Gill Riley, VP of Marketing at St Pierre Groupe, sits down with Wholesale Manager to discuss the evolving UK bakery landscape, the role of premiumisation and innovation in driving category growth, and how St Pierre continues to outperform the market.
After joining the growing business in 2025, Riley also shares insight into the brand’s latest NPD, the evolution of its ‘Eat Avec Respect’ campaign, and why St Pierre is leading the shift towards elevated, experience-led bakery occasions.
How much is the UK bakery category worth?
The UK bakery category is worth approximately £1.7billion and remains one of the most important and frequently shopped areas of the store.1 It is a well-established category, but one that continues to evolve as shopper expectations shift beyond everyday staples towards products that offer more indulgence, quality and versatility. This is why we’re seeing growth coming predominantly from ‘bakery occasions’ and specifically products that cater to ‘lunch and evening meals’. Additionally, whilst the breakfast segment is flat, performance is buoyed by continental offerings.
As such, there is a clear opportunity within bakery to drive incremental value by tapping into premium segments, particularly across continental bakery, morning goods and premium savoury lines, where shoppers are increasingly willing to trade up for products that elevate everyday eating – great news, of course, for St Pierre.
Is the market in growth and what is driving that growth?
While the overall bakery category is relatively mature, there are clear areas of growth, particularly in premium and occasion-led segments. Of course, health and ‘added benefit’ products are also driving growth for the category, and they have their own role to play.
What we are seeing is a shift in how consumers engage with bakery, moving from purely functional purchases towards products that deliver a more experiential, food-led benefit. This is driving these growth areas – those seeking stealth nutrition, added-benefit bakery – and those moving towards premium food experiences – a sub-sector in which St Pierre is well-placed to win.
Breakfast remains the largest bakery occasion, but it is evolving rapidly, with shoppers seeking higher-quality, café-style options at home. At the same time, demand for newness continues to be a major driver of growth. Around 60 per cent of UK bakery shoppers say they would like to see more global baked goods or pastries, highlighting a strong appetite for innovation and differentiation within the fixture.2
Growth is also being shaped by demand for affordable indulgence and the continued blurring of lines between retail and foodservice, with consumers increasingly looking to recreate out-of-home, elevated meal experiences at home – across breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner.
How is the St Pierre brand performing?
St Pierre continues to perform brilliantly and is one of the standout growth brands within bakery, reflecting the strength of our proposition and our ability to consistently bring innovation to the category.
Our growth has been driven by a clear focus on premiumisation and by delivering products that genuinely elevate everyday eating moments. We have successfully attracted new shoppers into bakery by bridging the gap between retail and foodservice, offering high-quality, French-inspired products that feel more special.
This strategy has been particularly effective within our savoury brioche range, where flavour-led innovation has played a key role. For example, seasonal NPD helped deliver 54 per cent growth in savoury brioche last summer, underlining the power of innovation when it is aligned to key occasions.3
That’s why we’ve launched a new seasonal NPD again this year, with our St Pierre Caramelised Onion Brioche Buns which have helped to drive further excitement at fixture for shoppers keen to explore new flavours.
Who are the brand’s target consumers?
Our target consumers are those looking to elevate everyday meals and who are willing to trade up for better quality and taste. They are typically inspired by out-of-home dining and are keen to recreate those experiences at home, whether that is a premium burger, an indulgent brunch or a café-style lunch.
These shoppers are also open to experimentation, with a clear appetite for new formats and flavour combinations. Research shows that 58 per cent of shoppers are actively seeking products that offer something new, which reinforces the importance of innovation in driving engagement with the category. This gives us a strong platform to continue bringing exciting, premium products to market that meet evolving consumer needs.3
What are the brand’s biggest products in the wholesale channel?
Our brioche burger buns and hot dog rolls remain our hero products and continue to perform exceptionally well across both wholesale and grocery channels. They are closely aligned to key occasions such as burgers, BBQ and shared dining, and they offer a clear point of difference versus standard bakery lines, in both taste and quality.
