Sales of canned beans are soaring, particularly among the middle class, reflecting a growing awareness of the ingredient’s versatility and health benefits as well as affordability.
According to a recent Waitrose report, year-on-year sales of canned beans are up 122 per cent. The supermarket chain says demand for butter beans has risen 79 per cent while sales of chickpeas have soared more than 400 per cent. Sainsbury’s has also had big rises in demand.
Waitrose says sales are being driven by foodie influencers on social media as well as the upmarket brand, the Bold Bean Co. The hashtag #beans has nearly four million posts on Instagram while a video for a caramelised onion butter bean recipe on TikTok has had 4.5 million views.
Lizzie Haywood, of Waitrose, said: “Butter beans, black beans and chickpeas are ingredients that are not only trending across menus, but across social media too, with content creators encouraging people to cook them at home and include more healthy, plant-led protein into their cooking.
"This boom has also been fuelled by the premium tinned market with the likes of Bold Beans leading the way with their glass-jarred beans.”
Bold Bean Co’s sales growth is all the more impressive when set against the flagging sales of the established brands. Branded beans sold nearly 15 per cent fewer units over the past year. At Waitrose, sales of the brand’s Queen Black Beans are up 417 per cent year on year while Queen Red Beans are up 355 per cent.