Having recently written a blog about how the large wholesale bakeries had a fight on their hands to stop a decline in bread sales, it looks like the fight back has begun. Warburtons is to rebrand its Newburn Bakehouse Range , which produces a lot of free from breads, to Warburtons Gluten Free.
It looks like their taking a leaf out of Ronseals books by having exactly what the bread is clearly spelt out on the label in black and white – Why didn’t they do this in the first place? Jonathan Warburton, chairman at Warburtons even admits “the free from aisle can be difficult to navigate, so we’re rebranding to Warburtons gluten free to ensure customers can easily identify our products”. Traditionally gluten free cakes, breads and biscuits have been relegated to a small section hidden away in most supermarkets but that has changed recently with gluten free cakes, breads and biscuits sharing the same shelfspace as mainstream branded products. Chris Hook, free from director at Warburtons said: “Extensive customer testing shows that the clarity and simplicity of the gluten free brand is preferred amongst both those with specific dietary needs and those choosing to eat gluten free for lifestyle reasons.” Well it was launched in 2011, so has taken them 6 years to find out that the packaging wasn’t working and sales would improve with the Warburton association made very clear. It seems at the time when it was launched they didn’t want damage the main brand but ironically it has now been bought in from the sidelines, rebranded and is there to boost falling sales and save the brand instead.
The rebranding is set to go ahead in January 2018