Back to news 2 October 2002 Muffin Sales 'Will Treble' in Next Three Years Muffin sales are set to treble over the next three years according to Speedibake, one of the UK's leading bakery companies and the largest producer of muffins in the UK. The market, which has a current value of £65m is growing by 40 per cent year on year and, according to marketing director, Tony Lucas, has the potential to hit £200m, becoming the most popular bakery snack if manufacturers and retailers fully exploit the potential. "Consumers are looking for a light wholesome snack and muffins meet this demand better than any other product in the cake and biscuit categories. They can also be easily eaten on the move and are great fodder for kids." According to Speedibake, growth will be driven by in-store bakeries, brands and front-of-store display and consumers will be eating muffins across the spectrum of meal occasions from breakfast to indulgent evening snacks. Speedibake's predictions follow its recently completed U&A research into the sweet treat market which has allowed a clearer and more comprehensive definition of the bakery sweet treats marketplace more clearly, in line with consumers' own criteria for segmentation. According to Tony Lucas, the research sets the scene for improved categorisation, a new product development programme and investment in quantitative research: "The qualitative research has indicated how consumers categorise and use bakery sweet treats. With this greater understanding we can now look to develop each category in line with consumers' current and predicted demands with an innovative and focused new product development programme. "The research provides further evidence that kids are a major untapped opportunity for the cake sector and that mums love the idea of kids eating freshly made cakes and cookies. They also like the idea of wholesome natural ingredients and the emotional values associated with the in-store bakery. By analysing other sectors, we believe that consumption by children could account for around 50 per cent of the total cake category although currently, few cakes are targeted at children." Speedibake believes that, in order to get it right when it comes to cakes for kids, they need to be looking at the category from the child’s perspective. According to Tony Lucas: "Our research programme will continue to underpin our innovation programme but if we're serious about cakes for kids, we need to involve them, which is why we are setting up a kids' product panel as part of our innovation programme."