Woolworths has revealed a revived cast of almost 150 new and reformulated cakes, biscuits, muffins, and baked desserts. The reformulation process took 18 months, with the tough task of taste testing each product falling to the bakery team.
Woolworths merchandise manager for Bakery, Donald Keith, told Food & Drink Business the development process included leveraging customer insights, food trends, and inspiration from international and local bakeries to feed into the product strategy and direction.
“We worked closely with our suppliers through numerous rounds of product submissions to develop the best tasting products for our customers.
“For a lot of our products, once we have reviewed them and are happy with them, we put them in front of internal and external trained customer panels, who review the product and give us additional feedback for a few more tweaks to make sure it is perfect,” Keith said.
Keith explained that throughout the development process, the team aimed to capture specific customer behaviours, trends, formats, and flavours.
“Given the rise in dining at home, we wanted to offer bakery products and experiences customers could enjoy in the comfort of their own homes. For example, with our Cookie Pie, cookie pies have been rising in popularity globally over the past few years and we wanted to create one that was just as delicious, readily accessible, in which customers can bake and enjoy in the comfort of their own home,” he said.
Similarly, the Smash Cake was created to offer customers a “sensorial appeal” and a product experience that was first to market within Australian retail.
“We captured on trend formats such as loaded/filled – in our loaded muffins, loaded doughnuts, and loaded cupcakes – and assortments, through our mini dessert selection, assorted cake selection and cupcake selection.
“We also captured on trend flavours such as Lotus Biscoff, Smores, Funfetti, Cookies & Cream across our ranges,” Keith said.
Some of the new treats include the Woolworths Lemon Meringue Tart, the Woolworths Celebration Caramel Cake, layered with dulce de leche, and the Woolworths Smash Cake filled with hidden sweet treats.
“We work with many supply partners across the country, who are all experts in their field, to manufacture our delicious products.
“For example, one of our key cake suppliers is Buonissimo Bakery, run by brothers Michael and David who have more than 40 years combined baking experience and are dedicated to producing delicious cakes and desserts for our customers to enjoy.
“We work very closely with all of our supply partners and have very collaborative relationships with them, they have immense experience and knowledge which is invaluable,” Keith said.
The bakery range has changed a lot since Woolworths opened its first in-store bakery in 1970, but Keith said the commitment to high quality is just as strong.
“A lot of our cakes and desserts have an element of hand finishing, so partnering with manufacturers who have a dedication to producing high quality products is essential. We agree on tight quality parameters with our supply partners to ensure we can deliver consistently great quality products every time.
“We also utilise high quality ingredients/products are made as per the traditional recipe to ensure our customers get the best quality products e.g. Belgian chocolate, use of all butter across our pastry range, Australian bananas across our muffin ranges, Australian apples within our Lattice Apple Pie, and Eureka and Lisbon lemons in our lemon meringue tart.
“When developing our new products, we not only ensure they taste great but also ensure our products deliver to customers’ expectations on value and consistent quality, as well as working closely with our nutrition, responsible sourcing and packaging teams as we work towards delivering key commitments,” he said.
Some of Woolworths’ new bakery range
- Woolworths Chocolate Chunk Cookie Pie ($14): a unique, oversized cookie. Heat in the oven, and watch the chunks of creamy Belgian dark chocolate ooze;
- Woolworths Lemon Meringue Tart ($23): an all-butter shortcrust pastry, filled with zesty lemon curd and expertly finished with delicately fluffy hand-torched meringue;
- Woolworths Choc Birthday Drip Cake 1.4kg ($29): a soft, fluffy chocolate sponge layered with smooth buttercream, topped with a Belgian dark chocolate drip and chocolate ganache, and hand-finished with sweet and crunchy caramel crisps;
- Woolworths Celebration Caramel Cake ($29): fluffy caramel sponge meets soft buttercream that’s layered with dulce de leche, hand-finished with chocolate-coated honeycomb pieces, and topped with milk and caramel chocolates;
- Woolworths Smash Cake ($35): featuring layers of fluffy chocolate sponge and rich buttercream, filled with hidden sweet treats in an array of rainbow colours, and topped with a milk chocolate dome and hand-finished with sprinkles;
- Woolworths Chocolate Chunk Cookies 5pk ($5.50): crisp, chewy cookies, generously studded with dark chocolate buttons; and
- Woolworths Loaded Carrot Cake Muffins 4pk ($7.50): these muffins have a cream cheese filling and are hand-finished with a spiced walnut crumble.
