Hovis is Britain’s must trusted loaf while Warburtons is the most recognised brand, according to a new consumer study.
The survey, conducted exclusively for British Baker by brand performance tracking platform Tracksuit, examined what UK shoppers think about four leading bread brands – Warburton’s, Hovis, Kingsmill, and Jason’s Sourdough.
It comes at a time of major upheaval for the wrapped bread category, as Kingsmill owner Allied Bakeries merges with Hovis and as relative newcomer Jason’s continues to make waves with annual sales now totalling £165m.
Against this backdrop, Tracksuit researchers concluded that brands which successfully build trust, relevance, and emotional connection are best placed to drive consumer consideration and preference.
Unsurprisingly, they found that the UK’s top-selling bread brand, Warburtons, is the clear category leader, ranking first for awareness at 89%. Under the survey criteria, awareness is the share of category buyers who have heard of a brand when shown a list.
Kingsmill, despite dropping to fourth place in sales rankings last year [NIQ 52 w/e 6 September 2025], placed second in the survey when it came to brand awareness (88%), followed by Hovis at 86%. With an awareness of just 33%, Jason’s clearly has a big opportunity to grow.
Warburtons also led the pack on three other factors: consideration (who would consider using a brand), usage (who has bought or used a brand) and preference (the one brand a shopper prefers above all others in the category).
And Warburtons was the leader when it came to ‘converting awareness to consideration’ at 78%, meaning more people consider using Warburtons once they become aware of it.
Consumers told researchers that themes they associated with Warburtons were quality and taste, trust and reliability, and family and tradition.
Tradition was also one of the things shoppers associated with Hovis, alongside health and wholesomeness, and quality and reliability.
Hovis topped the list when consumers were asked if they trusted a bread brand, at 54% against an average of 42%. Warburtons scored 53% and Kingsmill 44%. Tracksuit pointed out that bread consumers who trust a brand are 2.5 times more likely to move from awareness to consideration.
Tracksuit found that Kingsmill was associated with themes including affordability and value, versatility and variety, and family and everyday use.
As the newcomer, Jason’s sits well behind the big three but stands out on positioning, revealed Tracksuit, with 51% seeing it as a premium brand versus the 40% category average.
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