Focus On Jams & Spreads: 16 January

Focus on Jams, Spreads & Honey by Lyndsey Cambridge

Download the synopsis here

Publishing: 16 January 2021

Copy deadline: 16 December

Submissions deadline: 14 December

The Story

With Brits stuck at home for much of 2020, sales of spreads have boomed. Even jams & marmalade, which have been in decline for years, had a strong year, with sales up £11m on volumes that are more or less flat. There are obvious reasons for this: when times get tough, Brits make toast. With schools shut for much of the year and many working from home, toast and sandwiches provided easy, cheap meal options for millions. That’s not all. The past year has seen a resurgence of scratch cooking, so brands have stepped up their efforts to establish their spreads as cooking and baking ingredients. Who’s doing what? And how successful have they been?

Key Themes

Peanut butter: Last year, sales of peanut butter overtook those of jams for the first time. What factors – health, product versatility, NPD, etc – drove this and how has the sector been performing since? With everyone from Marmite to Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut having launched peanut butter in the past year, are we about to hit peak peanut butter?

Home baking: Lockdown heralded a boom in home baking as Brits looked for ways to stem the boredom of being stuck at home. What impact did that have on sales of spreads and jam? How have brands been looking to cash in?

World cuisines: We all know that British tastes have been getting more exotic for a number of years. How have spreads brands been capitalising on this? What sort of recipes have they been encouraging shoppers to use with their products? What up and coming cuisines (for example, West African, which features peanuts quite heavily) could provide future opportunities?

Health: Of course, health is front of mind for many of us in light of the pandemic and the government’s new obesity strategy. What impact has that had on sales of spreads perceived as being either good or bad for you? Kantar data: Using Kantar commentary, we explain the reasons behind the rise and fall of the jams and spreads subcategories.

4 x innovations: we will profile four 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.