Craft baker comparison

To compare the prices of craft bakers is a near impossible feat, so we have looked at the mean price of various key items to see how prices have changed on average in the last year.

The price of a large white loaf has dipped from £1.40 to £1.30, while a large wholemeal loaf has fallen from £1.48 to £1.35.

Jam doughnuts have increased in price on average from 53p to 55p. A chicken sandwich has also dropped from £1.95 to £1.73, while a standard-sized sausage roll has remained the same price on average, at 78p. A packet of Walker’s Crisps has risen significantly from 41p to 55p, while a regular coffee has fallen in price from £1.01 to 85p.

The coffee chains

Coffee shop pricing has remained largely static since January 2009, with only small fluctuations in prices across the top four chains Costa Coffee, Coffee Republic, Caffè Nero and Starbucks.

Focusing on take-away prices, the price of a regular cappuccino fell by 10p at Coffee Republic between January and March ’09 to £2.30. Starbucks has upped the cost by 5p, Costa is still charging the same, whereas a cappuccino in Caffè Nero has fluctuated from £1.95 to £2.10 and is now £2.

The price of a blueberry muffin has fallen from £1.70 at Coffee Republic in Jan ’09 and £1.45 at the other chains, to £1.40 at Coffee Republic and Starbucks and £1.50 at Caffè Nero.

Caffè Nero has dropped the price of its plain croissants from £1.20 to £1.10, while Costa increased its price to £1.25 in March 2009, and then brought it back down to £1.15. A chicken salad sandwich at Coffee Republic has increased by 10p to £2.95 and by 15p in Starbucks to £3.30. Nero has dropped its price by 15p to £3 and Costa by 5p to £3.05.

Supermarket prices

The price of a Warburtons Toastie (800g) has remained relatively stable, selling for £1.29 across Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Asda for most of 2009. Its price dropped in Sainsbury’s and Tesco to £1.24 in March and May ’09 respectively.

Despite a price spike mid-year, Kingsmill’s Great Everyday loaf (800g) remained at £1.22 across the major supermarkets for 2009. In July, the price crept up to £1.33 in Morrisons, Tesco, Asda and Waitrose, whereas in Sainsbury’s it went up to £1.39. By February 2010, it had fallen across the board to £1.19 in Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Waitrose and £1.14 in Tesco and Asda.

Hovis wholemeal medium sliced (800g) was £1.24 across the big five in March 2009. It dropped to £1.22 in Morrisons in July, before going back to £1.24 in August. It was available in Tesco for £1.14 in November, and £1.22 in Asda in the same month. By February 2010, it had fallen in price to £1.22 in Tesco and £1.19 in the other supermarkets.

Since it was first tracked in August last year, a 400g pack of McVitie’s Milk Chocolate Diges-tives fell by a few pence at Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose. But from February 2010 the cost is up across the board to £1.39 in Tesco, Asda and Morrisons, £1.37 in Waitrose, but has dropped 2p in Sainsbury’s to £1.24.

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