This article is part of our Breakfast Digital Feature.

Brits have tucked into fruit or nuts for breakfast on 202 million extra occasions in the past year, a rise of 9.5% [Kantar Worldpanel 52 w/e 21 June 2015], according to exclusive research for The Grocer. 

The spike is down to society’s growing health consciousness coupled with campaigns by brands urging consumers to build their own breakfasts by adding fruit, nuts and seeds to cereal, yoghurt and other breakfast options. 

“Personalisation is the trend of the moment – and the ‘build your own breakfast’ concept is just the latest example of this,” says Debbie Dooly, marketing manager at chia brand Chia Bia, which claims to have doubled volume sales in the past year. 

According to Kantar, fruit has featured in 2.2 billion breakfasts in the past year, a rise of 8.9%. Nuts’ appearances at the breakfast table have soared 21.1% to 116 million.

Weetabix certainly tapped into the customisation trend with its 2015 Weetabuddies campaign. The fun and fruity buddies were part of a £5.5m push to encourage kids to eat more of their 5 a day. Now, sister brand Alpen is going after adults with its Brighter Mornings campaign, with brand ambassador Amanda Holden asking consumers ‘how will you start your day?’.

Meanwhile, Alpro’s Simply Plain yoghurt took centre stage with ads designed to highlight the product’s ‘infinite’ topping options. The ads, which ran from May to July, continued with the ‘Top it! Taste it!’ theme developed in 2014 designed to grow its big pot range.

“This was all about tapping the trend for personalisation, demonstrating how consumers can use Alpro Simply Plain to create their own plant-based breakfast every day,” says marketing controller Vicky Upton.

Upton says sales of Alpro’s big pot yoghurts are up 59% year on year, while breakfast occasions featuring yoghurt in general increased 3.9% to £678m [Kantar]. Products that have traditionally been perceived as less healthy, such as bakery products, are also benefiting from customisation.

“Bakery products are totally customisable and we’re already seeing consumers use bakery products in new and different ways,” says Jon Wilson, marketing director at Allied Bakeries, whose brands include Kingsmill. “Chocolate spreads and fruit overindex with bakery snacks, which is likely driven by a younger consumer and presents an opportunity for growth.”

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10 Things You Need To Know About… Breakfast