A donut glaze that can boost in-store bakery profitability

Sponsored by Dawn Foods

Everyone loves a delicious treat, especially the freshly baked variety. Few items are more enticing than donuts, the classic breakfast or snack food. In-store bakeries have an opportunity to boost sales of these fun, indulgent delicacies—but there are challenges. While yeast-raised donuts are great for driving impulse purchases, they often look less visually appealing when the glaze melts off or sticks to the packaging. But now an exciting innovation can help supermarket bakery departments avoid this situation while increasing sales, reducing labor costs, and slashing food waste.

In-store bakery is a department that enjoys high consumer engagement. According to a report from the Food Industry Association (FMI), 95% of supermarket shoppers purchase an in-store bakery item at least occasionally, and 63% do so weekly. However, while more than three-quarters (78%) of shoppers buy functional bakery items such as bread at the supermarket, only about half (51%) say their primary grocery store is their main destination for in-store bakery items.

Supermarkets can appeal to these shoppers who would otherwise visit specialty bakeries or even other grocery stores, by ensuring that the bakery assortment remains fresh and visually appealing. With yeast-raised glazed donuts, the key is to prevent the moisture of the glaze from seeping into the donut. This moisture migration between donut and glaze results in undesirable, sticky, wet donuts.

Controlling moisture

An exciting solution comes from the global innovation team at Dawn Foods, which developed the Pak Perfect™ Non-Sticky Donut Glaze. “We designed the technology precisely to control moisture mobility in the glaze and create an equilibrium between donut and glaze phases,” says Roja Ergun, director of research and development at Dawn. “As a result, we are able to prevent the glaze from getting wet and sticky while preventing the donut from drying out.”

As the partner for bakery success Dawn’s insights team combines bakery trends with an understanding of their bakery customer needs to develop new products solutions with the Research & Development team. Ergun says the Pak Perfect™ Non-Sticky Donut Glaze innovation is a breakthrough technology that addresses three main challenges that in-store bakery customers face with packaged donuts: It provides a mess-free non-sticky glaze for donuts, it has five days of extended shelf life in an airtight clamshell packaging, and it is truly freeze-thaw stable.

These benefits can drive sales in the bakery department, and Pak Perfect™ Non-Sticky Donut Glaze can also help prevent food waste. According to the United Nations Environment Programme Food Waste Index Report 2021, globally 14% of food is wasted before it reaches retail, and 17% may be wasted from retail to consumer.

Emma Blough and Kiyul Cho, food scientists at Dawn, note that food waste not only presents sustainability issues but also impacts bakery profitability. “In upstream processes, we can rework and repurpose ingredient and manufacturing losses,” they say. “However, for finished products like a glazed donut, the product cannot be repurposed, and with a short, fixed shelf-life it leads to food waste.”

Short shelf life

Glazed donuts typically have a shelf life of one day, but Dawn’s Pak Perfect™ Non-Sticky Donut Glaze extends the shelf life of the glazed donut for up to five days. That can help an in-store bakery drive sales in a department where freshness is crucial.

“The first step should always be to have fresh-looking product,” says Erik Enyedy, senior director of technical sales and service for Dawn. “This is where Pak Perfect provides an advantage for the supermarket in-store bakery.”

Merchandising is also important, and operators should display yeast-raised glazed donuts not only in the in-store bakery but also in high-traffic areas such as the entrance of the store. Consumers are watching their spending, so operators should highlight the multipacks to emphasize value. Grab-and-go is still a huge trend, so make the stacks of four-donut clamshells easy to find in the store. Package the donuts in clear clamshells or packaging with a window.

Keeping tables and displays filled with fresh products is key, and that’s another area in which Pak Perfect™ Non-Sticky Donut Glaze can help. If the donuts in a clamshell remain fresh for five days, the supermarket does not have to assign team members to constantly restock, and that can save on labor costs.

Donuts are crowd-pleasers among consumers. Now, with Pak Perfect™ Non-Sticky Donut Glaze, donuts can help the in-store bakery department save on labor, reduce food waste, and drive sales, because the donuts remain fresh and visually appealing for five days. For more information, visit www.dawnfoods.com.