Bakery Product Manufacturing Industry Profile

Companies in this industry make fresh and frozen bread as well as cakes, pies, and doughnuts. Major companies include Flowers Foods and McKee Foods (both based in the US), along with ARYZTA (Switzerland), Grupo Bimbo (Mexico), Weston Foods (Canada), and Yamazaki Baking (Japan).

The US bakery products industry includes about 2,800 commercial bakeries with combined annual revenue of about $35 billion, along with about 6,000 retail bakeries with combined annual revenue of about $3 billion. Low growth is forecast for the next two years. Key challenges for the industry include volatile prices for ingredients and fluctuating energy costs.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand is driven by consumer preferences and by the extent to which grocery stores choose to operate their own bakeries rather than buy from commercial bakeries. Profitability for individual companies is determined by efficiency of operations. Large companies have scale advantages in procurement, production, and distribution. Small companies can compete by offering specialty goods or superior local distribution services.

The commercial side of the industry is concentrated: the 50 largest companies generate 75 percent of revenue. The retail side of the industry is highly fragmented: the 50 largest companies generate about 15 percent of revenue, and the typical company operates just one facility.

PRODUCTS, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Major products include baked breads, mainly white, wheat and rye, which account for 40 percent of commercial bakery sales. About 20 percent of sales come from rolls, buns, muffins, bagels ...