Do Kroger or Whole Foods have better baked goods?

Whether you’re looking for a custom birthday cake, freshly baked baguettes, or bulk chocolate chip cookies, you’ll likely find them at affordable prices at your local grocery chain. Grocery giants like Kroger and Whole Foods sell a wide variety of baked goods, and when you go to a big supermarket, the staff will often make many of these products fresh for you in-store.

Kroger and Whole Foods have popular bakery departments, especially for their cake offerings. But if you live near both and aren’t sure which store to choose, or are trying to decide which chain is worth trying, which chain is actually better? It may depend on what you’re looking for.

Like the overall store mix, each supermarket’s bakery section is different. Kroger offers affordable products in 1,238 stores, primarily in the Midwest and South, while Whole Foods offers slightly more expensive (and often organic) products in only 528 stores in 46 states.

Whether you’re looking for a personalized birthday cake, something that reflects current trends, or the most affordable option, one of these two grocery icons will suit your needs.

Trending flavors take the lead at Whole Foods

When it comes to baked goods, Whole Foods and Kroger offer similar products such as cookies, cakes, and breads. What makes each store option stand out is the flavor profile and format we choose to highlight in each area. Overall, Whole Foods’ bakery products have a more modern feel, while Kroger’s bakery products have a more nostalgic feel.

At Kroger, you can get classic items like: boston cream pie And like a pillow angel food cake Ready to top with fresh fruit. Head to Whole Foods for more creative desserts. brown butter cookie caramel crunch cake and chocolate eruption cake (A layered cake with chocolate buttercream, chocolate mousse, and elegant chocolate drippings on the sides).

Each chain offers a different twist on bakery staples, and each chain has some standout items that customers consistently love. Whole Foods bakeries are perhaps best known for: berry chantilly cakea vanilla cake studded with fresh berries and topped with fluffy Chantilly cream. Cake is often featured social media It proved so popular that Whole Foods even turned it into a Berry Chantilly Latte.

Kroger also has some proven hits. Redditor recommend a bakery croissant bread — especially for making buttery grilled cheese — chocolate croissantand chewy soft top cookieFlavors include , Banana Nut Chocolate Chip, Apple Cinnamon, and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip.

The ingredient lists in these two stores are not the same

If you’re looking for baked goods with minimally processed ingredients, Whole Foods is the place to go. For products baked in-store, Whole Foods uses cage-free eggs (or premium eggs) and unbleached, unbrominated flour. The Amazon-owned chain also avoids using hydrogenated fats in its recipes.

Kroger is very likely to include ingredients such as bleached flour, vegetable shortening, and sometimes artificial colors in the ingredient list of new products and more. 4 layer cinnamon roll cake.

Kroger wins when it comes to custom cakes.

You may not have icing or a piping bag, or you may not have the confidence to gracefully squeeze all the “Happy Birthday” letters onto the cake. The bakery section of your grocery store can help you do just that.

To order a customized Whole Foods cake, you’ll need to call or visit your local store, but some stores sell pre-made sheet cakes with “Happy Birthday” or “Congratulations” written on them that you can order online.

Ordering a custom cake is easy on Kroger’s website, and the store offers a variety of customization options at very affordable prices. For example, you can order an 8-inch round layer cake that feeds about 20 people, choosing your cake flavor and border icing color, and displaying an edible printed photo on top. Its price is only $28.

This is just one of the many options you can modify to suit your tastes and is not limited to plain layer cakes or sheet cakes. Kroger offers layered carrot cake, red velvet cake, and German chocolate cake that you can decorate with a piped message on top. (More complex themed designs may need to be ordered directly at a Kroger store.)

There is a clear difference in prices between these supermarkets.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Kroger beats Whole Foods in terms of affordability in the bakery department. Prices vary by location, but a 5-inch Chocolate Eruption Cake costs about $14 at Whole Foods. Sure, it has decorations on the top, but a 6-inch chocolate cake costs about $6 at Kroger.

Remember the difference between these two stores’ ingredient lists?The use of elements like hydrogenated oils and bleached flour is critical to allowing stores to offer light, moist, and delicious baked goods at an affordable price. But for some shoppers, the ingredient list available at Whole Foods may be worth the extra cost.

Prices on other items like cookies and bread also tend to be lower at Kroger. For example, a homemade baguette costs $1.49. Whole Foods sells similar baguettes for $2.99.

At both supermarkets, you can choose to pay more for special versions of bakery staples. In addition to its own baguettes, Kroger offers La Brea Bakery’s crusty, skinny bread for $2.99. Baguettes from the bakeries Balthazar or Pain d’Avignon sold at Whole Foods stores in New York City cost $3.99 and $4.49, respectively. This means you can get premium products without having to stop at another bakery after going to the grocery store.

While we always support going to local, independent bakeries whenever possible, the baked goods found at these big box stores are often the most affordable and accessible options, and can sometimes be surprisingly delicious. No matter what your priorities are, one of these popular destinations is sure to deliver the breakfast items, desserts, and treats you’re looking for.