Are you appropriately stocked? Mince pies are one of the staples of the UK Christmas. According to Good Housekeeping, we eat around 800 million of them each year. That figure presumably doesn’t take into account home made mince pies and it seems we’re just as keen on home made as ready-made.
Mince pie sales are erratic but for the latest week, are slightly behind last year. However, it’s clear that the last couple of weeks before Christmas is the key time for maximising sales of these seasonal treats.
Mince Pies - Average Unit Sales per Store
Mince pies are boozy little bites of pastry and fruit that are eaten in vast quantities in December seemingly only in the UK. The tradition goes back as far as 1390 when the recipes included mutton, cloves, mace and dried fruits. These days sugar is cheaper and we no longer add meat to the recipe although many mincemeat recipes still include meat-based suet.
Stores should ensure that ingredients like shortcrust and puff pastry and jars of mincemeat are just as readily available as the ready-made pies. In 2022, Sales of mincemeat and ready-made pastry are slightly ahead of last year. See the charts below.
By far the biggest consumer of mince pies is the UK. Most Americans no longer eat mince pies – they are eaten in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the New England region of the U.S.
Mincemeat - Average Unit Sales per Store
Pastry - Average Unit Sales per Store
