Recent data from Innova Market Insights pointed out the trending differences between bread and cake consumers. These consumer trends reflect the obvious difference between bread and cake and the roles they play: one as a meal staple and the other for indulgence. The data also found similarities between how consumers view these two foods.

Bread consumers appear to be more conservative with their purchases, with only 33% saying that they would experiment with flavor. Cake consumers, as their counterpart, revealed themselves to be more interested in experimentation, with 44% saying they would experiment with flavor choices.

Regionally, the consumption of bread and cake sees some distinction. In Europe, bread is eaten mostly at breakfast, though in some regions lunch sees the highest bread demand. Commonly, cake is consumed as an afternoon snack, but there are regional differences here as well.

“In East Europe, cakes are most often eaten with the evening meal,” reported Lu Ann Williams, director of innovation at Innova Market Insights. “But North Americans are most likely to choose cakes as evening snacks.”

As with most baked goods, taste remains the priority for decision-making in both bread and cake. Freshness is also valued in both categories, though the data did impress slightly more importance for consumers with bread, with 59% of consumers expressing a clear preference for fresh bread vs. the 16% that chose products with a longer shelf life.

When shopping for baked goods, consumers are still choosing supermarkets to dominate the purchases of both bread and cakes. Still, more than one-third of consumers say they buy at local bakery shops. This is particularly true in Latin America and Continental Europe, where more than 40% of respondents reported use of specialist outlets.