Premium varieties touting cleaner labels and other BFY benefits have been some the biggest growth drivers for the category and its leading bread manufacturers.

Mark Courtney, chief brand officer for Flowers Foods, said the company’s new Nature’s Own Keto Loaf “stole the show” among its new product launches, becoming the top new item introduced in 2023 in its category. The company’s organic brand Dave’s Killer Bread saw similar success, up 10% in volume for Q4 2023 while the bread category dipped 2.6%.

“It appears that the consumer really is looking for innovation, better-for-you attributes and products,” said Steve Kinsey, chief financial officer and chief administrative officer of Flowers Foods in a March earnings call.

Organic breads as a whole are performing well, up 7.4% in dollars and 7.6% in volume versus a year ago, said Dawn Aho, client insights principal, bakery vertical, Circana. 

“BFY products that include multi-grains and a variety of seeds have unique positions in the market as well,” she added. 

Bimbo Bakeries USA capitalized on both these claims with the debut of its Grains Almighty line across its Arnold, Brownberry and Oroweat brands. Arnold Grains Almighty Gut Balance bread, for example, is made with sprouted grains and includes flax, honey, barley and sunflower seeds. 

Equii is taking a different approach with its BFY breads, providing consumers complete protein through pan breads for the first time, Monica Bhatia, chief executive officer of the San Francisco-based company. The company’s Power breads, for example, offer 10 grams of complete protein per slice.

“Even though [protein] is a relatively new concept in bread, we have seen significant lean-in from consumers via trials,” she said. “Fiber and thin-slice are here to stay. We are fully confident that protein breads will see the same effect.”

On the gluten-free front, Clearwater, Fla.-based Base Culture launched its Simply Bread line, available in Hint of Honey, Classic Sandwich and Super Seed varieties and made from a clean label flour.

Grupo Bimbo is all-in on the gluten-free trend as well, recently acquiring Amaritta Food SL, Cordoba, Spain, a company focused on the research and development of gluten-free bread.

“This acquisition will enable us to continue gaining know-how in this category and lever this technology and capitalize on its high-growth potential in that market,” said Daniel Servitje, executive chair of Grupo Bimbo during a February earnings call.

Aho pointed out many packaged breads naturally include healthful ingredients like fiber, vitamins and even protein, which should be a point of emphasis.

“Emphasizing that these are naturally occurring in grains like wheat and oats is key to avoiding concerns around heavy processing and additives,” she said. 

Pan bread has stood strong in recent years thanks to its reliability, but as consumers seek greater variety and have more options to choose from as inflation cools, versatility will be just as important to the category maintaining its momentum.

This article is an excerpt from the September 2024 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Pan Breadclick here.