Canstar Blue’s 2019 bakery chains review has seen Bakers Delight, Brumby’s and Breadtop rated on their customer service, value for money, quality of products, layout, freshness of products, variety of products, deals and overall satisfaction.
See our Ratings Methodology.
In a hotly contested market, Bakers Delight has come out on top in Canstar Blue’s bakery satisfaction ratings, with five stars for customer service, quality and freshness of products, layout, variety, and overall satisfaction.
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 you can trust for perfectly fine crust, you’ve come to the right place!
In Canstar Blue’s inaugural bakery chains review, almost 600 shoppers were asked about their experiences buying bakery items from their local store of choice, with their feedback forming our 2019 customer satisfaction ratings. Survey respondents were asked to score the bakery chain they most recently visited on a range of factors relating to customer service, store layout & presentation, the quality of products, as well as the variety and freshness, value for money, special deals and overall satisfaction. In this case, we were looking purely at bakery chains, rather than supermarket bakeries.
Three major bakery chains received the minimum sample size required to be included in our ratings, but one out-baked the rest with five stars for overall satisfaction – Bakers Delight. It also scored five stars for customer service, quality of products, freshness, variety and store layout & presentation.
Canstar Blue’s inaugural review of bakery chains saw three major chains compared and rated in the following order for overall customer satisfaction:
Brumby’s received four stars for overall satisfaction, while Breadtop was left on three stars. Although Bakers Delight cleaned up with numerous five-star reviews, Brumby’s also got top marks for customer service and store layout, plus the quality and variety of its products, alongside this year’s winner.
There’s certainly a lot to choose from when you go to a bakery, so what have Aussies most recently purchased? Survey respondents reported:
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? Marshmallow cone anyone?
From our research, 64% of all respondents said they prefer bakery bread over packaged bread, with 26% primarily visiting a bakery to buy speciality breads such as sourdough or tiger bread.
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 Aussie preferences as:
With most packaged breads typically sliced thin, it’s perhaps not surprising that when consumers get their bread from the bakery, they opt for a thick slice.
Bakers Delight is an Australian-owned bakery franchise chain with outlets in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. 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.
Established way back in 1975, Brumby’s was born out of Ashburton, Victoria, and now has over 320 franchises across Australia and New Zealand. Brumby’s has you covered in all departments including bread, savoury, sweet, sandwiches and rolls.
Breadtop is also an Australia-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 breads, cakes, buns and pastries.
This report was written by Canstar Blue’s Home & Lifestyle Content Lead, Megan Birot. She’s an expert on household appliances, health & beauty products, as well as all things grocery and shopping. When she’s not writing up our research-based ratings reports, Megan spends her time helping consumers make better purchase decisions, whether it’s at the supermarket, other retailers, or online, highlighting the best deals and flagging anything you need to be aware of.
Picture credits: Phonlamai Photo/shutterstock.com, RossHelen/shutterstock.com, Oscar Carrascosa Martinez/shutterstock.com
Canstar Blue surveyed 3,000 Australian adults across a range of categories to measure and track customer satisfaction, via ISO 26362 accredited research panels managed by Qualtrics. The outcomes reported are the results from customers within the survey group who have made a purchase from a bakery chain the last 1 month (this refers to physical stores, not online ones) – in this case, 570 people.
Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included. Results are comparative and it should be noted that brands receiving three stars have still achieved a satisfaction measure of at least six out of 10. Not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The ratings table is first sorted by star ratings and then by mean overall satisfaction. A rated brand may receive a ‘N/A’ (Not Applicable) rating if it does not receive the minimum number of responses for that criteria.