Prioritize Your Product Assortment for a Boost in Profits This Holiday Season

Create Your Own Mix of Tradition, Trend, and Trusted Baked Goods

As consumers get ready to celebrate the holidays with family and friends, bakers should prepare to be the go-to source for festive treats for every occasion. Now is the time to assess your product assortment to ensure you’re delivering what consumers want now through the New Year.

Embrace Tradition

There are traditional holiday flavors and desserts that consumers will always expect. This season, ensure you have these favorites in your case and prioritize them in your marketing. Flavors like cranberry, apple, peppermint, and chocolate are always stars of the season and work well in everything from pies and tarts to cakes, cupcakes and donuts. A time-tested showstopper is the Yule Log. Dawn’s Fall Holiday Seasonal Inspiration Catalog shares this recipe, along with others that help bring the holiday season to life. You can download the Seasonal Inspiration Catalog from www.dawnfoods.com/products/seasonal for inspiration, recipes, and product recommendations to ensure your treats turn out tasting and looking amazing.

Turn To the Latest Flavor Trends

In addition to traditional favorites, lean into the trends that consumers are craving this season. Two trends Dawn identified this year with particular relevance for holiday flavors are Mash Up Adventure and Immune Boost. Mash Up Adventure acknowledges the consumer desire to be more experimental with flavor combinations. For holiday menus, this could mean combining dark, decadent chocolate with spices like chili or cinnamon. The Immune Boost trend came out of COVID and the desire to infuse our foods with health-boosting ingredients. The holidays are the perfect time to introduce ingredients like vitamin rich citrus, stress reducing green tea, or immunity boosting honey.

Trust Time-Tested Favorites

In addition to traditional flavors and trend-forward creations, the holidays are the perfect time to celebrate those trusted favorites everyone expects. Consider expanding your case to include an assortment of cookies like gingerbread and sugar, decorated with holiday colors. Did you know that in nine states, cheesecake is the most popular holiday dessert?*

Even if cheesecake isn’t part of your regular rotation, this is the time to add it in. Cheesecake is ideal for showcasing many flavors – think everything from pumpkin to eggnog. By integrating trusted favorites at this time of year, customers will come to think of your bakery as their one-stop shop for all their holiday needs.

Market for the Season

Dawn has already shared ideas for boosting your holiday marketing; now we’re going one step deeper by focusing on how to create an Instagram-worthy assortment. Think about combining boxes of mixed products together that share a holiday theme. You can bring donuts, muffins, and cookies together for party boxes. Or, think about mixed cupcakes that celebrate holiday flavor trends – four cupcakes of three flavors each for the ideal holiday dozen. Not only do these holiday “grab bag” boxes give you the opportunity for impressive photos and marketing, they also help you move inventory by focusing on the products you need to sell when you need to sell them.

It’s never too early to get into the holiday spirit, especially if your bakery is going into the season with a plan for increasing profits. Smart products, savvy marketing, and a focus on flavor will help you get the most out of this critical time of year.

Looking to Maximize Profits and Growth in the Holiday Season? Find more Inspiration:

Holiday Kits Drive Growth for Bakeries While Making the Season Memorable for Consumers >>

Building the Bakery Team You Need for the Holidays >>

Sharing (and Snapping) Your Holiday Spirit >>

*https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/638495/favorite-holiday-desserts-map