Bakery has a powerful emotional pull: the smell of freshly baked bread, pastry and cake can evoke comfort, nostalgia and wellbeing. Now other industries are borrowing those sensory cues, from croissant-inspired perfumes to gin and protein products. What can industrial bakers learn from the growing value of the “freshly baked” experience?

Warburtons and Only Curls have launched a bakery-scented hair gel rooted in the old saying that eating bread crusts makes your hair go curly.

Own-label bakery now holds 46% of unit sales across Europe's largest markets. For branded producers, the pressure is real and price alone won't hold it off. This piece looks at how Europe's most resilient bakery brands, from a New Forest cottage to a Lisbon monastery, have used specific, honest origin stories to build loyalty that generic competitors can't replicate. A practical read for anyone in the industrial baking sector thinking about brand equity.