Bread Industry Hopes for 2005 Comeback

By DAVID SHARP
.c The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Low-carb bread? That's so 2004. The bread industry,
hoping for a comeback after last year's low-carb fad, is telling consumers
bread is good for them - especially whole-grain bread.

Bread makers learned from the low-carb craze that they need to market
themselves better. So, three weeks after new government guidelines calling
for three one-ounce servings of whole grains a day, the industry is starting
a campaign touting health benefits.

Industry officials say the trend is in their favor.

``There was an all-out assault on our industry, but people are coming back
to bread and are realizing why they loved it in the first place,'' said Lee
Schwebel of Schwebel Baking Co. in Youngstown, Ohio. ``Try making a peanut
butter and jelly sandwich without bread.''

On Tuesday, the industry will launch a low-carb counterattack pointing to
benefits of grains as part of an overall diet. The $3.5 million Grains for
Life campaign will be announced in New York and Washington with billboards,
posters and people dancing in bread costumes.

``The message we're trying to get out is it's the calories, not the carbs,''
said Lori Sachau of the Wheat Foods Council in Colorado.

Critics contend it was predictable that fickle Americans would eventually
tire of the latest diet, but bread industry officials were surprised at how
quickly low-carb seemed to fall out of favor. A survey by NPD Group, an
independent marketing information company, found the number of American
adults on any low-carb diet peaked at 9.1 percent last February and dropped
to 3.6 percent by mid-November.

``The path low-carb has taken is not unlike a lot of other stuff except that
it burst so fast. It went up very fast. Sometimes when things go up fast,
they come down just as fast,'' said Stan Osman of Interstate Bakeries Corp.,
maker of Wonder Bread and Twinkies.

But that's not to say the nation is about to see a bread boom. Bread sales
were flat even before the obsession with the Atkins, South Beach and other
carb-limiting diets, and the industry can't make up for the lost ground
overnight.

While bread is still a staple for most Americans, they're not eating it as
often as they used to, causing a slow decline that has been offset only by a
growing population. On average, Americans ate 136 pounds of wheat flour in
2003, a drop of 10 pounds over a three-year period, Sachau said.

In Portland, Stephen Lanzalotta opened his Italian bakery in 2000 with bread
accounting for about 80 percent of sales. Business dipped in part because of
low-carb diets, and bread now accounts for 20 percent of sales.

Lanzalotta stayed in business by boosting his offerings of sandwiches and
pastries and expanding his menu with breakfast and Sunday brunch.

``I'm becoming more of a restaurateur than a baker. It's wearing on me. From
an ideological point of view, I don't enjoy cooking as much as baking,'' he
said.

Around the corner, the number of low-carb dieters at Anthony's Italian
Kitchen has dropped, and they're drifting back to pizza, pasta and panini
sandwiches. Owner Tony Barassa used to sell about 50 low-carb lunches a day;
now he's lucky to sell a dozen

Barassa said his customers tell him they got bored with Atkins-style diets,
which are heavy on salads, meats, cheeses and eggs. White bread, pasta,
potatoes and other carbo-loaded foods are blacklisted.

``It's something you get tired of,'' he said. ``How many omelets can you
eat?''

Across town, Big Sky Baking Co. owner Martha Elkus said she's not surprised
that whole grains are winning customers.

``We've always maintained that all carbs are not created equal. Whole-grain
is a complex carbohydrate. Complex carbs are the best source of energy,''
she said.

Overall, the shift away from low-carb is drawing people back not just to
bread but to other products that took a hit, like orange juice, cereals,
potatoes, bagels and pasta, said Joel Crowder of grocer Kroger Co. in
Cincinnati.

Meanwhile, many consumers have given up on low-carb breads and pasta.
``There were a lot of low-carb products that were rushed to the market that
didn't taste good,'' Crowder said. ``That's probably what turned a lot of
consumers off.''