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For the past several years, the baking industry has faced a long list of serious, ongoing challenges.

Sure, times have been rough in the past several years. However, despite that fact—or perhaps, thanks to consumers looking to relieve stress through sweet treats, because of it—numbers in various categories of bakery desserts have largely given producers reasons to celebrate.

For the past several years, the baking industry has faced a long list of serious, ongoing challenges. 

As family and friends more frequently gather in person for parties, dinners, and other social settings, it follows that sales of buns and rolls might increase, because such baked items often are invited to the table. 

As recovery from the pandemic continues, U.S. consumers are slowly making their way back to the real world—which includes dining out at restaurants with friends and family and grabbing lunch at fast-food and quick-serve eateries near the office.

Americans of a certain age likely associate bakery snacks with lunchboxes, unwrapped and enjoyed at school, near the tail end of their midday meal. 

We are poised at a significant point in time in the American snack industry. Over the past few years, at various points and to different degrees of intensity, we fortified ourselves with the necessities: sanitizer, toilet paper, and—yes—snacks. We are a nation of snackers, and we continually demonstrate our brand loyalty at the checkout counter—or internet shopping cart.

Despite snack mixes and nuts being known for having many “on-the-go” options, during the pandemic—when consumers have been staying home more—they have still been flocking to the category.

The puffed and extruded category mostly experienced growth from 2021 to 2022. Consumers are also searching for better-for-you flavors, and the category aimed to accommodate.

Thanks to early immigrants from Germany and the Netherlands, hard pretzels today continue as a quintessential American snack. In their most-basic forms, they are a study in beautiful simplicity. Adorned, they can carry a world of flavors.