Bacon has experienced modest growth across the last year fueled mainly by an increase in retail prices. Over the past year, the bacon category has seen solid growth, with units up more than 2% and sales rising over 2.7%, according to Circana.
That’s faster than the overall edible sales growth of 0% in units and 1.9% in dollars. It shows bacon dollar and unit sales are positive across the category, with the natural channels leading category growth. At the retail level, the banners that are embracing the “better for you” trends and including more of these SKUs in their bacon set have realized higher lift in their sets vs. those who have not.
Melissa Myers, director of insights for data marketing company 84.51°, noted despite shopper’s concerns over inflation, more than 1 in 3 households purchased bacon at least once in 2024. “In some food categories, consumers state that they are buying in bulk and in larger sizes to save money, though for bacon, the smaller pack sizes—under 16 ounces—are growing at a faster rate than the larger pack sizes,” she said.