Alongside this, we are seeing growing momentum across our continental range, as shoppers broaden their repertoire beyond traditional sliced bread. Products that span multiple occasions, from breakfast through to lunch, are becoming increasingly important in driving both frequency and value, and our broader portfolio is well positioned to support this shift.
Our most recent launches – St Pierre Croissant Loaf and St Pierre Croissant Rolls – have played into this trend – delivering hybrid formats that are versatile across multiple occasions.
What NPD do you have coming up on St Pierre?
Innovation is central to our growth strategy, and our 2026 pipeline reflects a strong focus on both format and flavour to unlock new occasions and drive incremental value.
In April, we launched the St Pierre Croissant Loaf, a category-first hybrid that combines the familiarity of a sliced loaf with the indulgence of a croissant. It has been developed to tap directly into the UK’s largest bakery occasion, breakfast, while also creating new opportunities within brunch by offering a simple way for shoppers to trade up from standard toast.
More recently, in June, we introduced St Pierre All Butter Croissant Rolls, which bring together the light, flaky texture of a croissant with the versatility of a roll. Designed to meet demand for convenience and café-style eating at home, this format has already demonstrated strong consumer appeal, with high scores for both uniqueness and brand fit, highlighting its potential to bring new shoppers into the category.
Alongside format innovation, we continue to invest in flavour-led NPD to keep the category fresh and engaging. Our limited-edition Caramelised Onion Brioche Buns are designed to tap into demand for newness, while offering an accessible way to elevate everyday meals, particularly during BBQ season. These seasonal launches have a proven track record of driving category growth and trade-up, while also increasing purchase frequency and creating excitement at shelf.
Later this year, we are on track to launch another new format and differentiated flavour profile to help us further cater to the lunchtime meal occasion.
Together, these innovations demonstrate how we are bringing genuine differentiation to bakery, whether through entirely new formats or by tapping into emerging flavour trends, all with the aim of helping our retail and wholesale partners unlock further value.
What activity will be included in the Eat Avec Respect campaign?
Eat Avec Respect is about encouraging consumers to slow down and take more pleasure in the food they eat, and it underpins everything we do as a brand. The campaign is delivered through a fully integrated approach, spanning in-store activation, digital and social content and shopper marketing, all designed to inspire consumers to elevate everyday eating occasions.
It also plays a key role in supporting our innovation programme, ensuring that new product launches are brought to life in a way that creates standout within the fixture and drives engagement. By linking our NPD to a broader brand platform, we are able to reinforce our premium positioning while driving awareness and trial.
‘Eat Avec Respect’ has been further invested in this year, so you’ll spot us on TV, in out-of-home, targeted social media, PR campaigns and as ever, our in-store presence will be best-in-class to help shoppers understand the brand offering at fixture with a premium experience that starts in-store and continues at home.
How can wholesalers best capitalise on the bakery category?
There is a significant opportunity to unlock more value from bakery by focusing on premiumisation and the role that bakery can play within meal occasions. Shoppers are increasingly looking for ways to elevate everyday meals, and bakery is ideally placed to deliver this, whether through breakfast, lunch or evening dining.
Creating more engaging fixtures, focusing on products that offer genuine differentiation and merchandising around key occasions can all help to drive both impulse and trade-up. By moving beyond a purely functional view of bakery and leaning into its experiential potential, wholesalers and grocers can increase both shopper engagement and overall basket spend.
How do you work with wholesalers to grow sales?
We work very closely with our retail and wholesale partners to help them unlock the full potential of the bakery category. This is rooted in a collaborative approach that combines our brand strength and innovation pipeline with deep category insight and shopper understanding.
We support partners across a range of areas, from range and merchandising recommendations through to in-store execution and joint marketing activity, particularly around key seasonal moments such as BBQ and breakfast. Our innovation also plays a central role, providing retailers with new, appealing products designed to drive excitement, attract new shoppers and deliver incremental sales.
By working in partnership, we can ensure that bakery fixtures remain relevant, engaging and aligned with evolving consumer expectations, which is key to sustaining long-term category growth.
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