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Bread and biscuits - Creativity and innovations galore during pandemic
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Thursday, 13 May, 2021, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Nandita Vijay, Bengaluru
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The pandemic has churned out an increasing number of creative bakery products. From a simple homemade bread loaf to a delicately baked biscuit, bakeries have been coping with the Covid-19 crisis, which engulfed millions across the globe, with innovative products galore.
Bread and biscuits have reported an increased consumption because of the work from home and the ensuing lockdowns because of the pandemic.
Against this background, the FSSAI has updated the standards for bakery products including biscuits and breads under the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) First Amendment Regulations, 2021. These standards include the new variants of biscuits like sugar-free, low sugar variants along with fat-free variants.
These regulations were notified by the apex food regulator recently and shall come into force from January 1, 2022.
According to the notified regulations, ‘Biscuit’ is a baked product leavened or unleavened, coated or uncoated, centre-filled partially or wholly such as but not limited to wafer biscuits, coated wafers, cookies, crackers, centre-filled biscuits, enrobed biscuits, sandwich biscuits, crème biscuit including fat-free/ low fat or sugar-free/ low sugar variants.
Meanwhile, recalling the pandemic period difficulties, Vikas Gupta, executive director, sales, Harvest Gold, stated, "Working day and night with production of bakery products along with distribution to the consumers, our team reinvented safety and hygiene measures to ensure that there were no lapses and only the healthiest and safest product was delivered. Even extra efforts were taken to provide doorstep delivery to the elderly who could not step out."
The company said that its Harvest Gold is a popular bread in Delhi NCR. It started the supplies of 6 lakh loaves of bread every day. During the lockdown, it served the people of Delhi NCR and other parts of north India with its products that include breads and buns, flat bread varieties such as roti, kulcha and pizza base and rusk. The company also continued to work with its CSR implementation partners and tied up with several NGOs to deliver fresh bread to shops and homes. The quality, safety and hygiene have been universally appreciated and the company said that its team is ‘Sabki Bread ke secret superstars’.
For Bonn Industries, the ongoing pandemic has led to a rise in demand for healthy and functional bakery items like those which consist of multigrains, nuts and other healthy ingredients. Consumers are purchasing a variety of bakery products that are high on the health quotient, as it has been seen that people suffering from lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity are more prone to the deadly infection.
In October last year, following the launch of its premium cookie range, Amrinder Singh, director, Bonn Group of Industries, noted, "This addition to our product portfolio is one more step in the direction of staying in tune with the evolving taste needs of a modern-day consumer. It will also help us gain increased penetration in the high biscuit consuming states of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi NCR. Biscuits are the second of our core business products which we intend to incrementally expand with greater value-for-money and innovative output."
Moreover chocolate is the most popular flavour among kids and youngsters. India is considered a potentially huge FMCG market because nearly 50 per cent of its population is under the age of 25 years. Gifting and celebratory occasions are a popular trend among consumption favouring online-glued millennial generations and premium biscuits are the ideal gift in this age group. This will facilitate the company’s strategic expansion while assuring the brand remains sustainable in the long run, according to Singh.
Covid-19 has only accelerated the need for healthy eating. According to a research by Mintel, almost three out of four Indians have cited healthy eating as a higher priority, compared to before the outbreak. The global bakery processing equipment market is projected to register a healthy CAGR of 5.7% in the forecast period from 2019 to 2026.
A greater awareness around health also means an increase in guilt among Indian consumers on making impulse purchases, such as baked goods. Brands must cash in on this opportunity by strategically pairing indulgence with health benefits. Creating baked goods that fit effortlessly into healthy lifestyles is key, as consumers will need positive/ functional health benefits to counter some of the guilt around indulging in this category. They will be looking for brands that can offer products that satisfy their appetite for indulgence and satisfy their guilt with health benefits, according to Mintel.
Biscuit the anytime convenient snack :
Indian biscuit industry is huge. Over the years, the industry has grown immensely in India and continues to expand remarkably. The industry has several players but most of it is dominated by Britannia and Parle, which jointly account for nearly 70 per cent of the revenues of the industry. ITC Sunfeast too is popular in homes along with Priya Gold, McVitie's Unibic, Bakeman's, Champion, and Kwality.
Then there local bakeries like Sara Biscuit Bakery in Pudupalayam, Cuddalore, VB Bakery in Bengaluru, Nambiar bakery, Alice Delices French Bakery , Mambally and Bappu's Royal Biscuit Factory in Kerala which are known for their range of bread and biscuits.
Parle-G has been a popular choice of snack with tea for many in the country for nearly 80 years. Additionally, the country 's recent lockdown has proved once again that it is still India 's favourite biscuit. The company’s Parle-G biscuit brand, saw surge in sales during the lockdown, as the firm’s prominent cookies and value packs found popularity amongst Indians stuck at home.
Furthermore, Parle Products manufactures its biscuits across 130 factories among which, 120 are contract manufacturing units and remaining 10 are property owned. Parle-G falls into ‘below Rs 100/kg’, an affordable priced segment, which accounts for the one-third of the overall industry revenues, accounting for more than 50 per cent of sales volume.
Britannia 's Good Day, Tiger, Bourbon, Marie, Milk Bikis, Parle's Monaco, Hide & Seek and KrackJack, all witnessed strong sales in the lockdown.
ITC also witnessed an exclusive surge in demand for diverse biscuit offerings including Sunfeast Bounce, Mom's Magic, Sunfeast Marie, and Sunfeast Veda Marie during the lockdown period. "Veda Marie has received immensely encouraging responses from consumers in the health and wellness segment," said Varun Berry, managing director, Britannia Industries.
The pandemic has paved the way for a clean and hygienic environment inside the factories, too. Proper maintenance of the machines and hygiene control were key factors in the production of bakery products.
“We have witnessed how the biscuit segment in the bakery industry has gained momentum during the pandemic. Owing to rising biscuit sales, manufacturers have had to innovate by introducing thinner biscuits and biscuits with healthy ingredients. Their affordability and availability again helped them take centrestage. Manufacturers also came up with the concept of ‘fibre intake’, and introduced biscuits for quick metabolism. Companies continue to focus on innovative ingredients and opportunities brought about by the changing consumer behaviour towards health-centric products to thrive in this category, according to Singh of Bonn.
Dependence on daily bread:
There is a rising demand for healthy and functional bakery items like products which consist of multigrains, nuts and other healthy products. The consumers are purchasing more bakery products due to their greater variety and high health quotient.
The consumption pattern of bread will see a major shift from the white breads towards more multigrain, wholegrain, specialty, ethnic and seeded breads. This is all due to the consumer’s desire for nutritious and healthier products, freshness and also more complex flavour profiles. Companies will continue to manufacture fortified and healthier products. The usages of lesser known grains such as millet and ragi will be gaining precedence over the regular flour among the baked products segment. Many companies have already started production of multigrain breads owing to their increasing preference among the consumers, noted Mintel.
The Enthubakers conduct sourdough baking classes and also have come up with two delicious subscription models, the Value Plus Subscription and the Premium Plus Subscription. “Both the subscriptions allow you to order two sourdough loaves a week from various categories of sourdough bread at a price that wouldn’t burn a hole in your pocket,’ trails off Dipesh Sharma, founder and baking coach, Enthubakers.
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