Just two months into the pandemic, in May 2020, Instagram announced Instagram Shop, whereby businesses can sell directly through their Instagram accounts. The feature unveiled just as many businesses were already taking advantage of the platform’s massive user base and highly responsive algorithm to drive sales. In the food service sector, as layoffs ravaged the industry, chefs and bakers turned to the social media platform to sell direct-to-consumer (D2C).
“As lockdown increased, people turned to their phones more, abd they had more time to look on the internet … they’re working from home a lot more, they’re learning from home a lot more,” Pandemic Donuts Co-owner Michael Milton told PYMNTS in a recent interview. “So as a bakery, what can we do to fit into that lifestyle better? And for us, that’s been delivery.”
Pandemic Donuts began when Milton and his partner were laid off from their food service jobs, and Instagram commerce’s low barrier of entry proved essential to establishing a following for their bakery. As Food & Wine pointed out, out-of-work food service professionals around the country have been doing the same, taking advantage of the easily accessible platform to advertise microbakeries and build out a customer base.
For instance, in April 2020, former server Kirstyn Shaw launched The Very Best Cookie, a Los Angeles pick-up and delivery microbakery whose gooey chocolate-chip cookies established a dedicated following with the pandemic’s indulgence-seeking consumers. (PYMNTS data has shown that 40 percent of consumers said they have been eating more “indulgent” foods since the start of the outbreak.) The brand’s chatty, enthusiastic voice built a strong connection with at-home consumers scrolling through social media in search of uplifting content.
Meanwhile, in Northern California, pandemic-native Instagram bakery Basuku is selling Japanese-inspired Basque Cheesecakes to its 12,000 followers. Since starting on Instagram, the bakery has been selling cheesecakes to distributors throughout Northern California, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The transition from selling via social media to selling to businesses has been vital to keeping the bakery alive. As Baker Charles Chen told the newspaper, “Without thinking it through, I was just taking orders, saying yes. I found myself baking six to seven days a week.” Like Pandemic Donuts, which found a home at a commercial bakery, Basuku launched via Instagram, but then developed into a more traditional model.
In New York, the social-media-centric microbakery scene has exploded in the last year. Eater highlighted some of the more popular offerings, including Brooklyn’s Vietnamese bakery Bạn Bè, which was developed after baker Doris Ho-Kane’s plans to open a bakery in Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill were interrupted by the onset of the pandemic. The pastries’ simple, geometric shapes and bright colors made them a perfect fit for Instagram, a platform that Pandemic Donuts’ Milton described as “less verbal, more visual.” Ho-Kane also worked the bakery’s cultural origins into its social media presence, posting images from her own upbringing and from moments in Vietnamese-American history. The waitlist soon grew to hundreds of customers.
Meanwhile, Brooklyn’s Neighborhood Bread offers a more rustic, neutral-toned Instagram palette, a wholesome aesthetic that appeals to wellness-seeking consumers. (In addition to seeking more indulgent foods, PYMNTS data also found that 39 percent of consumers are seeking healthier options.)
As the vaccine rolls out and as consumers return to their out-and-about lives, feeling more comfortable in brick-and-mortar bakeries, it remains to be seen what will become of the microbakeries that have adhered to the original model. Still, the past year has shown how effective social media can be in launching a bakery brand, especially when that brand has a clear voice and a strong visual identity.
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
Learn More