Miller Magazine Issue: 140 August 2021

64 ARTICLE MILLER / august 2021 The COVID-19 crisis, the lockdown periods and all the measures taken to limit the spread of the virus have led to considerable disruption and fear, touching every aspect of business and social life. Since 1 ½ year the food industries have had to face challenges of an unimaginable scale. Many lessons have been learned from this Pandemic, new challenges were shared, and it has been fas- cinating to see how the global industry and markets have reacted. At a professional level we have faced similar challenges, and the industry had to go through a series of steps: Breakdown => Han- dling the direct impact => Rebuilding in a fragile consumer market. In this crisis analysis Gira has put the first markers down, looked for the early lessons and built a base of insight for us all to move forward from. It is a challenge to be positive in these extraordi- nary circumstances. Uncertainty over a wave of the pandemic, the timing of foodservice recovery and concern over the economic impact are all reducing demand. We thought we had returned to a certain “New Normal” in summer 2020, but the third wave came, and even if the vaccination campaigns are well advanced in many European countries there are still big uncertainties about the spreading of new variants. What has been the impact of this crisis for the bakery industry, and what will be the consequences in the coming months? The objective of this Gira report « COVID-19 CRISIS - IMPACT ON EU- ROPEAN BAKERY MARKETS » published in March 2021 was to provide clear insight into the impact of the global COVID-19 crisis on the European bakery markets. This report lays out, at European level and for the 14 main European countries: • The evolving situation in Europe: the impact of COVID-19 crisis at each level of the bakery chain: • Consumer purchasing behaviour: from fresh to packaged bak- ery products, from indulgence to staple products, coming back to home-baking • Shopping habit changes and consequences for the different channels • Foodservice downturn impact on bakery products consump- tion • Switch in supply method strategies for fresh bakery products • And the consequences of all these changes for the fresh and bake-off bakery markets, at each level of the bakery chain • Implications for the future: given a recovery process and the possible scenarios for the evolution of the pandemic, what will the consequences be for fresh, packaged and bake-off bakery prod- ucts’ consumption, distribution and production. “In the future, the winning manufacturers will be those capable of decreasing their level of exposure to a specific channel , their degree of product specialisation, and who will have the ability to switch from one technology to another.” COVID-19 Crisis – Impact on European bakery markets Anne Fremaux Bakery Director Gira