Even with restaurants opening, baking is still a popular hobby
Remember at the beginning of the pandemic when people were buying up toilet paper and cake mixes like there was no tomorrow? Or when we all decided making our own bread was a good idea? Well, while the sale of toilet paper may have gone down a bit, it seems like people are still buying ingredients for baking.
Even with restaurants slowly reopening across the country, people are still willing to bake at home, whether that be from scratch or from a cake mix. How do we know this? With the magic of data!
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"According to Quotient.com, “even as restaurants and stores have begun to open their doors for business, baking products are still selling like hotcakes as baking category sales were up 28% for the week ending on 6/14—indicating that this hobby is likely to continue to appeal to shoppers for the foreseeable future.”"
Additionally, Thalya Hamilton, the VP of Analytics and Data at Quotient, noted that the data shows “consumers are buying more baking supplies, including flour, sugar, baking powder/soda, extracts, oils, shortenings, cake, brownie, cookie mixes and ovenware” and “while the popularity of baking was at its peak during in March, the trend is not disappearing.”
Baking is still a popular topic on social media
While The Great British Bake Bake Off certainly had some people running to their kitchens to try and create elaborate cakes, it’s quarantine and the pandemic that really got people baking. It seems like when we’re bored, the kitchen is one of the first places we head to to keep ourselves occupied.
While sales of baking-related products has gone down since its peak in March when sales were “118% above pre-COVID levels,” sales have still been 30 percent higher than they were last year at this time, according to Quotient’s data.
The data also indicates that we aren’t buying as many cake mixes as you might think. Since making anything from scratch takes up more time, it keeps the boredom at bay or at the very least, keep your kids occupied so you can get a minute to yourself. It makes sense that we’re baking the old-fashioned way versus from a boxed mix.
The popularity of baking on social media has also gone up which should be a surprise to no one. If we’re baking more, we are for sure going to be talking about it on social media more.
Consider yourself lucky if your Instagram feed wasn’t filled with your friends showing off their semi-successful attempts at making bread. While the bread pictures may have cooled down a little bit, there’s still a lot of talk about baked goods all over social media.
Quotient.com’s data showed that “the phrase ‘baking projects’ went up by 95% on social media.” Clearly, we are a nation of bakers and it only took being stuck at home to prove it.
Are you still making lots of baked goods? Or are have you gotten tired of making cakes and bread? Let us know in the comments below!