MANCHESTER, ENGLAND — European bakery St Pierre has cemented its position as a top brioche brand in the US by achieving new distribution with one of the country’s largest retailers.
In early May, the brand will launch its brioche burger buns and brioche hot dog rolls into 57 Costco warehouses in Northern California. As part of its partnership with the retailer, both products will be twin-packed for the first time, creating an exclusive club pack for Costco.
California has the most US Costco locations, accounting for 23% of the portfolio. St Pierre will now sell through more than 10% of the chain’s stores, driving a significant increase in distribution for the European brand.
After launching in America in 2014, St Pierre has delivered growth opportunities for retailers.
In 2018, the total brioche category was worth $152 million, but by the end of 2020, the brioche sector had more than doubled, with a category value standing at $394 million. Nielsen data (February 2021) showed that St Pierre is key to driving value for retailers and is responsible for a third of the market.
“The launch into Costco represents a step change for our business — but there is still huge opportunity,” said Paul Baker, founder of St Pierre Groupe, which owns the St Pierre Bakery. “That’s why we are investing in our in-house capabilities in terms of sales and marketing, with professionals who bring with them years of experience in the US retail market, working with big-name brands.”
St Pierre has already driven the brioche category with 63% brand growth year-over-year, with the rest of the category seeing 61% growth. Research from the brand shows 34% of consumers are buying brioche every time they go grocery shopping. Nielsen US Foods data (March 2021) indicated that the brand has outpaced private-label brioche in value sales for the past 12 months.
To build off this success, Baker and his team are looking toward the future.
“We have been busy working on a proposition that will appeal to the warehouse and club store market, and the launch into Costco is the first example of that work coming to fruition,” Baker said. “We have a unique and exciting opportunity to create a household name brand and we’re planning to make lots of noise this year.”
