BakeryBiz, Mar-Apr, 2021

The retail bakery industry in India today is reaching new heights. Changing customer behaviour is primarily the reason to which growth in the bakery segment can be attributed.

Bakery products are one of the most popular food items that people have accepted in this 21st century. In older days, food like chapatis, rice, pulses, bajra, corn were used in its most natural form in the bakery industry. Interestingly, different methods of cooking that are in existence all over the world are still not as popular as baking. Food texture, color, flavor, aroma, presentation, etc. that enhance the extravagance of the dishes came into existence after the baking industry flourished.

People from India have travelled to nations far and wide to study food and to explore, they have tried an array of cuisines and bakery products in several countries. This has resulted in the advent of new-age bakery items that were earlier only found internationally.

Chef Arup Dastidar,
Chief Corporate Chef, Food Innovation & BFS,
Spencer’s Retail Ltd

“The changes in consumption pattern in the 21st century has brought about a lot of innovation in the field of baking, roasting, grilling etc.,” said Chef Arup Dastidar, Chief Corporate Chef, Food Innovations at Spencers Retail Ltd.

“Baked form of items has played a big role in catering to the needs of new innovation in baked products. Fusion cooking and artisan bakery products are more in demand now. Since the middle-income group, considered to be the largest in India, shows preference for healthy food rich in nutritional values and low on fatty oil, opportunities in this field are enormous. Local bakers, bakery café, restaurants, large and medium scale production houses in the unorganised sector which are catering to that demand have been flourishing,” added Dastidar.

“There’s no denying that bakery growth is being fuelled by the middle class. They are evolving rapidly and so are their needs, tastes and attitudes. Supported by higher disposable incomes, consumers are willing to pay more for that extra value, thereby reducing the overall price sensitivity. As brands build their propositions, they must also keep in mind that low pricing isn’t the only guarantee of success – consumers are also focusing on the quality of products,” asserted Chef Sanjeev Kr Mishra, Senior Sous Chef, Flurys, east India’s leading bakery outlet chain.

“Eastern India bakery market has got a tremendous boost as there has been a shift from traditional eating habits to bread, cakes, cookies, and other baked savory items. This has had an impact on eastern India bakery industry,” reiterated Dastidar.

Today, consumers are willing to explore modern products and items, basically, it has become part of the modernistic society today, to try and explore new things. The bakeries across India have excelled at offering what their clients love. From new age Pastries, Cheesecakes, Macaroons to the Mediterranean Baklavas and everything of that sort, one can find it in bakery stores across India.

Having said that, what will not change in India is the consumer’s demand for traditional bakery goodies like Kharis, Kadak Pav, and Bun Maska to name a few. It is safe to say that there is quite a balance between traditional bakery products and the new age bakery products.

Influencing factors

Bread and bakery product manufacturers are increasing day by day with the help of various social media platforms by advertising and marketing their products. “As more and more consumers share their dining experiences on social media websites such as Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook, etc., it has influenced the bread and bakery product manufacturers to use their creativity and artistic minds to manufacture bakery products to gain popularity and interests. The influencing factors for a product depend on several factors, such as the price of the product, quality, advertising, income, the confidence of consumers and changes in taste and fashion,” informed Mishra.

Challenges

Operational efficiency and value addition are the major issues for maintaining the industry’s profit and growth. Technology and skilled manpower are two important factors for growth. “Development of training institutes and the initiatives taken by the Government on skill development programs has given some boost to this industry, however an acute shortage of training Institutes along with expert faculty is the need of the hour. This is also reflected in the recent reports by the Government agencies on Regulations and Food Laws,” added Dastidar. At every level in the bakery industry in India there are challenges and opportunities. While the rise of local home bakers is encouraging, there are issues of hygiene practices and standards, and organised bakeries are also incurring losses due to lack of operational efficiency and skilled workers.

A lack of basic education and awareness in the hygiene practices often result in the fall in the sales. Another reason is the lack of mechanized machinery. High demands for bread and cakes cannot be met due to lack of high product manufacturing machinery. “Key issues that the industry is facing is quality of raw materials, improvements in hygienic practices as well as technology apart from the availability of skilled manpower at all levels of bakery operations. The lack of technology and up gradation in manufacturing and packaging has been a factor affecting industry’s growth,” said Mishra.

According to Chef Arup Dastidar, the challenges faced by the industry are:

1. The issues faced by this sector are insufficient funds and infrastructure are not enough. Since expenditure on these training programs add up to the cost of production hence it is facing challenge in this price sensitive market. So, I feel value addition along with proper marketing strategies may give an impetus to this market.
2. Demand and Supply chain is a challenge.
3. Increase in price in Raw materials, Flour, Sugar, Fats & Oils has reached a peak.
4. Since this is a price sensitive market these challenges need to be addressed by the authorities so that the unorganized sector in the bakery industry survives

Impact of Covid-19

The retail bakery industry in India had a growth curve of about 12 per cent in 2020; however, due to the pandemic scenario, growth became stationary. According to reports, about 1.3 million tons of baked products are sold every year, but this number dropped low due to lockdown and other Covid-19 restrictions. The prime reason attributed to the downfall in the bakery industry is the supply chain bottlenecks.

Chef Sanjeev Kumar Mishra,
Senior Sous Chef, Flurys

This pandemic has been an influencing factor on healthy eating habits and hygiene practices among the customers. “This healthy pattern of eating will stay post COVID too. The consumption pattern of bread will be a major shift from normal white bread towards more of fortified products like multigrain, whole grain, ethnic seeded bread, etc. These are due to consumers own self research and desire for more nutritional and beneficial food. The usages of lesser-known grains like ragi, millets are well known among customers and seems to get precedence over regular flour. So, many well-known big brands now have made available these fortified value-added products in their shops,” added Dastidar.

“Overall, this trend towards healthier items has been driven by increasing health awareness. The launch of healthy products in the bakery segment is increasingly gaining popularity at a high rate,” added Mishra.

Good hygiene practices and good manufacturing practices has been given prime importance. Proper hygienic maintenance of machinery has been given prime importance. It has become a trend to audit the facility periodically and many hazards can be eliminated if proper pest control is in place.

“During the current scenario where the world is suffering from a pandemic this sector needs a workforce who are knowledgeable not only about the industry but are also competent in implementing the food safety and hygiene standards,” informed Mishra.

“Immunity-boosting materials are in vogue, and the impact will be largely seen especially when everything gets back to normal that is the children going to schools and colleges and the adults going back to their workspace. Thus many bakeries have focused heavily on ingredients to increase nutritional value in the products offered to the customers,” added Mishra.

Evolution in Baking Methods

With the advancement in the variety of bakery products, the methods of preparing the same have also evolved. Today, technology has progressed to the extent that only one person can single-handedly operate a machine that prepares your bakery goodies from scratch. It is safe to say that methods today are more robotic than traditional.