NEW YORK — Magnolia Bakery is expanding its reach to consumers with a growing presence in the CPG space.
Last spring, the brand broke into the segment with the debut of its Banana Pudding Cookies in three flavors. Since then, the product’s reach has grown to over 2,000 doors in retailers, including Wegmans, Harris Teeter, The Fresh Market and Stop & Shop.
“The move into grocery has since proven to be the right bite as retailers and our regionally-based rollout strategy has been key,” said Eddie Revis, the recently appointed CCO of Magnolia Bakery. “We knew that for the brand to thrive on shelves, we needed to take a slow and steady approach, and we’re continuing to focus on retail expansion as well as product innovation.”
However, the brand is looking beyond traditional grocers to reach consumers.
“Our desserts are also showing up in new, unexpected locations around the country such as the LaGuardia Airport, DashMarts by DoorDash, Amazon Fresh, FUKU, US Open, F1 Miami and the Miami Dolphins games,” Revis said, noting that Magnolia’s wholesale business has expanded into more than 100 new storefronts across the Midwest and on the East and West coasts.
Magnolia’s stretch into CPG stemmed from consumer feedback, Revis noted. That insight, in addition to IRI data showing that the soft-baked cookie category is the fastest-growing segment within cookies, indicated that the Banana Pudding Cookies were the best option for entering CPG.
“In a brand survey, nearly 70 percent of consumers shared that they most wanted to see Magnolia Bakery enter grocery stores over opening bakeshops in cities near them,” Revis said. “We chose the cookie aisle as our first set after taking a strategic look at our most popular products and where our brand could elevate and grow a category with our retail partners.”
Along with the convenience of the individually wrapped cookies, the format and flavor paired nicely to appease the “newstalgia” trend prevalent among today’s consumers.
“Banana Pudding Cookies allow consumers to bring Magnolia Bakery home in an unexpected way but in a more convenient, familiar format as the product is inspired by the bakeshop’s world-famous Banana Pudding,” Revis said.
In the year since the product launched, Revis noted that consumer and retailer reactions to the Banana Pudding Cookies have been positive.
“We know that we’ve more than proven the brick-and-mortar-to-CPG model, with rapid retail expansion that’s picked up with fervor in 2024,” he continued. “We saw in our brand study from 2022 that Gen Z and millennial consumers are looking for new, exciting and inventive CPG brands; perhaps more than generations before them ever have. Additionally, this study found that Gen Z are purchasing fewer items at retail, but spending more on the items they purchase; they’re looking for higher quality, ‘special occasion’ items. We’re leaning into that behavior because our Banana Pudding Cookies — and any CPG product we introduce in the future — will be all about celebrating everyday occasions.”
Looking forward, Magnolia Bakery is on the path to additional growth in US retailers with more opportunities ahead.
“As the Banana Pudding Cookie footprint continues to expand and find success, we’re launching new cookie flavors and formats that will continue to help our fans discover and enjoy our products,” Revis said.
