With Christmas dinners barely digested, hot cross buns have gone on sale across the country, more than three months out from Easter.
Coles has 13 different varieties of the buns on its shelves from today – everything from gluten-free, to chocolate, toffee apple and lamington-flavoured buns.
“There’s no doubt that customers love our hot cross buns – they’re a quick and easy meal fix and absolutely delicious,” Coles Head of Bakery Operations, Shaun Percy said.
He said the decision to fill bakery shelves with the fruit-laced buns was consumer-driven.
“Early sales of hot cross buns last year indicated there’s very strong demand to see the Easter treat on shelves as soon as possible.”
“While we understand there may be different views on selling the Easter treat early, our bakers are constantly being asked by customers when they can get their hands on our delicious hot cross buns,” he said.
Coles says more than 66 million buns were sold over the Easter period earlier this year, including 12 million in the week leading up to Easter.
Cowes in Victoria and Ellenbrook in WA were the top selling locations for hot cross buns, with over 6,400 buns sold.
“We’re always listening to our customers and this is about offering our customers the products that they want to see on shelves for longer and as soon as possible.”
A survey of Coles customers revealed more than 53% of people who ate hot cross buns enjoyed them outside of the Easter period.
