From the Chicago Tribune:
Grains make gains: Wheat surpasses white in sliced bread sales
Whole grains are the hottest trend in sliced bread, with whole wheat edging out soft white bread in total sales for the first time.
Flooded with messages about heart health, fiber intake and the need for omega-3s, more consumers are looking for bread that can taste good and deliver nutrients.
That's why shopping for sliced bread is increasingly about one of two things: what's affordable, and what seems healthiest. And the breads in the middle of the market seem to be getting squeezed.
The best-performing breads are promoting credentials like "whole grain" and "natural," sometimes asking consumers to pay more for those loaves. And it seems to be working. Breads with "natural" in the name, or grains visible through the packaging, are among the best performing at grocery stores. Among them: Nature's Own, Nature's Pride, and Arnold.
It's part of a major turning of the tide. Packaged wheat bread recently surpassed white bread in dollar sales, according to Nielsen Co. For the 52 weeks ended July 10, wheat bread sales increased 0.6 percent to $2.6 billion, while white bread sales declined 7 percent to $2.5 billion. White bread is still ahead in volume, but the margin is shrinking. Americans bought 1.5 billion packages of white bread in the last year, a 3 percent decrease, and 1.3 billion packages of wheat bread, a 5 percent increase.
This certainly has been the case for our small country store. Discounting hots and hams (hotdog and hamburger buns), our bread sales is about 70% wheat and artisanal v/s 30% white. We sometimes get a great deal on some white breads and stock up but they usually wind up going out of date and being fed to Ernie's pigs (we save bread and vegie slops for him and receive the occasional package of porcine heaven).
The article goes on to talk about Sara Lee and how they introduced whole wheat into their bread but kept the flavor and consistency of white bread. They are also now adding Omega-3s. Customers these days don't want a bland bread, they want something with flavor and texture to it. If you want to introduce Omega-3s to your loaf, add some toasted flax seed -- a wonderful nutty taste and really good for you too...
