Focus On Savoury Pastries and Meat Snacks: 19 November

By Rob Brown rob_j_a_brown@hotmail.com 

Publishing: 19 November 2022
Advertising deadline: 4 November 2022
Submissions deadline: 28 October2022

There are few things more reassuring than the humble pie. The combination of pastry, filling and gravy you could stand a spoon in is the essence of comfort food. And yet pies and pastries look curiously vulnerable right now. Supply chain challenges around oil and wheat, to say nothing of beef, chicken and veg, have already caused prices to skyrocket. That’s without considering the impact of HFSS rules, which are hardly kind to pastries. So how can brands and retailers reposition the pie during these troubled times? Is it possible to adapt pastries to suit health authorities post-HFSS? And what’s the state of innovation in this most traditional of categories?

Supply chain costs: Many of the raw ingredients that pies rely on have been disrupted, and prices are heading upwards. What are suppliers doing to mitigate this? And how is it changing strategies in supermarkets?

HFSS: Pastries are going to struggle to qualify as healthy. What scope is there to improve their health credentials? And how will this play in store?

Meat snacks: Playing to many similar strengths as pastries and pies, can meat snacks compete on health and cost?

Plant-based: Brands are continuing to innovate in plant-based pastries. What approaches and flavours are proving successful?

On the go: The balance between take home and on the go continues to shift with hybrid working. Which is more important to category growth now?

Innovations: We will profile 4 new products or ranges that have ideally not appeared in The Grocer before. We need launch date, rsp, and a hi-res picture of each