Muffins: not just for breakfast

Although muffins are not the largest contributor to in-store bakery department sales, the popular breakfast food maintained steady sales throughout 2006 and outpaced bakery department growth by 4 percent. Nationally, muffin sales made up 4.5 percent of total bakery sales in 2006, up 0.2 percentage points from the previous year. The category saw an 11.6 percent increase in national dollar sales compared to a year ago, averaging $377 in sales per week per store, according to the Perishables Group. The Chicago-based market research firm compiles scanner data from the perishables departments of more than 16,000 stores nationwide. This report includes the group’s most current annual data from the 52 weeks ending Dec. 30, 2006.

Muffins’ popularity beyond breakfast–through lunch, dinner and snacking dayparts–also is contributing to sales growth of the category. “We sell the most muffins between [the hours of] four and seven,” said Mike Lamontane, bakery/deli department manager, Food Lion’s Bloom, Salisbury, N.C. “People also tend to buy them to eat the next day.”

In 2006, muffin dollar sales were lowest in early January and again in December indicating that competition from other holiday breakfast foods impacted everyday muffin sales. The category slowly rebounded in the first quarter of 2006 but experienced a distinct dip in sales during the fourth week in April yielding the third lowest average weekly dollar sales of the year. Muffin dollar sales reached an annual high of $392 average weekly dollar sales during the second week of May and a low of $288 average weekly dollar sales the
week after Christmas.

The East region contributed the highest percentage of muffin dollar sales to the bakery department in 2006, averaging 7.2 percent per week per store–2.9 percentage points higher than total U.S., but unchanged compared to the previous year. The East region also claimed the greatest muffin dollar sales, more than double average weekly dollar sales nationally and 5.1 percent higher than a year ago. Though the Central region reported the second lowest average weekly dollar sales with $296 per store per week, the muffin category outpaced department growth in the region by 13.1 percentage points.

Across the U.S., regular muffins generated the majority of muffin dollar sales in 2006 at 53.5 percent followed by jumbo/ gourmet muffins at 31.3 percent. Regular muffins peaked in average weekly dollar sales during the second week in May before leveling off and then steadily declining throughout June and July. Jumbo/gourmet muffins saw a steady increase in average weekly dollar sales throughout the summer, reaching peak sales the last week in September.