The Gremi de Pastisseria de Barcelona faces the Night of Sant Joan with very good prospects. According to their forecasts, they expect to sell more than 1.8 million artisan cocas throughout Catalonia, surpassing the figures they achieved in the last pre-pandemic verbena, that of 2019. "There is a great desire to celebrate and this, added to a long weekend, very good weather and the arrival of tourists, predicts a record Sant Joan," explains its president, Antoni Bellart, owner of the Triomf pastry shop in Barcelona.
Next June 23 will be the first Sant Joan since 2020 without restrictions. Seeing that previous celebrations, such as Easter and the Easter mona and Christmas and the roscón de reyes, have gone very well, the guild hopes to maintain the trend and finally leave behind a pandemic that has especially affected the celebration that marks the beginning of summer. A year ago, they set the goal of approaching the figure of the last pre-pandemic Sant Joan, but, in no case, surpassing it. And, two years ago, the verbena arrived just after the first confinement, with many limitations.
Regarding the most popular flavors, the night of Sant Joan still maintains a predominance of traditional ones. Brioche cocas with candied fruit ---melon, orange and cherries that many remove and do not eat, but which give a lot of flavor to the base---, cream and crackling will once again be the best sellers. Despite the prevailing classicism, year after year, sales of cocas filled with cream, angel hair, chocolate or gianduia ---chocolate with hazelnut paste--- are growing. There is even space for more innovative proposals, such as lemon pie, pistachios or matcha tea.
The pandemic has also affected customs. With the restrictions, buyers have opted for smaller cocas, taking into account that the maximum number of attendees at celebrations had been limited. Thus, pastry shops have focused production on cocas not designed for very large groups. Also influencing this decision is the desire of buyers to try several flavors and take more than one coca home, generally, of a smaller size.
Despite widespread optimism, Sant Joan will be affected by new complications for the sector, such as the rise in electricity prices, a good part of the ingredients, and packaging. "Most pastry chefs reduce margins and maintain prices. It is evident that costs have increased, mainly electricity, which for our business represents a very significant expense. But we know that good pastry already has a price, due to the quality of the product we use and the artisan elaboration. Passing on the inflationary escalation to the consumer would harm our sales, and we try to avoid it," says Bellart.