Popular café and bakery chain Au Bon Pain (ABP) developed a multi-phase partnership with the Hazelnut Council to drive sales of its bakery products. More than just a popular coffee flavoring, hazelnuts helped ABP grow its entire bakery category.

Last winter, successful rollouts of the Hazelnut Fudge Cookie and Hazelnut Crème Pastry led to a 12 percent increase in category sales and a new best selling cookie. Product sales beat forecasts by 33 and 50 percent, respectively. The Hazelnut Fudge Cookie broke into the café’s top three best-selling cookies (out of 12 varieties), earning a permanent spot on the menu.

ABP continued the partnership this summer by introducing the Hazelnut Monkey Bread (a sweet, pull-apart bread) and the Hazelnut Salad Dressing. Promotional activities for these products are unfolding in cafes this summer and fall. They include customer sampling, coupons and point-of-purchase signage to generate awareness and trial among consumers.

To date, these promotions have driven more than 100 million consumers to taste, read about or see the hazelnut products.

Au Bon Pain’s success is no surprise: hazelnuts make the ideal baking companion.

• Click here to request your free hazelnut samples.

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