Café-bakery culture, combined with the growing consumer demand for novelty and indulgence, is driving the expansion of the sweet bakery market in India. Notably, the rise in consumption is more pronounced among SEC B consumers, presenting a valuable opportunity for packaged sweet bakery brands to innovate and cater to India’s increasing love for sweet treats.
Slice cakes continue to dominate as the most popular format in the sweet bakery category. This Report delves into the key reasons behind their widespread consumption, offering brands strategic insights for innovation and unique marketing propositions to stand out in this highly competitive and crowded market. Additionally, the Report explores cake format innovations, as well as identifying untapped opportunities within other sweet bakery categories.
While flavour is king when it comes to buying decisions, flavour innovation in the market has been limited. To address this gap, the Report highlights flavour trends and innovations that resonate most with Indian consumers in the packaged sweet bakery segment.
This report looks at the following areas:
- Analysis of sweet bakery consumption over the last three months, covering slice cakes, cream rolls, cream buns, cheesecakes, layer/sandwich cakes, donuts, loaf/pound cakes, muffins and sweet croissants, with a comparison between 2023 and 2024.
- Key motivators driving slice cake consumption
- Types of innovative cakes for encouraging trials
- Flavour innovations in packaged sweet bakery items
- Three major trends shaping India’s packaged sweet bakery industry
Cater to consumers’ craving for novelty by introducing innovative flavours and cake formats. Differentiate slice cake by emphasising its key consumption drivers.
Tulsi Joshi, Senior Food & Drink Analyst, India
Market Definitions
This Report covers shelf-stable sweet bakery items like cakes, sweet croissants, muffins, brownies, cupcakes, pies, cream rolls, cream buns and other such sweet bakery items in packaged formats.
It excludes cookies/biscuits, ice cream cakes or other frozen/chilled bakery items.
This Report covers shelf-stable sweet bakery items like cakes, sweet croissants, muffins, brownies, cupcakes, pies, cream rolls, cream buns and other such sweet bakery items in packaged formats.
It excludes cookies/biscuits, ice cream cakes or other frozen/chilled bakery items.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- Report definition
- Mintel’s perspective
- Key issues covered in this Report
- Overview
- Diversify with format innovations: cream roll, cream bun and cheesecake are white spaces
- Stand out by highlighting hunger-satisfying satiety, perfect tea/coffee pairings and mood-enhancing benefits in slice cakes
- Promote hunger-fighting satiety, tea/coffee pairing and mood upliftment in slice cakes
- Graph 1: select reasons for slice cake consumption in the last three months, 2024
- Opportune time for cake innovations: experiment with large birthday cakes, mini mithai-flavoured cakes and pancakes
- Innovate large birthday cakes, mini mithai-flavoured cakes and pancakes
- Graph 2: select innovation of interest in packaged cakes, by city tier, 2024
- Add novelty with flavour innovations: mithai, coffee and chocolate combined with unusual flavours
- Graph 3: flavour innovations of interest in packaged sweet bakery, 2024
- Mintel predicts
- The outlook for sweet bakery in India, 2024
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KEY TRENDS
- What you need to know
- ‘Rule Rebellion’ is paving the way for innovation
- Consumers are increasingly valuing experiences
- Graph 4: select consumer behaviours around experiences*, 2023
- Indians crave adventure – in life, food and flavours
- Graph 5: % of respondents who strongly agree to the select statement*, 2023 vs 2024
- Graph 6: % of respondents who look for select feature ‘all the time’*, 2023 vs 2024
- Mintel’s 2025 Global Food and Drink Trend: Rule Rebellion
- Global bakery brands are embracing ‘rule rebellion’
- Veeba encourages consumers to ‘break the rules of cooking’
- Indian brands join the ‘rule rebellion’ movement
- Younger consumers are increasingly ‘desserting’ stress
- India’s youth takes mental health discussions online
- Are sweet treats becoming young people’s coping mechanism for stress?
- Distressed Indian youth do not feel guilty about indulging
- Indian bakery brands are increasingly elevating indulgence to address the growing demand for sweet treats
- The growing appeal of ‘newstalgia’ with a traditional twist
- Indians seek nostalgia, novelty….
- …and ethnic flavours
- Newstalgia is here!
- Krispy Kreme partnered with Ricolino to evoke ‘newstaglia’ with traditional sweets
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WHAT CONSUMERS WANT AND WHY
- What you need to know
- Sweet baked goods penetration grew particularly among India’s growing middle class
- Graph 7: consumption of sweet bakery in the last three months, 2023 vs 2024
- Graph 8: consumption of sweet bakery in the last three months, by socio-economic class, 2023 vs 2024
- Consumption of sweet baked goods
- Indians are embracing all formats of sweet bakery, but cakes and cream rolls are leading the growth trend
- Graph 9: formats of bakery consumed in the last three months, 2023-24
- Cake is the most popular sweet bakery in India
- Graph 10: total share of format launches in cakes, pastries and other sweet bakeries, 2021-24
- Besides cake, opportunity also lies in cream roll, cream bun and cheesecake formats
- Graph 11: post universe on social media for select sweet bakery formats, by consumption, 2024
- How to read the chart
- Develop diverse strategies for driving growth in emerging formats
- Draw inspiration from global trends to transform cream buns with creative shapes, rich fillings and playful toppings
- Brownie points for baking up a sweet social media trend!
