SIC 5461
RETAIL BAKERIES



This category includes establishments primarily engaged in the retail sale of bakery products. The products may be either purchased from others or made on the premises. Establishments manufacturing bakery products for the trade are classified in SIC 2051: Bread and Other Bakery Products, Except Cookies and Crackers; SIC 2052: Cookies and Crackers; or SIC 2053: Frozen Bakery Products, Except Bread. Those purchasing bakery products and selling house-to-house are classified in SIC 5963: Direct Selling Establishments.

NAICS Code(s)

722213 (Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars)

311811 (Retail Bakeries)

445210 (Baked Goods Stores)

According to D & B Sales & Marketing Solutions, there were 30,494 retail bakeries in 2003. Retail sales were approximately $6.2 billion. The bakery industry employed about 209,922 people, and the average number of employees per bakery totaled about seven workers. The bakery industry continued to experience growth in the 2000s according to a report released by the U.S. Food Marketing System. Specialized food stores, which include retail bakeries, expanded with the "growing popularity of cookie shops and bagelries." In fact, bakeries are considered the largest segment within the specialized food stores category.

Most of the retail bakeries are located in California with 5,219, followed by New York with 2,963, Texas with 2,456, Florida with 1,635, Pennsylvania with 1,339, Massachusetts with 1,246, and Illinois with 1,154. Combined,

SIC 5461 Retail Bakeries

these represented more than 57 percent of market share.

The retail bakery segment alone accounted for 19,592 bakeries, and controlled over 64 percent of the market. The doughnut segment represented 5,127 bakeries and about 16 percent of the market. The bagel segment numbered 2,157 bakeries and accounted for 7 percent of the market, while bread numbered 1,019 bakeries.

Unlike other segments of the retail grocery industry that experienced steady loss of market share to competing supermarkets and superstores throughout the 1990s, the retail bakery industry experienced steady growth. According to Dun's Census of American Business, there were 30,530 retail bakeries in 1996 and 32,530 in 1997. Retail sales increased from $6.5 billion in 1995 to $6.9 billion in 1999, according to Ward's Business Directory of Private and Public Companies, 1999. This growth was attributed to new retailing strategies, new products, and consumers' increased demand for bakery goods. According to Peter Houstle, Vice President of the Retailer's Bakery Association, the ability to merge the independent baker with the supermarket was crucial to the industry's survival. In Bakery Production and Marketing, Carol Meres Kroskey wrote that a number of supermarkets opted to house bakeries of regional and national brands rather than expand in-house bakeries. Furthermore, products like the bagel experienced tremendous growth during the mid-1990s, adding significantly to the industry's overall growth.

The majority of stores in this classification are small, employing less than four persons and having sales around $100,000. More than 18,000 stores had sales in this range in 2003, and 814 stores reported sales under $80,000. There were 29,390 stores that had sales between $100,000 and $249,000; 231 stores had sales between $250,000 and $499,000; and about 56 that reported sales of more than $5 million.

New World Restaurant Group, Inc. of Golden, Colorado, led the market in 2002 with $398 million in sales. Moving up were Saint Louis Bread Company, Inc., operating under Panera Bread Company of Richmond Heights, MO, with sales of $277 million; Winchell Donut Houses of Santa Ana, California, with estimated sales of $60 million; and Cinnabon of Seattle, Washington, with estimated sales of $65 million. New World Restaurant Group, Inc. continued to lead with sales of $383.3 million for 2003, and Saint Louis Bread Company also posted increased sales of $355.9 million.

Further Reading

D & B Sales & Marketing Solutions, May 2004. Available from http://www.zapdata.com .

Hoovers's Company Profiles, May 2004. Available from http://www.hoovers.com .

Kaufman, Phil R. "Food Retailing," U.S. Marketing System, 2002. Economic Research Service, USDA, April 2004. Available from http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/aer811/aer811e.pdf .

Kroskey, Carol Meres. "Bakery Foods are Hot, Hot, Hot." Bakery Production and Marketing, 15 January 1997.

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