Best-Rated Bakery Chains

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Brumby’s ‘doughs’ it best in bakery chains review

It’s hard to walk past a bakery without taking a peek to see what’s on offer. The smell of freshly-baked carbs is simply too hard to resist for many of us! Whether you stop at a bakery on every shopping trip or just on a special occasion, you’re never short of options. So, if you knead to know which bakery chain you can trust for a perfectly fine crust, you’ve come to the right place!

In Canstar Blue’s latest bakery chains review, we asked more than 570 shoppers about their experiences when buying bakery items from their local store of choice. They rated retailers on their quality and freshness of products, variety of products, deals or specials available, customer service, store layout and presentation, value for money and overall satisfaction. Bakery chains that received the minimum sample size of 30 responses are compared in our report.

So, what’s the hot favourite? Brumby’s has risen to the occasion after receiving five stars for overall satisfaction and in several other categories.

Best Bakery Chains

Here are the best bakery chains in Australia, as rated by consumers in Canstar Blue’s latest review:

1. Brumby’s
2. Banjo’s
3. Bakers Delight
4. Breadtop

Brumby’s puffed up to the top with five stars for quality of products, variety, customer service, value for money and overall satisfaction. Runner-up Banjo’s was rated best for deals and specials available, while Bakers Delight also got five stars for quality and freshness of products, variety, store layout and value for money.

Bakery Purchase Type

There’s certainly a lot to pick from when you go to a bakery, so what have Aussies most recently purchased? Here’s what our survey respondents picked up:

• Bread: 69%
• Cheese and bacon roll: 33%
• Croissant: 31%
• Pie: 30%
• Sausage roll: 30%
• Vanilla slice: 28%
• Finger bun: 24%
• Scone: 23%
• Caramel slice: 16%
• Lamington: 15%
• Hedgehog slice: 8%
• Neenish tart: 8%

Bread is a staple for many Aussie households, but savoury pies and sausage rolls are also classics for a quick lunch. And who doesn’t love sweet treats from the bakery? Jam doughnut, anyone?

From our research, over half of respondents (59%) said they prefer bakery bread over packaged bread, with a third (33%) primarily visiting a bakery to buy speciality bread such as sourdough or tiger bread.

Bakery Bread Slice

We’ll stop loafing around and get down to the serious business now – how do you like it sliced? If you thought choosing between the type of bread was hard, wait until you get asked about the ‘cut’ you’re after. Our survey identified Aussies’ preferences as:

• Thick: 60%
• Thin: 32%
• Unsliced: 6%

With most packaged loaves of bread typically sliced thin, it’s perhaps not surprising that when consumers get their bread from the bakery, they opt for a thick slice.

Bakery Chains

Brumby’s

Established way back in 1975, Brumby’s was born out of Ashburton, Victoria, and now has over 100 franchises across Australia and New Zealand. Brumby’s has you covered in all departments including bread, savoury and sweet pastries, sandwiches and rolls.

• Brumby’s stirred up five-star ratings for quality and variety of products, customer service, value for money and overall satisfaction. It got four stars for product freshness, special deals and store layout and presentation.

Banjo’s

For anyone looking for an environmentally-friendly coffee takeout spot, Banjo’s uses bio coffee cups and lids. These are said to be made from natural resources and apparently decompose into biomass, carbon dioxide and water. Since opening in Tassie in 1984, you can now also find Banjo’s across New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. It offers a variety of preservative-free and artisan bread.

• Banjo’s served up an impressive five-star result for deals and specials available, before settling on four stars for overall satisfaction and everywhere else.

Bakers Delight

Bakers Delight is an Australian-owned bakery franchise chain with outlets in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the U.S. Its first store opened in 1980 in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn, Victoria, before expanding to now have more than 700 bakeries, offering a huge range of baked goods.

• Bakers Delight continues to delight Aussies after being among the best for product quality and freshness, range variety, store layout and presentation and value for money. It scored four stars for overall satisfaction and in the remaining factors.

Breadtop

Breadtop is also an Australian-based bakery franchise, originating in the suburb of Box Hill, Victoria. Since 2002, it has opened 70 stores across the country and sells a range of Singapore-style bread, cakes, buns and pastries.

• Breadtop was the final sprinkle in our bakery chains ratings, having achieved three stars across the board, such as for product quality and freshness, variety, value for money and overall satisfaction.

About the author of this page

This report was written by Canstar Blue’s home & lifestyle journalist, Tahnee-Jae Lopez-Vito. She’s an expert on household appliances, grooming products and all things grocery and shopping. In addition to translating our expert research into consumer-friendly ratings reports, Tahnee spends her time helping consumers make better-informed purchase decisions on all manner of consumer goods and services, while highlighting the best deals and anything you need to be aware of.

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