A Rough Guide to the Bread Industry in the UK

Bread is one of those items that always makes itself into the shopping trolley at the weekly food shop. But there is more to bread than pre-sliced packaged items that you pick off the shelf. Many people would have heard of the word 'Artisan' creeping back into our lives, but aren't entirely sure what it means in relation to bread making.

We decided to create a rough guide to the UK Bread Industry so that you can understand a little further why we created Bread Du Jour.

So, the facts, the bread industry is worth around about £6.5 billion which makes it one of the largest markets in the food industry. The total volume at the moment is about 11 million loaves and packs sold every single day in the UK, but not all of that is made up of the packets in the supermarket. The industry is split into three different sectors; one being the larger corporations (plant baking) which make up 80% of the bread sold in the UK. Then there are In-Store Bakeries (ISBs) where you can normally purchase fresh loaves direct from the supermarket bakery, which creates around 17%. The craft bakers then make up the rest; so you can understand why we had the idea for Bread Du Jour.

We wanted to create something different for both businesses and consumers that was both easy to use and purchase. Things in the food industry have been changing rapidly, more people are monitoring their diets and taking into consideration more craft foods that are available to them. This is where artisan bread comes in; artisan bread means that it is crafted with care and skill, something that can't be replicated on a larger scale, creating a product that is special and unique.

As of 2014, 421,000 tonnes of Artisan Bread were produced creating £682.5m. That was an increase of 1.8% since 2009 which proves that trends have been changing and more people are interested in Artisanal products.Things are estimated to rise even further for the Artisan Bread trade from £682.5m to £780.7m by 2019!

For all the information stated in this article please visit here.

We would love to carry on the conversation over on Twitter, follow us at @BreadDuJour.