18 Dec 2025
When consumers reach for a loaf of bread, it is no longer just about convenience or price1. As a (semi-)industrial bakery or bakery chain, now is a good time to focus on premiumization.
The desire for authentic premium bread with benefits, a story, and rich aroma is strong, with 66% of shoppers choosing trusted, higher-quality options where price is not the main deciding factor1.
Discover insights, tips, and premium bakery solutions aimed to help you capture the market or upgrade your premium bread offer, directly from the experts.
What is premium bread – and why do consumers love it?
Premium bread differentiates itself through key attributes that justify a higher perceived value2. It’s now seen as a "small indulgence" that enlivens everyday meals with a "restaurant-quality-at-home" experience while contributing to a healthier lifestyle3.
What do consumers look for when purchasing premium bread?
they are most interested in premium bread that…
- Offers wholegrain/multi grain options
- Claims high source of fiber
- Shows strong storytelling
- Has innovative flavors (cheese, dried fruits, grains etc.)
- Emphasizes "made with real ingredients"
- Highlights local sourcing
- Incorporates artisanal and traditional craftsmanship
- Uses sourdough
- Has rich texture
The visual appeal is also crucial, as 65% of consumers globally agree food that looks good is tasty. Majority admits the smell of freshly baked goods and all-natural ingredients attracts them as well1.
Natural Ingredients
Taste Tomorrow data further reveals that “naturalness” in an especially strong purchase driver. However, many consumers find it difficult to locate truly natural foods1. By incorporating Puratos clean label solutions, you can easily signal trust, high quality and nutritional value to your customers.
Premium bread packaging
Presentation and marketing are critical sales tools, as consumers often judge quality and flavor based on appearance1. When designing labels, remember that shoppers are looking for transparency.
They are primarily interested in1:
- Ingredients used
- Nutritional value
- Regulated nutrition warning labels
- Source/origin of ingredients
- Presence of preservatives
What types of premium bread do consumers love?
You can apply premiumization to your full range of baked goods. These are the categories where it thrives.
Crusty and artisan-style breads
Consumers are drawn to the rustic charm of artisan-style bread with connection to craftsmanship, characterized by an open crumb, natural fermentation, and visual appeal.
To create that authentic look and rich taste at a large scale, bakers must master high hydration doughs (70-80% hydration17) which are challenging to work with, particularly in large-scale operations. Achieving a consistent open crumb structure demands meticulous process control of time and temperature during extended fermentation and careful handling of the lively, sticky dough.
Brioche and enriched doughs
Brioche offers an elevated and indulgent experience, and 80% of those who tasted it enjoyed it18. It's loved for its signature soft crumb, golden color, and longer shelf life.
Its demand within retail is growing, as consumers now use brioche for everything from breakfast to grilling, often seeking an elevated option to replicate out-of-home treats in their own oven3, 18.
Burger buns and modern classics
The quality of the bun is now the frontline of premiumization, particularly in the foodservice sector.
60% of consumers say that bun quality in burgers is "extremely important", often more so than the beef itself4.
It means low quality is a risk: a third of consumers would be discouraged from returning to a restaurant that used sub-par buns, making bun quality a powerful element in reputation4.
Croissants and laminated breads
Premiumization also extends to laminated classics like the croissant, where consumer preference is shifting toward a 'melting' or 'buttery' taste8.
Scaling these to industrial levels demands absolute precision, consistency, and total process control.
Key technical hurdles include maintaining volume, ensuring even layering, and preventing butter leakage during freezing and baking9.
How to craft bread that performs?
The ability to consistently produce premium bread relies entirely on having the right ingredients, the right process control, and the right partner.
Taste: authentic heritage, modern convenience
In line with our vision that "the future of bread lies in its past", we provide solutions that deliver artisanal depth with industrial reliability.
Sourdoughs: O-tentic & Sapore
Our ready-to-use Sapore and O-tentic sourdoughs offer a natural, traditional, aromatic and distinct taste and structure to premium breads10, expanding product possibilities11.
These deliver consistent quality, convenience, and diverse flavors11, enabling you to save time while expanding your offer.
