Bakery products you can assemble, heat, and serve super-quick. Make sure you “Keep it fun, keep it tasty”: indulgence remains a drawcard for bakery products in foodservice
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Question:
What bakery products assemble, heat, and serve super-quick?
Answer:
We’ve seen a widespread return to dining out, and it’s the casual offerings that are dominating – due to the labour and skills shortage currently afflicting the industry.
There’s a growing need for options that can be easily put together with less skilled or unskilled labour, then quickly heated, and bakery products are a great fit. From burgers and filled rolls to sandwiches, even garlic bread as a starter or side – all these are simple to process and customers love them. In fact, garlic bread is now appearing in places it never did before, like regular cafes and pubs and club dining.
Food service professionals everywhere are asking: “how can I get something which I can assemble, heat, and serve super-quick?” The fact is that the dining public is going out again and wanting to enjoy themselves, but at the same time operators are struggling because of labour and supply issues, and they’re also trying to keep their prices down in the face of economic pressures. And if you don’t want to have to charge more for your food, you have to be able to build it for less.
At the same time, premium indulgent bakery products are commanding a higher market share. The great thing is that customers love them because they’re filling – they know they won’t eat them and still be hungry. The sourdough range has grown in the past year, which is a big increase; Turkish rolls and loaves have also grown.
Demand for premium burger buns still growing
Another emerging trend is that of Vietnamese style rolls – “Banh Mi and similar, filled with pulled meats and barbecue flavours have grown. These have had a presence in Vietnamese bakeries and service station carveries for some time, but there’s now a move to American-style flavours and presentation – such as Philly Cheese Steak rolls or barbecued, smoky meats.
These types of fillings sit so well on Vietnamese rolls and for many operators it’s not just the fact that customers love them – it’s that they’ve got the filling sitting there ready to go, all they need is the rolls to fill, so it’s an easy assembly and a quick and simple solution.”
Demand for premium burger buns has been growing year on year. Premium buns, led by the Potato Bun, followed by Milk Buns and Brioche Buns, have a larger sales share than the regular white burger bun.
Burgers are now a well-entrenched international trend across westernised nations – they’re popular with customers, they’re quick and easy to make. Plus the price point of a burger is lower than that of a sit-down meal like a piece of steak so it’s a great go-to meal for consumers.
There is also a growing overseas trend for croissants packed with savoury-style fillings.
Spicy, hot flavours are continuing to trend all around the world, not just in Australia, it’s the spicy stuff that customers are being drawn to, along with smokey flavours. American-style barbecue is becoming popular again.
Plant-based fillings are a perfect fit for bakery
And of course, plant-based fillings are a big drawcard for customers and the perfect fit for bakery products. Food service professionals are using smoky cooking treatments on plant-based alternatives, like pulled jackfruits, mushrooms, and so on. They’re also adding smoky flavours into their sauces.
Plant-based has become so much more mainstream now, and you should be thinking about the number of plant-based offerings you’ve got on the menu, and elevating them to attract a growing share of those consumers who are looking for them.
One plant-based option you set and forget isn’t enough because there are customers who cross back and forth from plant-based to meat fillings. They might do Taco Tuesdays, then plant-based Wednesdays – and if you can give them a great experience on both occasions, they’re going to keep coming back.
Gluten-free is also still a growing category, and today the number of gluten-free options in bakeries is remarkable compared to what was on offer just five years ago.
When they dine out people want big flavours and great experiences, and food service chefs have to be creative in meeting that need. Keep it fun and keep it tasty!
(Source: Food Service July/August: Darren O’Brien, Innovation Manager at Tip Top Foodservice).
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