Halloween-Themed Treats to Boost Your Bakery Sales

It’s that time of the year again – Halloween is creeping up on us!

In recent years, Halloween has cast a spell over the food market, particularly in the bakery sector, with exceptional growth as consumers eagerly embrace the spooky festivities. More than 50% of Craft Bakers Association members reported an increase in revenue during the Halloween period, underscoring the importance of tapping into the spooky season.

But Halloween is no longer just about one fright-filled night. It’s now a month-long celebration of thrills, with this year’s Halloween falling on a Thursday, extending the festivities into the weekend. This gives businesses a prime opportunity to maximize sales over several days.

As is the case with most holiday’s, Halloween is all about having fun by creating marvellous creations which are eye-catching and stand-out from your competitors’ offerings and appeal to the children and family market – the crazier the better!

 

Dress up your classics

Whilst new, innovative treats are exciting, you can achieve scarily good sales by simply dressing up your classics. Though Halloween is growing in popularity, it remains one of the shorter seasonal events, so it’s important to think practically about your products and ingredient choices.

These cookies have been given a simple Halloween makeover by adding chocolate truffles, Macphie 5th Avenue® Dark Chocolate icing, and chocolate chips to create spider cookies. Likewise, these doughnuts have been dressed up as Frankenstein’s and mummies by using Macphie 5th Avenue® Icings.

And don’t forget Swiss rolls! With a splash of food colouring, they can become a spook-tacular centrepiece sure to catch your customers’ eyes.

 

Bloody delicious treats

While taste remains the top priority in food, it’s essential for businesses to experiment with other sensory elements to elevate the customer experience. Halloween presents the perfect opportunity to add a surprise factor to your products.

Consider adding a hidden filling to your cupcakes or doughnuts, like jam or Macphie o.t.t® Strawberry dessert topping, to create a deliciously eerie, blood-like surprise inside each treat. It’s a simple twist that can make your offerings even more memorable for customers.

Whilst large celebration cakes, such as this one, are eye-catching and exciting, miniature versions are more popular than ever before.

According to Mintel, 76% of consumers of sweet treats prefer a small amount of an indulgent treat as opposed to a large amount of a healthy one. It allows customers to feel less guilty about indulging in sweet treats, and additionally, gives people an opportunity to try new variants of flavours.

These mini-Halloween pumpkin cakes are a perfect example of this trend, serving as a wickedly fun and bite-sized treat for children.

 

Freakshakes

Since 2021, the milkshake market has surged by nearly 50%. And while October brings cooler weather, kids still love a milkshake no matter the season! Create a spooky Halloween-themed shake by drizzling Macphie o.t.t® dessert topping around the rim, letting it ooze down the sides for a gory effect.

This also presents a great upselling opportunity. Add a Halloween-themed doughnut on top for an extra indulgent treat, making it even more irresistible – as shown below.

Macphie freakshakes

And whilst tiramisu isn’t new, nor associated with Halloween, it can still be adapted to suit the Halloween celebrations. Tiramisu has been a recent trend in the UK, with the Italian favourite being reinvented into various new formats including tiramisu flavoured croissants, brownies, and even sundaes. But sometimes it can be something as simple as a change of name to increase sales… Introducing the Tirami-BOO!

To see the rest of our fang-tastic recipes, head over to our Halloween recipe page – https://www.macphie.com/recipe-categories/halloween.