While the first lockdown last Spring saw traditional flour almost impossible to come by, our ancient grain enterprise has since been reaping the rewards.
When the UK first locked down earlier in March, flour became a scarce commodity. As panic buying took over and traditional types of flour flew off supermarket shelves, shortages led to a huge number of British people branching out to new alternatives. Almost overnight, we saw demand for our ancient grain products rocket. As the UK’s largest producer of spelt products, since this time we have seen sales grow by over 3,000% year-on-year, and it looks like this new purchasing trend is here to stay.
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, we sold our 100% British, award-winning products primarily to the trade. However, with more and more people shopping online now for healthy dietary alternatives, demand for our White and Wholemeal Spelt Flour in particular has grown at an unprecedented rate. Having has seen sales go up an extraordinary level, our owner Janet Craggs comments on what this past year has been like for the team:
“2020 was truly astonishing for us. We have always known and advocated for the widespread benefits of ancient grain products, and while there has been growing interest in them over the years, lockdowns this year have sparked an enormous increase in sales.
“The pandemic has left many businesses fighting to survive, so we are incredibly fortunate that our flour has become one of those essential products that has helped British people get through these difficult times. In addition to their wonderful flavours, ancient grains offer many health benefits and we are delighted more people are now becoming aware of them.”
At Craggs & Co we are a family business, and are the UK’s largest grower, harvester and miller of spelt flour. With all products fully traceable, our range is sought after across the UK by home bakers, high street bakeries and large-scale food producers alike.
Though more traditional flours have now returned to supermarket shelves, we are still experiencing considerably higher demand than ever before. From the exponential rise in “lockdown loafers” to this year’s hugely successful national Sourdough September campaign, home baking has been on the up so far in 2020, with a rising number of health-conscious consumers choosing to cook for themselves, from scratch.
Janet continues: “It is encouraging to learn that more and more people are baking at home now, and are keen to use nutritionally rich and healthy alternatives such as ancient grain flours. This new and seemingly consistent increase in demand for ancient grain products is exciting not only for our company, but for the industry as a whole.
“From supporting local farmers to reducing transportation costs, shopping local is so important right now and really does provide invaluable help in keeping British agriculture afloat.”