-mile hike across the width of Scotland last August, Dan Warren was feeling the burn, his old trail shoes wearing painfully thin. But neither sore feet nor swarms of midges would stop the librarian and his scientist wife, Dee Johnson, from reaching their goal: the promise of pastries at the  Bakehouse  in the west coast fishing town of Mallaig, a 14-day trek plus two ferry hops away from their home near Montrose. The pair are so-called “bakery pilgrims”, travelling significant distances in the pursuit of a fine loaf or bun. “Some of the time we were pushing through overgrown tracks, and there were lots of bogs,” Warren says of their journey. But their eventual reward was a soft brioche bun, filled with crème pâtissière and finished with crumble and berries. I can relate. The siren call of the honey...

Tesco' s sales growth accelerating, and Asda 's market share falling below 12% for the first time are the headlines from Worldpanel by Kantar's UK market data for 12 weeks ending 15th June 2025 released earlier today. 12-week sales grew by 5.0%, up from 4.2% in the last period. In the last 4 weeks grocery inflation was 4.7%, up from 4.1% the previous 4 weeks. Kantar report that grocery volumes fell by 0.4%, a lower level than overall UK retail sales volumes which have dropped by 2.7% in May according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The UK consumer is making an average of 17 trips to supermarkets in the latest month, the highest figure since March 2020. However, the average spend per trip is down 3p YoY, now at £23.89. Deals are certainly being sought after, with spend on promotion up to 28.8%. private label sales are up 4.2%, slightly ahead of brands. Tesco ’s growth has accelerated to 2.0% ahead of the total market (from 1.7% in the last period).. They ...

 Source: Grocery Insights, Steve Dresser - 24/06/2025 It's a definite step change in the market with volumes falling, customers making more shopping trips and inflation touching 5%. Customers react to this, and the sentiment has been weak for some time. The recent NI changes have not been swallowed by the sector (my shock!) but instead are being passed on to customers. For people heavy sectors like hospitality, retail and food production, any cost increase is bad news but the NI changes feel like a spectacular own goal that is only going to hurt the average UK customer. Convenience stands to benefit; with customers making more shopping trips, little and often, to minimise food waste and maximise budgets. What's interesting with the Kantar set is that Asda are starting to recover, this is despite them deflating themselves. IE sales value is reported by Kantar and Asda were only -1.7% for the 12 weeks to 15 June. SKU...