Marketing of free-from products in Swedish bakeries and patisseries

Abstract: Food trends are evolving in many ways and one of the biggest upcoming trends is the free-from diet, which represents products free from allergen ingredients such as gluten, lactose, etc. The trend has reached individuals with food intolerances as well as people with a health conscious mind who believe this being a healthier way of living. In general, the amount of individuals who are starting to be aware of the free-from term and concept is constantly increasing. The purpose of this master thesis is to evaluate the current adaptation of allergen free products among Swedish bakeries and patisseries from a marketing perspective. The identified problem in the field is the lack of information concerning how bakeries and patisseries are marketing the allergen free products. The literature review presents different food trends and definitions based on current literature as a conceptual basis for the analysis. In order to answer the research question, a quantitative method in form of a survey was used. There were 38 companies who participated in the survey and the results show that the majority does not market the allergen free products in a different way compared to regular products and that competition within this market is experienced to be rather low. In the analysis, the results are divided into companies with and without allergen free products. This Master‟s Thesis concludes that bakeries and patisseries in Sweden have successfully introduced allergen free products to the market, but they need to set a deeper focus on the free-from marketing of such products in order to survive future competition. Moreover, marketing implications are formulated for the Swedish bakery Swebake AB, which is the cooperation company for this thesis. In the last part of this thesis, fields of further research are named.