Newburn Bakehouse from Warburtons free-from crumpets

Warburtons free-from sub-brand Newburn Bakehouse has expanded its choice of breakfast options with a crumpets SKU (rsp: £2/4x73g).

Available now following 18 months’ development, the NPD is free from gluten, wheat and milk, and brings the number of products in the Newburn Bakehouse by Warburtons portfolio to 17. The sub-brand – launched in a dedicated Newcastle baking facility in 2011 – also makes farmhouse loaves, boules, cobs, wraps and sandwich thins.

The latest launch enters a free-from category up £122.9m (18.9%) in value sales to £772.2m [Nielsen 52 w/e 15 October 2016], as British shoppers increasingly eschew gluten, dairy and other common allergens. A Harris Interactive poll carried out for The Grocer last autumn found 27% of Brits regularly shopped the free-from fixture, up from 19% a year previously, with the most cited reason at 31% being “for my general health”.

Demand for quality free-from bakery items had grown massively over the past few years, said Chris Hook, free-from director at Newburn Bakehouse. “At Warburtons, we’re well known for our crumpets, so we set the bar high for our gluten-free variant.”