As Brits develop a taste for more exotic breads Tesco unveils new continental look bakeries

Inspired by the move towards more exotic breads Tesco has invested in a multi-million pound revamp of 850 of its in-store bakeries, widening its range of goods and also creating a friendlier artisan feel.

For centuries a simple loaf or some rolls was enough to satisfy our bread cravings when we visited the baker.

But recently British tastes in bread have become far more continental with Mediterranean breads, sour dough loaves and breadsticks becoming regulars in our weekly shop.

Speciality bread is now the fastest growing area of the UK bread industry, in a market worth a cool £111 million (AC Nielsen data June 2012).

And Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco alone has sold more than two million more speciality breads than it did in the previous 12 months – a growth of 20 per cent.

Inspired by the move towards more exotic breads Tesco has invested in a multi-million pound revamp of 850 of its in-store bakeries, widening its range of goods and also creating a friendlier artisan feel.

The new format called Your Bakery at Tesco, is part of the supermarket’s wider improvements to its UK business and follows the launch of its Everyday Value own brand range as well as major improvements to its ready meal range.

Tesco bakery category director Nick Tatum said: “For many people the wonderful smell of freshly baking bread and rows of loaves, rolls, and cakes at the bakery is the most exciting part of their shopping trip.

“But now we believe we’ve made that experience even better by creating the kind of atmosphere you’d find in an artisan bakery with wooden shelves filled with a far bigger and better range of speciality breads, savoury snacks and sweet treats.

“For many people a big part of visiting an artisan bakery is seeing bakers at work which customers will now be able to do as well as chatting to them about the products.”

Included in the new bakery range are:

• Fruit and nut bread
• Three cheese bread
• A range of hand-baked pretzels
• Sourdough pave
• A range of breadsticks
• An improved range of muffins, cupcakes and donuts

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Note to editors:

Tesco runs a bakery training programme, accredited at City Guilds Level 2, which helps young bakers learn the trade. As well as learning latest production methods they are also taught traditional artisan baking techniques.

In 2011 140 candidates completed their training with a further 150 scheduled to complete during 2012.