Snacks

When it comes to snacks, consumers want meats, sweets and salt — preferably with a better-for-you label. In a presentation last week at the Sweets and Snacks Expo in Chicago, SPINS and UNFI reviewed trends driving natural and specialty candy and snacks, segments that comprise a 19% share of dollar volume and 42.8% share of dollar gains in the overall snacking industry.

Digital convenience retailer GoPuff is fusing convenience store merchandise and rapid, mobile device-driven fulfillment, aiming to reach customers in under 30 minutes and provide a little fun along the way.

The founders of popular frozen poultry brand Hip Chick Farms, who sold the company last year, have left the frozen section and entered the booming CBD snack market, recently launching their new brand, A Boring Life, into retail.

During its recent 2019 annual shareowners’ meeting and its 2019 first quarter earnings call, Kellogg, the largest cereal company in the U.S., shared details of its financial performance following a challenging year for the category.

Safe and Fair set out to make quality snacking easy, tasty and affordable for consumers with allergies. Now the food company is expanding its purview to make mealtime and parties better too.

Meat snack producer Stryve doesn’t just want to be the country’s leading biltong brand; it wants to be the manufacturer of choice for the growing category. The company last week announced the close of a $16.5 million round of funding to not only grow its own brand but to grow its manufacturing facilities as well.

Despite its long association with diet food, two legacy dairy brands think cottage cheese is ready for a comeback. To modernize the snack, they’re looking to non-traditional, savory flavors.

Conagra, America’s fourth-largest food company, revealed upcoming product innovations, homing in on healthy and sustainable solutions for snacking and mealtime.

Lehi Valley Trading Company, producer of High Valley Orchard, Arizona Snack Company and numerous private label products, launched SnackWorthy, a clean-label snack brand, last year. Encouraged by positive response from consumers, the brand announced during this year’s National Association of Convenience Stores show in Chicago, Ill., that it’s converting one of its most popular — and money-making — SKUs to the new line.