2025
9
UK Bread Market Report 2025
2025-12-29T18:01:34+00:00
REP8C2F9993_AA54_433A_A84E_D0705C222634
2600
189972
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Report
en_GB
UK consumers are highly engaged bread buyers, balancing value, practicality and health. Low price is the biggest purchase driver for 44% of bread buyers. This aligns with savvy shopping behaviour,…
UK
Bread, Bakery and Cakes
simple

UK Bread Market Report 2025

Sourdough bread has made gains. Breads offering gut health benefits and high protein content are sought, while pairing breads with 'picky bits' is an opportunity.

Richard Caines, Principal Analyst, UK Food & Drink Research

Richard Caines, Principal Analyst, UK Food & Drink Research

Market Intelligence ReportsBread, Bakery and CakesUK

UK Bread Industry – Trends and Insights

  • UK consumers are highly engaged bread buyers, balancing value, practicality and health. Low price is the biggest purchase driver for 44% of bread buyers. This aligns with savvy shopping behaviour, although being a priority for less than half leaves plenty of room for pricier breads.
  • 25% of bread buyers in the UK buy sourdough at least once a month, up from 18% in 2024. Launches of sourdough bread have increased from 11% of category launches in 2020 to 15% in 2024, with shelf space in supermarkets supporting the rise in sourdough purchases. There is even more appetite for sourdough bread among 28% of bread eaters and buyers.
  • While price and longevity are top priorities, there is strong interest in health. Almost half of UK consumers agree that a bread’s taste is more important than its healthiness, 36% prioritise high fibre content and 26% supporting gut health, and 37% are interested in high protein content. Taste and nutritional support are therefore both important in winning over bread buyers.

This Report Looks at the Following Areas:

  • Performance of the bread market, the impact of inflation and the importance of low price to choice
  • Key trends in recent launch activity and future product development opportunities
  • Buying of different types and variants of bread, and usage frequency
  • Importance of nutrition to bread choices, including being high fibre, supporting gut health and high protein content
  • The popularity of pairing bread with various ‘picky bits’ and its relevance to bread brands, including flavours and formats
  • Shopping behaviours, including usage of and attitudes towards in-store bakeries, and browsing of the supermarket bread aisle
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  1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

    • What you need to know
    • Outlook for bread
    • Opportunities
    • Strong demand for high-protein bread
    • Bread as a social food: position breads for ‘picky bits’ meals
    • Opportunity for a bread brand to own gut health

  2. THE MARKET

    • Snapshot – market size and forecast
    • Weak consumer confidence keeps food spend under scrutiny
    • Graph 1: financial wellbeing and confidence indices, 2019-25
    • Food and bread inflation has come down from 2023 highs
    • Graph 2: consumer price inflation for all food and cereals, 2022-25
    • Strong consumer interest in healthy eating
    • Graph 3: how often people try to eat healthily, 2018-25
    • Highly processed foods face scrutiny
    • Market size and forecast
    • Higher prices will drive further growth in bread sales
    • Graph 4: retail value forecast for bread and bread products, 2019-30
    • Premium products support sales growth
    • Graph 5: retail value sales of bread and bread products, by segment, 2023-25
    • Warburtons extends market lead in bread
    • Graph 6: leading brands’ sales in the bread segment, by value, 2022/23-2024/25
    • Graph 7: leading brands’ sales in the rolls and other bakery products segment, by value, 2022/23-2024/25
    • Jason’s Sourdough becomes the third biggest bread brand

  3. THE CONSUMER

    • Bread and bread product buying and usage
    • Packaged sliced loaves of white bread are a household staple
    • Graph 8: types of bread and bread products bought in the last month, 2025
    • Strong interest in more bread made with sourdough
    • Sourdough bread makes gains, but there’s appetite for more
    • Sourdough needs to keep it authentic
    • Packaged sliced square loaves lead on daily usage
    • Younger people eat all types of bread most frequently
    • Graph 9: eating at least once a day, by type of bread, by generation, 2025
    • Factors influencing choice of bread products
    • A quarter of buyers want bread that supports their gut health
    • Graph 10: factors most influencing the buying of one bread over another, 2025
    • Strong interest in products supporting gut health
    • Opportunity for a bread brand to own gut health
    • Internationally, bread has prebiotics offering gut health benefits
    • Interest in high-protein bread
    • Strong demand for high-protein bread
    • Graph 11: interest in seeing more bread with a high protein content, by age, 2025
    • High-protein bread buyers are unconcerned about UPFs
    • High-protein breads will appeal for breakfast and lunch
    • Targeting ‘picky bits’ meal occasions
    • Opportunity for positioning breads for ‘picky bits’ meals
    • Tie-ups and bundles offer a way to drive sales
    • Make bread the centrepiece of grazing boards for social occasions
    • The bread aisle and in-store bakeries
    • High usage of ISBs reflects strong interest in bread being freshly baked
    • Offering freshly baked bread influences grocery shopping choices
    • Half of bread buyers rate bread from ISBs as better quality than pre-packaged bread
    • Big opportunity to capture the attention of the majority who browse the bread aisle

  4. PRODUCT, INNOVATION AND MARKETING

    • More launches tap interest in sourdough bread
    • Premium dominates own-label sourdough NPD, with more bake-at-home added
    • Spice/spicy flavours forecast to grow
    • New flavours also feature in premium own-label launches
    • High/added protein claims take off in 2024
    • Graph 12: share of new launches in bread, by selective positive nutrition claims, 2020-25
    • Stable growth momentum for high/added protein breads
    • New launches give varying levels of prominence to high-fibre claims
    • Major brands further extending bread ranges, including more rolls
    • Sourdough a big focus of 2025 advertising

  5. APPENDIX

    • Market definition
    • The market
    • Forecast methodology
    • Forecast methodology – fan chart
    • Retail sales and forecast for bread
    • Market forecast and prediction intervals (values)
    • Trends in the population age structure
    • Market share
    • Bread – value brand sales
    • Bread – volume brand sales
    • Bread – value manufacturer sales
    • Bread – volume manufacturer sales
    • Rolls and other bakery products – value brand sales
    • Rolls and other bakery products – value manufacturer sales
    • Launch activity and innovation
    • New launches of sourdough in bread and bread products
    • Advertising and marketing
    • Advertising spending on bread by media type
    • Advertising spending on bread by advertiser
    • The consumer
    • Consumer research questions
    • Consumer research methodology
    • Repertoire analysis methodology
    • Other data source methodologies
    • Infegy Starscape coverage
    • Nielsen Ad Intel coverage
    • Abbreviations

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