- Don’t dessert this opportunity, say cheese(cake)!
- Stand out with slice cake innovations
- One in two Indians are slice cake consumers
- Slice cake consumption increased the most among higher city tier dwellers and those currently in okay financial situations
- Graph 12: consumption of slice cake in the last three months, by current financial situation, 2023 vs 2024
- Graph 13: consumption of slice cake in the last three months, by city tier, 2023 vs 2024
- Tap into the key consumption drivers of slice cakes: fighting hunger, pairing perfectly with tea/coffee and uplifting moods
- Graph 14: reasons for consuming slice cake in the last three months, 2024
- Provide satiety in slice cakes that curb hunger without breaking the bank
- Graph 15: select reasons for consuming slice cakes in the last three months, by current financial situation, 2024
- Offer filling sweet bakery that keeps one fuller for longer
- Mintel Spark conceptualises slice cake to fight hunger
- Make sweet bakery an integral part of tea/coffee occasion; opportunity exists in both morning and evening tea/coffee break
- Graph 16: select reasons for slice cake consumption in the last three months, 2024
- Graph 17: select reasons for consuming slice cakes in the last three months, by region, 2024
- Slice cake can be tea and coffee’s best friend
- Target working women with mood-boosting topping-rich slice cakes
- Graph 18: select innovation of interest in packaged cakes, by employment and gender, 2024
- Take inspiration from global counterparts for cake toppings
- Mintel Spark demonstrates slice cakes with generous toppings for targeting working women
- Time is ripe for cake innovations
- Large celebration cakes, mithai-inspired mini cakes and pancakes could be the next frontiers for innovation in packaged cake formats
- Graph 19: innovations of interest in packaged cakes, 2024
- Appeal to Tier 3 city dwellers with big birthday cakes
- Graph 20: select innovation of interest in packaged cakes, by city tier, 2024
- Go big on big birthday cakes
- Add a touch of personalisation to big birthday cakes with designs and ingredients
- Personalise birthday cakes with themed accessories for a special touch
- Pancakes: an opportunity for breakfast innovation
- Pancakes for breakfast occasion
- Sweeten festive season with mithai-flavoured small cakes
- Graph 21: % of consumers who state the select reasons for consuming slice cakes in the last three months, by select consumer segment, 2024
- Add a mithai-inspired twist to small cakes and pastries
- Oh boy! innovates mini gourmet cakes for festivities
- Flavour innovations
- Time is ripe for flavour innovations in India
- Status quo: chocolate continues to dominate the Indian sweet bakery market; plum and butter gains popularity
- Graph 22: top five flavour launches in cakes, pastries and sweet goods, 2021-24
- What consumers want: India mithai, coffee and chocolate combined with unusual flavours in sweet bakery
- Graph 23: flavour innovations of interest in packaged sweet bakery, 2024
- Be mindful of regional preferences when innovating mithai flavours
- Graph 24: flavour innovations of interest in packaged sweet bakery. by region, 2024
- Indian sweet shop combines traditional mithai in modern sweet bakery
- Gulab Jamun and rasgulla: unlocking the potential of traditional flavour innovations in sweet bakery
- Go big on gulab jamun and rasgulla flavours in various sweet bakery formats
- Mintel Spark introduces a festive edition Gulab Jamun Cake to captivate the masses
- Coffee is an emerging flavour in India but well-established worldwide; new coffee variants are trending globally
- Capture the tastes of affluent, urban dwellers and Gen Zs with coffee-flavoured packaged sweet bakery
- Graph 25: select flavour innovations of interest in packaged sweet bakery, by generation, city tier and current financial situation, 2024
- New launch alert: Wholy brings better-for-you coffee-flavoured fudge cake to India
- Brew excitement in the world of packaged sweet bakery with coffee
- Captivate younger women by infusing chocolate with bold and unexpected flavours
- Graph 26: select flavour innovations of interest in packaged sweet bakery, by gender and age, city tier and current financial situation, 2024
- New launch alert: Indian brands are adding flavourful twists to classic chocolate
- Nutella expands its sweet bakery portfolio by cashing in on its choco-hazelnut combo
- Entice novelty-seeking chocoholics by infusing chocolate with complementary and unconventional flavours
- Mintel Spark crafts indulgent bakery treats for adventurous, chocolate-loving Gen Z women
- Mintel Spark bakes up muffins for Gen Z women, blending their love for chocolate, quirky flavours and a sprinkle of K-pop magic
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APPENDIX
- Report definition
- Consumer survey methodology
- TURF methodology
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