WASHINGTON, DC — The NextGenBaker Leadership Forum, presented by the American Bakers Association (ABA), was held in Washington, DC, from September 30-October 1.

During the event, Anne-Marie Roerink, president of 210 Analytics, provided insights into how consumers are engaging with the bakery category across all channels in her presentation, Bakery Playbook: A Deep Dive into Consumer Trends.

According to The Bakery Playbook 2024, a new research study series from ABA that is conducted by Roerink, consumers are currently balancing their purchases by visiting different grocery stores, focusing on reducing food waste, and buying less in-bulk, choosing instead to make more frequent store visits and purchasing for the next few days.

Within the tortilla category specifically, data from the new Bakery Playbook: Tortillas, sponsored by Puratos, revealed that high consumption rates correlate with how much and what the product offers. The various sizes and versatility of tortillas provide consumers with a large range of uses within any meal occasion.

“The key to a heavy buyer/high-frequency consumer is: they buy more variety, they use items across more meal occasions, and they make a bigger variety of recipes/meals,” Roerink said.

She added that in the case of tortillas, high-frequency consumers buy all three sizes — street, taco and burrito — more often, they consume tortillas for meal occasions like breakfast and snacks, and they make a far greater variety of meals, including things like quesadillas, chips and wraps.

“This results in almost a full extra meal occasion,” Roerink explained. “And that’s really the blueprint of what makes that high-frequency consumer a high-frequency consumer.”