Bakels is launching the first ever product outside of the USA and Canada to carry the US Whole Grains Council Stamp of Approval.
New Multi Wholegrain bread concentrate enables bakers to sell high fibre bread that also delivers on taste and quality. It was launched following extensive market research on consumer food trends, undertaken on Bakels’ behalf by Leatherhead Food International. It is used with 50% wholegrain flour.
The Whole Grains Council Stamp is currently promoted on some 1,700 products in North America to help drive the sales of wholegrain products. The Stamp will be made available to Bakels’ customers, along with other point of sale material, to explain its significance and the benefits of a high fibre diet.
The Stamp tells the consumer how many grams a single serving of the product carries. In Multi Wholegrain’s case it is a minimum of 29g per 50g serving, well in excess of the 18g or so the average Britain eats today.
While the Leatherhead research showed that consumers are aware they are not eating sufficient wholegrain, parallel research among UK bakers found that product quality was first and foremost why consumers bought their products
Put very simply, consumers want to eat healthily and, while they see wholegrain as the leading healthy food, they also want to enjoy what they eat. These principles have been the driving force in developing Multi Wholegrain.
Wholegrain will be a real winner for bakers. Food giants such as Nestle (Shredded Wheat and Shreddies)) and PepsiCo (Walkers’ SunBites crisps) have realised the opportunities that wholegrain offers and are now advertising these products heavily. Bakers will also benefit from this spending as it will raise awareness of wholegrain in the diet.
All the ingredients are in place for a really successful product – we have a healthy eating product aimed at a huge market with the key benefit that it tastes great, supported by a first class consumer marketing campaign spearheaded by the Whole Grains Stamp.
Excellent product and superb marketing support were behind the launch of Country Oven Low Gi Multiseed bread, now our top selling line with some 20 million loaves being sold each year at a price, on average, of £1.20 for a 400g loaf.
A consumer group, the Whole Grains Council, was formed in 2003 to educate the public about wholegrains. This body has created a special stamp which helps consumers identify wholegrain foods and it is now being used on over 1,700 products in the US, 23% of which are breads or bagels. This year US consumers will see the Stamp some 800m times where it is viewed as being ‘helpful and meaningful’.
Bakels is now working with the Whole Grains Council to help UK bakers drive wholegrain sales and is the first food company outside of the USA and Canada to successfully apply for the Stamp.
Says Cynthia Harriman, director of Food and Nutrition Strategies for the US Whole Grains Council, a non profit making organisation: “We are delighted to be working with such a go-ahead company as British Bakels and are ready to do our best to help the UK baker promote wholegrain.
“This is potentially huge for the UK baking market. In the first nine months of 2007 alone, bakers worldwide launched more than 500 wholegrain products, accounting for one third of all new wholegrain launches. Wholegrain bread is wildly popular, and we want to help UK bakers benefit from growing consumer interest.”
Check out www.wholegrainscouncil.org for more information on the exciting opportunities wholegrain offers
Email Sales for more information on new Multi Wholegrain bread concentrate.
Email Marketing for details of the market research carried out on our behalf by Leatherhead International
