Consumer demand for low-carbohydrate bread has prompted the bakery division of Action Supermarkets to develop a range of low-carb bakery products.
Action Supermarkets bakery controller Peter Terpenis said three new bread products were launched two months ago.
“Our customers have been asking us if we have lower carbohydrate bread,” he told WA Business News.
“It took us six months to develop the recipe because when you take out all the flour you need to play around with the ingredients, and we took a lot of time doing that.”
Mr Terpenis said low-carb breads were “all the rage” in the US and were continuing to sell well, but that it was too early to determine whether the Australian market would follow suit.
“I don’t know how long it will last but it’s been going at 100 miles an hour in the US,” he said.
“There’s not a huge volume in sales [in Australia] yet because people think that low-carb will taste terrible, but it’s slowly building.”
Mr Terpenis said Action’s bakery division was working on other low-carbohydrate bakery products for future retailing.
Action currently stocks a large low-carb loaf, a low-carb high top, a smaller loaf called low-carb farm-house, and low-carb lunch rolls.
“It’s a bit more expensive because it costs more to make but it ranges from $3.29 for our farmhouse loaf, which is a small loaf, to $3.99 for the high top,” Mr Terpenis said. “We launched the farmhouse loaf for the single mum or the fitness person who doesn’t eat a lot of bread.”
Other supermarket chains were following Action’s lead by offering a low-carb bread option, he said.
“We were getting asked for low-carb bread about nine months ago. It took a long time to develop it but the sales are slowly building.”
