A quick look at the top 10 hamburger and hot dog bun brands reveals a mixed bag of results. For the most part, these brands are either prospering or failing to grab consumer attention -a market trait that is paralleled in multiple bakery food categories. There appears to be no middle ground.

This type of market bodes well for some bakeries and hurts others. For the 52-week period ended Dec. 5, Sara Lee, Pepperidge Farm and Aunt Millies brands all posted solid dollar and unit sales growth while Wonder, Sunbeam, Merita, Rainbo and Colonial brands suffered declining dollar sales and volumes.

For the same period, the overall hamburger and hot dog bun category also experienced mixed results. The category's dollar sales increased 2.3% to $982 million, but volume sales dipped 1.7% to $641 million.

The complete bun and roll category, which includes hot dog and hamburger buns, also experienced varied results. For the 52-week period, the bun and roll category recorded a 2.3% increase in dollar sales to $3.47 billion, and a 0.4% decline in volume sales to 2.26 billion.

This batch of mixed data signals a confusing time in the bun and roll category. While bread manufacturers have entered the premium and whole grain markets with success, the bun and roll category has been apprehensive to follow suit.

Sara Lee Bakery Group (SLBG), St. Louis, entered the bun and roll market with its Sara Lee brand in April 2003, and already has cracked the top 10 sales list of hamburger and hot dog brands. According to Matt Hall, SLBG's spokesperson, the company is currently looking to expand its current bun and roll offerings to include premium products.

Butterkrust Bakery, Lakeland, Fla., also is in the process of expanding its bun and roll product line to include more premium products. The company's new product plans include low-carbohydrate buns and a sweet nine-grain steak roll.

The hamburger and hot dog bun category recorded a 1.7% volume decrease.

Flowers Foods, Thomasville, Ga., participates in the premium bun market with its Nature's Own sugarfree hot dog and hamburger buns. These products carry the Healthline banner.

Although large bakeries are cautiously approaching the premium hot dog and hamburger bun market, smaller bakeries, such as Rudi's Organic Bakery, have charged into the market with premium offerings. The Boulder, Colo.-based bakery produces a line of whole wheat hamburger buns under the Right Choice banner.

It is yet to be seen whether or not the bun and roll category follows bread trends. It all depends on consumers' acceptance of eating a loaded hot dog on a whole grain bun.

Top 10 Hamburger and hot dog buns

Brand name	Dollar Sales	% Change	Dollar Share	Volume sales	%Change	Unit Share
Private label	$463,694,900	1.1%	13.4%	377,070,600	-1.1%	16.7%
Wonder	$51,263,230	-6.3%	1.5%	24,936,160	-5.7%	1.1%
Sara Lee	$28,244,660	84.8%	0.8%	14,107,410	79.0%	0.6%
Sunbeam	$26,365,910	-13.0%	0.8%	14,797,410	-15.9%	0.7%
Oroweat	$24,674,270	1.8%	0.7%	10,073,900	-1.5%	0.4%
Rainbo	$24,243,750	-15.9%	0.7%	9,797,806	-19.3%	0.4%
Merita	$21,112,400	-2.0%	0.6%	10,031,500	-0.7%	0.4%
Colonial	$15,945,450	-9.7%	0.5%	8,054,454	-9.7%	0.4%
Pepperidge Farm	$15,681,570	6.3%	0.5%	6,660,115	4.8%	0.3%
Aunt Millies	$14,464,250	5.6%	0.4%	7,731,056	12.2%	0.3%

Source: Information Resources Inc. statistics for the 52-week period ended Dec. 5, excluding Wal-Mart

Fresh Bakery Products	52-week Change Ending Nov. 4 Dollar Sales	% Change Prior Year	52 Weeks Unit Sales	% Change Prior Year
Bread	5,777,111,296	-0.1%	3,404,149,952	-4.1%
Cookies	3,532,854,656	-4.8%	1,645,700,352	-6.6%
Crackers	3,156,844,032	-1.1%	1,445,245,696	-2.7%
Rolls/Buns/Croissants	1,772,920,768	-1.1%	1,200,636,672	-3.1%
Cupcakes/Brownies	803,964,032	0.9%	586,941,184	-3.3%
Donuts	780,469,376	3.9%	339,053,568	-0.7%
Pastry/Danish/Coffeecakes	623,042,112	-3.3%	309,264,192	-4.6%
Cakes (excl. snack/coffeecakes)	581,735,040	-2.0%	127,569,904	-3.3%
Bagels/Bialys	431,972,064	4.2%	171,524,080	0.3%
English Muffins	377,688,672	-4.4%	188,990,512	-5.5%
Muffins	219,636,576	2.1%	85,847,216	3.7%
Pies (excl. snack pies)	185,498,688	-3.9%	47,637,244	-3.0%
Source: Information Resources Inc.

 

Frozen Bakery Products	52-week Change Ending Nov. 4 Dollar Sales	% Change Prior Year	52 Weeks Unit Sales	% Change Prior Year
Baked Bread/Rolls/Biscuits	442,930,624	0.7%	186,187,424	-0.9%
Pies	324,538,048	2.5%	86,234,176	2.4%
Sweetgoods (excl. cheesecake)	312,982,784	-0.1%	116,343,008	0.6%
Bread/Rolls/Biscuits/Pastry Dough	123,430,648	-9.4%	46,266,584	-10.3%
Pies/Pastry Shells	109,212,984	-1.5%	55,185,452	-4.6%
Cheesecakes	83,031,760	-3.4%	18,442,292	-6.6%
Bagels	61,951,856	-19.2%	48,524,708	-22.0%
Cookie Dough	5,236,847	-12.7%	1,159,982	-29.0%
Muffins	4,286,651	-18.4%	2,066,136	-20.1%
Cookies	39,772	-55.0%	11,092	-55.4%
Source: Information Resources Inc.

 

Refrigerated Bakery Products	52-week Change Ending Nov. 4 Dollar Sales	% Change Prior Year	52 Weeks Unit Sales	% Change Prior Year
Cookie/Brownie Dough	418,349,984	5.5%	152,220,288	0.9%
Biscuit Dough	385,565,728	-6.1%	348,371,712	-8.1%
Pastry/Dumpling Dough	251,631,472	-1.9%	119,018,288	-4.2%
Bread/Roll/Bun Dough	232,830,128	-2.0%	122,408,448	-2.2%
Cheesecakes	95,831,584	9.2%	17,644,826	6.4%
Bagels/Bialys	62,336,144	-14.3%	45,314,460	-14.4%
Cakes (excl. snack/coffeecakes)	61,400,196	-0.3%	7,624,275	-5.5%
Pies (excl. snack pies)	28,437,008	-18.1%	5,958,436	-23.3%
English Muffins	27,521,384	-3.5%	17,176,732	-6.7%
Bread	5,376,524	-7.2%	2,671,307	-9.0%
Snack Cakes/Donuts	5,167,352	-23.1%	1,469,505	-36.5%
Pastry/Danish/Coffeecakes	4,570,954	8.1%	1,600,298	-10.4%
Croissants/Dinner Rolls	884,722	14.2%	413,405	14.5%
Muffins	32,934	-23.6%	9,688	-27.9%
Source: Information Resources Inc.

Statistics for this chart were supplied by Information Resources Inc., a Chicago-based firm whose scanner data covers more than 11,300 supermarkets, and represents 90% of all supermarket volumes.