This Easter 50% of Romanians will bake sweet bread (cozonac) in their kitchen and if they intend to buy it, 89% say they prefer Romanian brands that have used a traditional recipe according to a study conducted by Reveal Marketing Research.
The study shows that Romania has the highest individual consumption level of bread in the EU and also has the lowest price, 47% cheaper than the European average, according to Eurostat data.
The main results of the study show that 38% of Romanians prefer white bread and say they eat it daily. In terms of bread types, 37% of the respondents say that sliced bread is always on their table, followed by the loaf of bread mentioned by 33%.
Romanians are big consumers of bakery products, 70% prefer to buy and not to prepare it themselves, buying sliced / packaged bread (88%), pretzels (85%), loaf of bread (80%) and bagels (78%). Online orders continue to increase when it comes to bakery products but only 3% choose this option.
In 2020 the consumption habits for people changed considerably having the tendency to bake bread at home. The study investigated whether these changes are also reflected in Romanians’ behaviour as 36% of respondents stated that in the last 12 months they have baked bread or other similar products in their kitchen, while 48% say that they have kept the same habits in purchasing their bread. There is a segment of those who intended to start this activity but gave up because they found it difficult (16%).
Romanians (42%) have kept the traditions and continue to prepare cakes at home. Almost half of the respondents (47%) said that they usually consume sweet bread (cozonac) only during the holidays
This year on Easter, most respondents (48%) said they will bake cozonac by themselves, while 37% prefer to buy it from a store and 65% choose to buy the product from supermarkets and 45% will go to the bakery. Only 24% buy them from confectioneries.
The main reason why some Romanians avoid making cakes at home is that commercial products are better than what Romanians would cook on their own explained by 37% of respondents and 30% of them think that it is too long a process while 18% consider that the recipe is too complicated.
The study also revealed that 26% of people who choose to buy cozonac are from Romanian brands say they prefer it compared to international recipes, such as Panettone cake. Only 9% of Romanians choose foreign brands of cake.
The research showed how often people eat certain types of bread and 38% of Romanians say they never eat ciabatta, and 32% never eat foccacia.
The collection method for the research was CAWI (computer-assisted web interview) and 1013 online interviews were conducted with respondents over the age of 18, online users, on a nationally representative urban and rural sample between April 13-20, 2021. Sampling error +/- 3%.