Branded Meal Replacement Snacks are a Success Clue

 

If success does leave clues and it does, PepsiCo has leveraged its brand and is reaping success within the branded meal replacement category with snacks according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Today when consumers are considering what snacks they eat, consumers' preferences are shifting beyond flavor as they place a greater priority on the companies they choose to purchase from.

Once again, according to the latest U.S. Trend Index from Frito-Lay, 90 percent of consumers who snack daily care deeply about the companies whose snacks they're eating. Snack companies' attention to sustainability practices (77 percent), community impact around food access (78 percent), and treatment of employees (87 percent) are among the top values driving purchasing decisions.

Gen Z and Millennials this is particularly as more than half of consumers ages 18 to 34 noted they consider a brand's ethics and sustainability practices when purchasing.

Younger consumers are more likely than consumers older than 35 to be interested in sustainable production and packaging, ingredient integrity and flavor exploration has more influence over food and snack choice for both demographics.

In fact, if they had to choose one snack element, 42 percent of consumers within each demographic stated they would choose flavor combinations such as sweet and spicy, or tangy and salty over familiar, regional flavors (21 percent), texture (21 percent), and international flavors (15 percent).

Flavor does matter, as 35% of consumers say that innovative flavors are most likely to influence what they select, more than recommendations (28 percent), brand recognition (21 percent), packaging (9 percent), or sustainability efforts (7 percent). They also aren't afraid to try new things: 40 percent are most excited to find a snack with a flavor they love but have never had in a snack product before.

Mike Del Pozzo, chief customer officer, Frito-Lay North America, stated, "During the summer, people explore new activities, new places and enjoy new flavors of snacks as they attend more outdoor gatherings," ... "While flavor continues to drive consumers' food-purchasing behaviors, we know how a company behaves matters and that's why I'm proud of Frito-Lay's commitment to sustainability and community impact."

Additional insights include:

What's on the inside counts

·         Roughly two-thirds of consumers are more likely to purchase products that invest in local communities.

·         Sixty-six percent of consumers say purchasing sustainable food products is important.

·         Seventy-four percent of adults are more interested in naturally sourced ingredients than production-related factors like recycled packaging, compostable packaging, or products made with recycled water.

Shifts in long-term eating habits

·         While nearly everyone surveyed enjoys the social aspect of snacking (81 percent), Generation Z and millennials are more likely to prefer to eat in solitude (45 percent).

·         Millennials (19 percent), Gen Zers (20 percent) and parents (20 percent) are slightly more likely than average to snack on-the-go.

Summer snacking

·         More than two in five parents will buy or create individually packaged snacks in advance before traveling this summer.

·         Parents are more likely than non-parents to replace meals with snacks several times per week or more (52 percent).

·         Sixty percent of consumers are most excited to snack at outdoor gatherings with family and friends now that pandemic restrictions have lifted.

The recipe for a perfect snack

·         Americans prioritize a salty/sweet snack combination (42 percent) over texture, international or local flavors.

·         Almost half of all respondents (44 percent) said trying new snack flavors led them to try more foods with those same flavors, while more than half (58 percent) of 18- to 34-year-old consumers have eaten more foods featuring a flavor that they had initially experienced in a snack.

·         Given the choice, consumers are selecting innovative flavor combinations most often (59 percent), including sweet and salty, spicy and sweet and tangy and salty.

Success does leave clues. One clue that time and time again continues to resurface is “the consumer is dynamic not static”.  Regular readers of this blog know that is the common refrain of Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  Our Grocerant Guru® can help your company edify your brand with relevance.  Call 253-759-7869 for more information. 

Aldi No Subscription High Quality at Lower Prices

So, do you think that food retailer’s subscription services are a platform for today’s success? Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson thinks that they were back in the day, but the undercurrents of change may be pointing in a different direction.

Bernstein downgraded Costco last week stating “These days, every company wants an annual subscription fee to boost margins, but this trend is causing a membership exhaustion.”

Aldi is the fastest growing larger food retailer in the US and will have close to 2,000 by years end according to Johnson.  Aldi has no subscription instead they reinforce low price points and discovery within their stores according to Johnson. 

As grocery industry legendary researcher Bill Bishop recently pointed out; “Aldi recently added the ‘Aldi Savers’ symbol to its weekly ad and instore as well. So, why would a discounter that already offer very low prices decide to add to it otherwise straightforward merchandising tactics?

Simple, Bishop suspected that Aldi’s analyst has looked at the numbers and saw that they could use those symbols to boost sales.  Now, these symbols at Aldi are positive brand edifying messaging that save consumers money while they are venturing to discover. Now that’s a great brand invitation according to Johnson.

On the other hand, Costco’s subscription service has turned from being an ‘in-club’ membership to an aggressive point of sales tactic within the store to drive-up revenues according to Johnson. Amazon, has similar aggressive sales tactics for its subscription service. However, Amazon offers incremental services the ilk of free movies, free delivery all the while expanding its brand invitation.  

The question is; do consumers want more services for more money? Great value for less or simply pay more for the same old thing? Is there a ‘tipping’ point? Did the team at Bernstein get it right, is membership exhaustion driving customer choice?

Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideations look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how www.FoodserviceSolutions.us can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information.

Better for You Mix & Match Meal Bundling Drives C-store Sales

Success does leave clues and convenience stores ability to expand menu / meal options with salty foods that are ‘better-for-you’ is a key driver driving top-line sales and bottom-line profits according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

According to market research firm Packaged Facts, U.S. demand for salty snacks at the manufacturer level is forecast to grow 3% annually from 2017 to 2022. The simple fact is consumers like salty snacks and consider them great additions to a meal particularly when they have the ‘halo’ of ‘better-for-you’ around them.

Cara Brosius, research analyst of consumer and commercial goods, MarketResearch.com, said demand for salty snacks is growing because of the “snackification” of American diets. …“Most consumers snack multiple times each day, and a growing number are replacing entire meals with snacks or eating snacks with main meals,” 

Johnson stated that most Americans grew up visiting fast food outlets that offered bundled meals that included salty french fries.  Johnson continued consumers like salt and salty foods, that is one of the reasons that 82.3% of all restaurant meals sold in the US are sold at fast food outlets.  

Mix & match meal bundling are hallmarks driving growth within the grocerant niche within every sector of retail food sale’s according to Johnson.  

Once again Johnson reiterated as regular readers know Gen Z and millennials are especially driving growth within the grocerant niche, as they have fast-paced, on-the-go lifestyles that demand portable and ready-to-eat foods and it is how they grew up eating.

In order to appeal to young consumers, it is important to edify your relationship with both Gen Z and Millennials so offering more snacks that provide health benefits, such as added protein and plant-based ingredients that are salty is a sure way to win.

Transparency is important, for example, Kettle Brand potato chips introduced a “Tater Tracker” feature on its website that allows consumers to input the product code on their bag of chips to track the farmer who sourced the potatoes used in that particular bag.

C-stores have the advantage in adding more CPG options from the ‘better-for-you’ category over chain restaurants elevating consumer choice within mix & match meal component bunding options.  Products that are sustainable, local, bold in flavor that reflect the neighborhood around you store are key to garnering incremental customers according to Johnson.

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Grocerant Program Assessment, Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®.  Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869