What’s Hot? What’s Not? What’s Next? Insights for Baking Brands by Skai

People around the world love to bake! Whether savory or sweet, bakery items will always have a special place in the hearts—and stomachs—of consumers.

Sometimes bakery products gain headlines, such as in1996 when the Boston Cream Pie was named the official dessert of Massachusetts. First sold as simply a Chocolate Cream Pie in 1856, the dessert can now be found in almost every corner of the globe.

Next week (Oct 23) is National Boston Cream Pie Day. It might be just the right time to pick up the sweet treat and bring it home to the family or to share with friends.

But you don’t have to just eat an actual Boston Cream Pie to celebrate the day! This flavor combination—yellow cake, custard, and chocolate— is also available in other food products.

Here are some examples of how you can enjoy the classic Boston Cream Pie in other ways:

• Of course, donuts are one of the ways many people enjoy Boston Creme Pies throughout the year. Kripy Kreme’s Chocolate Iced With Kreme™ Filling are filled with their signature “kreme” and then “dipped in our classic chocolate icing to create a delectably balanced treat.”
• Jeni’s Boston Cream Pie ice cream is a great way to eat this treat. It starts off with yellow custard ice cream and then adds “yellow cake crumbles and bittersweet fudge tie the whole thing together.”
• Coffee and cake go together…so why not Boston Creme Pie coffee by New England Coffee? The drink highlights “flavors of New England’s favorite dessert features notes of vanilla custard, sponge cake and chocolate glaze.”
• How about an easy-to-hold version when you’re on the go? JJ’s Bakery Boston Cream Pie Hand-Held Snack Pie. The bakery says this sweet “proves that you can’t go wrong with vanilla and chocolate flavors combined into one tasty treat!”

Insights for Baking Brands: What’s Hot, Not, & Next

The global baking ingredients market is projected to reach $16.6 billion in 2021 and on pace to $22.3 billion by 2026. There has been a demand surge for baking ingredients, as consumers stuck at home due to the COVID-19 have taken aggressively to baking. Like the U.K. hit, The Great British Bake Off, baking shows have also grown in popularity over the last several years, which has also increased the interest in DIY baking.

Consumer and market intelligence platforms like Skai are increasingly used by baking brands—and the ingredient manufacturers to these brands—looking to keep a finger on the pulse of what is happening in the category in real-time and get ahead of the latest trends.

Skai collects more data than anyone else relevant to baking (social reviews, product listings, ratings, reviews, patents, etc.) so that brands don’t miss a thing. Then, we apply natural language processing so that it’s easy to extract what is happening in the baking category and why — and what will happen in the future. And we visualize the data in a way that makes it easy to understand for anyone from Insights, Marketing, Brand, Product Innovation, and more.

Our Baking Ingredients & Flavoring category includes data from over:

• 20,000+ products
• 975,000+ consumer discussions
• 252,000+ product reviews
• 28,000+ key opinion leader posts
• 7,000+ patents

So what is the data showing us? Let’s take a look!

What’s Hot?

• Lemon is a common flavor within baking and continues to be discussed among consumers. There has been a 27% increase in baking social media posts that mention Lemon and a 92% increase in baking product reviews to cite the flavoring in the last 12 months.
• Bean is a popular baking ingredient in the Far East that has been permeating into the West. There has been a 100% growth in new baking products that include Bean and a 55% growth in baking product reviews that mention the term. 
• Prebiotic is staying steady in the baking products category. In the last 12 months, there has been a 64% increase in baking social media posts that mention it as well as a moderate 10% increase in new products and patents for Prebiotic baking items.

What’s Not?

• Gluten Free has seen a bit of a decline recently. With a whopping 5,084 baking products on the market mentioning this feature, there have only been 91 new patents filed in the last five years which signals a slowing trend or market saturation. Baking social media posts that mention Gluten Free are down 8% over the previous year and Gluten Free baking product reviews are down 30%.
• Sugar Free would seem to be a no-brainer in the baking products category as consumers can control the calories in the foods they make. However, the innovation in this benefit is decreasing. Just 72 new Sugar Free baking products were released in the last 12 months (which is a 10% year-over-year drop). Also, only 34 new baking patents have been filed in the last five years that mention it.
• Whole Grain is one of the biggest trends in the last thirty years as consumers try to find ways to eat better. But, as of late, there’s been a 15% decline in baking products that mention the ingredient. As well, product reviews mentioning Whole Grain have decreased by 26% and social media posts are down by 31%. 

What’s Next?

• Amino Acids have been appearing in many food product trends over the last few years as consumers continue to try to find ways to increase the nutritional value of their sweets. Amino Acids have just 186 baking products on the market today, yet 160 baking patents have been filed in the last five years that mention them. 
• Iodine is an additive used to help regulate metabolic processes that has been growing in the baking sector. There’s been a 200% growth in baking social media posts that mention Iodine and baking patents that highlight it are up 100% in the last five years.
• Surprisingly, Bitter is having a moment in the baking products industry. Just 178 Bitter baking products currently exist, but there have been 78 new baking patents filed in the last five years that mention Bitter. Baking social media posts that mention it are also up 9% over the last twelve months.

Top Baking Brands (by number of consumer discussions)

The baking products trend to watch: transparent packaging

One of the ways that consumers judge the quality and freshness of their food item purchases is with transparent packaging. Either in see-through plastic containers or small windows in boxes, consumers are “voting with their wallets” and choosing transparent packaging as part of their baking items.

This also creates a challenge for baking brands as plastic bags aren’t always the best way to ship their products due to breakage. Plastic windows in boxed items are also somewhat of an issue because they could potentially be an air seal problem and these products may get stale or let in outside elements which could taint the flavor or even be unhealthy for shoppers. On top of these issues, there are extra costs associated with the added benefit of transparency in packaging. 

However, even with these problems for the baking product manufacturers, consumers want Transparent Packaging because it creates a level of comfort and peace of mind to be able to see exactly what they are buying. 

Over the last twelve months, there has been an 1800% growth in new products and patents within the baking sector that mention Transparent Packaging.

To find out what’s hot, what’s not, and what’s next in your industry, please reach out today to schedule a brief demo of Skai’s market intelligence platform.

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