Our expertise is anchored in the Sourdough Institute in Belgium, home to the vast Sourdough Library, a unique global collection of sourdoughs that inspire our diverse flavor profiles11.
Texture & freshness: consistency in every batch
Premium texture is a key purchase driver. Our technologies ensure your products remain fresh and appealing from the production line to the consumer's table.
Improver: Intens
Puratos improvers provide peace of mind by helping control all the uncertainties within the production process, such as variations in temperature, humidity, flour, and labor12. This capability enables bakeries to ensure consistent results with every batch. You can find improvers that work on a specific applications such as fresh, frozen or packaged applications. Furthermore, you can work with multipurpose improvers or modular improver. When using a modular improver, you target a specific challenge. The Intens range is an example of this, having more concentrated solutions, working on specific functionalities creates a lot of flexibility for customers to improve elements such as texture, shelf life, dough performance, and much more.
Specialty grains and blends
Our range of whole grains, sprouted grains, and seeds adds essential fiber and nutritional value while enhancing flavor and texture14. These products help fulfill consumer needs for healthier, grain-forward options, providing flavor, texture, and nutritional value, in one.
Sustainability: simple swaps for the planet
Scaling with confidence also means scaling responsibly.
Mixes: Soft'r
Puratos offers versatile premium bakery solutions, including mixes like Easy Soft'r and Tegral Soft'r, which are ideal for brioche and other soft breads6,13. These mixes can contain technologies like Puraslim (to improve nutritional value by reducing fat and calories) or Soft'r Melting (to ensure optimal freshness and a melting texture)13.
Mimetic lamination fat
Mimetic is a critical solution for industrial laminated breads, ensuring consistent layering and minimal butter leakage even during freezing and baking9, while offering a more sustainable, plant-based alternative to dairy fat (without losing the rich buttery taste and texture consumers seek).
Sunset Glaze
This plant-based egg-wash alternative provides a flawless golden shine and appeal that attracts the customer. Beyond making your product stand out on the shelves and removing allergen risks (it’s clean label!), it gives your premium bread a competitive edge with a smaller carbon footprint7.
Think of that delicious brioche burger bun we mentioned earlier – with brilliant shine, and no hassle.
Bake what’s next: our promise of premium bread innovation
To succeed and scale in the premium bread sector, you need continuous support, data, and clear guidance. At Puratos, our commitment to your success goes far beyond supplying ingredients.
Technical support, sensory labs, and product development
We provide training and support services through our global network of Innovation Centers15. Here, our R&D experts, technical advisors and application specialists help you:
- Discover and validate: Test new ingredients and validate flavor and texture combinations before they hit the market.
- Optimize production: Reflect on your current processes to maximize technological innovation and efficiency.
- Implement and troubleshoot: Get hands-on assistance with new product implementation and technical troubleshooting on your lines15.
The power of consumer data
We also offer specialized sensory analysis services, utilizing both sensory expert panels16 and tools like the Sensobus (a fully equipped mobile lab) to detect and measure consumer preferences at the point-of-sale16. This valuable data helps you troubleshoot sales issues, benchmark market potential, and validate texture and flavor combinations16.
Ready to capture the premium bread market? Contact your local Puratos representative to discover the ideal solutions for your product and market, and scale with confidence.
REFERENCES
- Taste Tomorrow data (Information to share - Premium bread)
- Innova Market Insights
- The Rise of Premium Bread: A Small Indulgence That Can Enliven Everyday Meals – Progressive Grocer
- Customers Say Artisan Burger Buns are Worth the Extra Price – Lantmannen Unibake
- Intens Freshness – Puratos
- Easy Soft’r Recipe Booklet – Puratos
- Sunset Glaze – Puratos
- Sourdough Guide: Everything you need to know about sourdough – Puratos
- How to make croissants at industrial scale – Puratos
- Sapore – Puratos
- Sourdough – Puratos
- Bread improvers – Puratos
- Bakery Mixes – Puratos
- Grains and seeds – Puratos
- Training & support – Puratos
- Sensory Analysis – Puratos
- Mastering High Hydration Doughs: A Guide for Professional Bakers – Swiss Bake
- Retail rises with French Brioche – Progressive Grocer
- What’s driving the growth of speciality bread – British Baker
