St Pierre continues to grow across the U.S., helped in part by the backing of Grupo Bimbo, according to Rachel Wells, commercial director.
In a recent interview with The Griffin Report, Wells recounted how the company was acquired by Grupo Bimbo in October 2022. She said that development has allowed St Pierre to retain its “unique spirit and personality” while utilizing Grupo Bimbo’s vast networks and supply chain capabilities.
“We continue to outperform the market in the brioche category,” Wells said. “We are in value growth around 10 percent and our volume growth is still at 2 percent in positive, which is bucking the trend in the category, which has declined overall.
“Even through periods of inflation, we’ve retained the momentum and velocity on volume, which is really testament to the quality of the St Pierre brand.”
Brioche, as a category, is consistently expanding, and St Pierre finds that the branded products are the driving force behind that growth.
“We’re finding in times when there’s inflation, people are looking for quality, and they’re not prepared to compromise on that when they’re paying a premium price,” Wells said.
“One of the things that our brand really stands for is that premium quality and authenticity of the recipe. When people are at that point of purchase and thinking about creating a meal occasion, they want a product which satisfies that demand for something that can elevate their meal.”
St Pierre has several new products coming to market, including waffles. They are individually wrapped for on-the-go opportunities and offer customers heating instructions as well as meal ideas.
“Waffles in particular have been a really huge success for us in the market,” Wells explained. “The waffle category is dominated by frozen products, so launching with an authentic recipe and a premium proposition with an ambient waffle has been really successful.”
St Pierre is preparing to roll out three new Belgian waffle flavors – chocolate chip, maple and cinnamon – in the near future.
The brand also recently introduced pretzel rolls, which Wells described as a “hybrid product.”
“We’ve had some really strong success with these, because it’s offering something different – a market that doesn’t exist already,” she said.
“The premium proposition of traditional French recipes really stands out, and this is a real opportunity for grocery retailers to drive value into the category at a time when they are under pressure to drop prices.”
