Waitrose's Baked Alaska sales boom after Great British Bake Off 'bingate' affair

The furore over ‘bingate’ on the Great British Bake Off lifted sales at Waitrose last week as shoppers stocked up on ingredients to make Baked Alaska.

The grocer reported sales rose 5.8% as “hot demand” for goods used for the dessert food – an ice cream and cake topped with browned meringue – fuelling the rise in sales to £118.41 million last week.

The BBC show was enshrouded in controversy after contestant Iain Watters threw away a failed attempt at Baked Alaska.

Waitrose marketing director Rupert Thomas said: “Shoppers were undeterred from attempting to make their own baked Alaskas as sales of Waitrose Seriously Madagascan Vanilla ice cream and Waitrose Seriously White Chocolate ice cream increased by more than 129% and 140% respectively.

“In addition, vanilla extract sales were up 26%, caster sugar sales were up by 10%, while sales of British Blacktail large eggs, which are the preferred size for cooking, increased by more than 37%.”

Its sister retailer John Lewis posted a 16.2% rise in weekly sales to £84.62 million as Back to School products drove footfall into its shops, with its childrenswear department enjoying a record week, up 20.3%.

Fashion performance was strong, up 17.8% on last year while online sales rose by 27.7%.