THIS ARTICLE IS POWERED BY
B Swaminathan | IMAWS (cbedit@imaws.org)
The global bakery & confectionary market grew from $934.45 billion in 2022 to $993.64 billion in 2023 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.3%. The bakery & confectionary market is expected to grow to $1216.76 billion in 2027 at a CAGR of 5.2%. Confectionery manufacturers are increasingly using natural flavours in confectionery products. Innovation has been a key to the development of the confectionery market. Asia-Pacific was the largest region in the bakery and confectionary market in 2022. Western Europe was the second-largest region in the bakery and confectionary market. The regions covered in the bakery and confectionary market report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East, and Africa. Singapore is one of the dominant markets for the bakery industry as a whole. While there are new innovations coming in place, some of the leading bakery owners of Singapore share their views on how the 2024 trends in bakery business in Singapore.
Health Consciousness takes front seat: Liow Yihong, Keng Seng Confectionery
I think 2023 was not that good. Before COVID, the business had a good growth. But after the global pandemic, I notice, many customers are slowly going towards health conscious options. We are now getting many requests for eggless, sugarless pastries and home-grown food started getting more mileage these days. On the other side, some of the key challenges of the bakery owners are the raise of price of the raw materials (ingredients). Even though we are happy with the rebates our government is giving in our annual budgets, we have tough time in justifying the price hike to the end consumers. We try our level best to control the price as much as possible so that the heat does not impact our customers. My suggestions to the fellow bakers are to stay innovative and provide healthier food as the year ahead might be challenging for traditional bakeries. If you are going to sell what your previous generation was selling, you will be out of the game.
Stay Digital or Get Vanished in modern tides: Zach Leong, Baker’s Heart
Business is changing fast in the bakery sector. Being from a family of bakeries for more than half a century, I personally feel we [bakery owners] do not sell customers what we have in store. Instead, we ask customers what they demand. Moving forward, customization will be the way ahead. COVID had moved many consumers think digital-first. All the consumers want their things at an arm’s length. Earlier, we need to be present in the most crowded places physically. Now, we need to be present on their Google and social media search. When I mean digital is not just having a website. But an active portal which helps the baker be in touch with the customer and stay updated on what the customer wants. To sum it up, the top three suggestions I would like to give the customers are
- Be digital-savvy and stay aligned to the current market trends.
- Do not wait the customer to come to you. Take your products as closer to the customer as possible. Physically, digitally, emotionally and psychologically.
- I also caution my fellow bakers on the other side. Being digital not just being digitally present but forgetting the ‘human aspect’ in the interaction. Keep meeting the customers physically and customize the communication. Please remember, they are not just a name or some number in your CRM.
Increase production to fight price hike: Daniel Tay, Foodgnostic
I think we need to do more healthy food for the customers. Sugar consumption is going lesser day by day. In 2024 we need to do more healthy bread. Breads should have more whole wheat into the making. My suggestion for the bakers is on, going back to basic. If possible use ancient wheat. Use whole wheat flour and less sugar in bread. Ancient wheat like spelt is better for health. And as a matter of fact that the cost of ingredients are increasing, the bakery owners should be focussing in increasing production to tackle the issues.
Next generation bakers give up too fast: Lau Gah Sing, Bakers and Bites
I agree on the point point that not only raw materials, rental and basic necessities like water, utilities, conservancy have also gone up. Now with the increasing GST, the impact on us is also a lot. We are unable to pass the extra cost to consumers as they are also victims. The government should support us more. We specialize on healthy products using healthy oil. Previously the government subsidized on the oil only for 2 years. Thereafter without the subsidy, the price is very expensive – very much higher than normal oil. Speaking about the manpower, we want to handover the baking business to the next generation. Nowadays youngsters gave up too easily. Most of them wanted the easy way out. Returns without hard work. NEA did send me a young girl to train. On her first day, she already mentioned that she had been working overseas n have good knowledge. We are unable to provide her with what she wanted cos we are operating from a hawker stall.
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