HOT CROSS BUNS UNWRAPPED: AIR FRYERS, NEW FLAVOURS AND ANYTIME SNACKING DRIVE NEW ERA FOR THE ICONIC

HOT CROSS BUNS UNWRAPPED: AIR FRYERS, NEW FLAVOURS AND ANYTIME SNACKING DRIVE NEW ERA FOR THE ICONIC HOT CROSS BUN

 

The humble Hot Cross Bun is undergoing a quiet reinvention, with new research from one of the UK’s largest hot cross bun producers, 2 Sisters Food Group (2SFG), revealing the level at which British consumers are experimenting with how, when and which varieties they eat.

A survey of more than 500 UK shoppers, conducted for 2SFG by consumer intelligence platform VYPR, shows an emerging trend of consumers using an air fryer or even a microwave to heat their hot cross buns. The iconic Easter treats are also no longer confined to breakfast tables with any-time snacking on the menu, alongside experimentation with innovative new flavours and finding new uses the new norm. 

Ian Fletcher, who heads up the 2 Sisters Food Group bakery operation as Managing Director of its Meal Division, said: “Hot Cross Buns are steeped in hundreds of years of history and tradition, but we are seeing consumers with new baked-in habits, alongside attitudes and tastes that have evolved significantly. Our new research has uncovered a modern approach to heating and eating them, in addition to many Hot Cross Bunners being open to experimenting with new flavours.” 

How do you heat yours?

Toasting remains by far the most popular Hot Cross Bun preparation method, a preference for six in ten people (57%) - with 48% using a toaster and 9% under the grill - but almost one in five (18%) eat them cold.

Hot Cross Buns have truly entered the Air Fryer era, with some packs now including heating instructions to cater for the 5% of consumers using this method. A similar number (6%) are even using a microwave, reflecting the growing influence of modern kitchen appliances on these traditional products.

Three per cent of consumers prep their buns in an oven, and a small minority (1%) use a frying pan to provide some crispiness to the bite.

Breaking Free from Breakfast

Instant gratification is hitting Hot Cross Buns, with three in ten Brits (30%) enjoying them whenever they want them, at any time of day. Only one in nine (11%) prefer them at breakfast, the original time of day they were usually eaten, however, it is now much more popular to have them later in the day as a mid-afternoon snack (20%) and a mid-morning snack (15%).

Four per cent of people have them as a dessert, with separate 2SFG research showing Hot Cross Buns being used as the main ingredient in bread-and-butter pudding recipes, and 2% of people typically have them as or with an evening meal.

The findings suggest the seasonal favourite is evolving into a flexible, anytime treat, not just at Easter, but requiring availability all year round.

Flavour Innovation on the Rise

Traditional recipes remain firmly loved, but consumer appetite for innovation is strong with a real openness to new flavours. Recent variations include M&S Hot Cross Buns with lemon curd, red velvet filled and tiramisu flavour.

One in five (21%) of Hot Cross Bunners will only buy traditional buns, but seven in ten (70%) are happy to go off-piste, with one third (36%) open to trying new flavours, one in nine (11%) only buying new flavour hot cross buns, and one in six (17%) mixing and matching between the two.

The findings prove Hot Cross Buns are evolving beyond its seasonal breakfast roots into a more flexible, experimental treat occasion. The research findings also reveal:

• Are you cross first? 10% of people religiously eat the cross first, with 45% of people eating whichever half comes to hand, while one in five (18%) eat the top and bottom half together like a sandwich.

• Storage hacks One in three (31%) of people store them in a breadbin or cupboard, while one in five (18%) freeze them and 9% put them in the fridge. One quarter (25%) don’t do anything to preserve them as they are eaten so quickly.

Behind the scenes – some facts

As one of the UK’s largest bakers of Hot Cross Buns, operations go into overdrive in the run-up to Easter in 2SFG’s Gunstones bakery in Dronfield, Derbyshire and at the Robert’s Bakery in Rudheath, Cheshire:

• 55 million Hot Cross Buns produced, the equivalent of four made every second. That is the equivalent of the number of cars passing under a gantry on the M25 motorway during rush hour.

• Before you have finished this sentence, 12 hot cross buns will have been made.

• 2SFG produce enough Hot Cross Buns each Easter to fill 220 Olympic-sized swimming pools or cover 49 football pitches.

• Each Easter 2SFG produces enough buns, if lined up edge to edge, to stretch from its Birmingham HQ to the outskirts of New York.

• Over 1,500 tonnes of flour, some of which is Wildfarmed flour, 1,000 tonnes of dried fruit, 66 tonnes of peel and 22 tonnes of glaze used to satisfy the demand for Hot Cross Buns this Easter.

• That is enough to entirely glaze the footprint of the picturesque Devon village of Clovelly or Portmeirion in Wales.

Ian Fletcher added: “Hot Cross Buns are evolving. It is no longer the case that people religiously only eat them at Easter, nor do they want to be limited to traditional recipes and only at breakfast. In this new era, Hot Cross Buns are now seen as an any-time snack, heated using air fryers and microwaves (alongside toasters), where innovative recipes, tastes and flavours, like M&S lemon curd Hot Cross Buns or tiramisu flavour, are willingly embraced or even preferred.

“We are proud to be at the forefront of the new era of Hot Cross Buns, supporting retailers in bringing this well-loved bake to more people.”

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