Bakeries have the pivotal opportunity to create fresh and new grab-and-go breakfast options by using their existing ingredients and unused materials. Insights from Toast trends have reported a 6% increase in breakfast transactions over the past year.
The occasional sweet treat from a bakery certainly still has its place when it comes to grab-and-go breakfast options; however, many individuals are now actively seeking healthier, ready-to-eat, and on-the-go alternatives to start their day.
Let’s dive further into this shift and talk about ways bakeries can leverage ingredients like oats, dried fruits, chopped nuts, and seeds to create new grab-and-go breakfast options.
Consumers Are Looking for Healthier Grab-and-Go Breakfast Options
The shift in consumer preference for healthy and quick breakfast options presents an exciting opportunity for bakeries to innovate and expand their product offerings. Chances are, your bakery even has existing ingredients that can be repurposed in new ways, such as oats, dried fruits, chopped nuts, and seeds, to create a diverse range of products, such as granola bars, protein balls, and granola crumbles designed for convenient consumption with yogurt. These items not only provide a nutritious and satisfying breakfast alternative but also help reduce food waste, a pressing issue that has implications for the environment and the food industry.
3 Simple and Quick Healthy Breakfast Options to Offer Your Customers
There are certainly numerous options available when it comes to developing healthier grab-and-go breakfast options for your bakery using ingredients you already have on hand, but today, we are going to focus on the following three high-protein and whole-grain options.
Granola Bars
Granola bars are a particularly versatile option that can be made using a variety of bakery scraps such as leftover oats, crumbled cookies, dried fruits, and even broken pieces of muffins or pastries. By binding these ingredients together with natural sweeteners like honey or nut butter and baking them into bars, bakeries can create a wholesome, shelf-stable snack that appeals to health-conscious consumers. These bars can be marketed as sustainable, house-made energy snacks. These snacks would be perfect for parents, students, and professionals looking for a quick bite during their morning commute or between meetings.
Protein Balls
Similarly, protein balls offer a no-bake, nutrient-dense solution that can be crafted from ingredients like nut butters, seeds, shredded coconut, and finely ground bakery remnants such as cake trimmings or stale breadcrumbs. These compact snacks are ideal for fitness enthusiasts, busy parents, and even kids who need a quick energy boost before or after school. By offering protein balls in a variety of flavors and packaging them in eco-friendly containers, bakeries can attract a broader audience, including gym-goers, wellness-focused shoppers, and environmentally conscious consumers, while reinforcing their commitment to sustainability and innovation.
Granola, Fruit, and Yogurt Parfaits
Have leftover granola bars? What better way to repurpose your food scraps than to chop them up and create granola, fruit, and yogurt parfaits!?
With the right packaging, parfaits can also be a beautiful display in your bakery case with the layers of granola and yogurt next to the brightly colored fruit. This option feels like a dessert but is packed with protein and other essential vitamins that are sure to help your customers jump-start their day.
Takeaways
As the demand for convenient, health-conscious, and sustainable grab-and-go breakfast options continues to rise, bakeries are uniquely positioned to lead the charge in reducing food waste by repurposing existing ingredients to meet consumer preferences. By offering your customers products like granola bars, protein balls, and yogurt parfaits, bakeries can even tap into new markets by appealing to eco-conscious and wellness-driven customers.
Now is the perfect time to introduce these grab-and-go options and turn your already stocked ingredients into meaningful, marketable solutions. With a little creativity and a commitment to sustainability, bakeries can turn what was once waste into a win for their business, their customers, and the planet. Looking for a supplier that can help you not just source your ingredients but also be a partner in helping you come up with new and fresh ideas for your bakery? Click here to learn more.
