Evolution of snacking

By Michelle Smith

April 2022

Evolution
of snacking

As the snack industry grows and changes, consumers are gobbling up a variety of treats.

Quinn Snacks

When James Herr started his business in 1946, he sold potato chips at a local market in Lancaster, Pa. But that wasn’t the only way he found to get his snacks in the hands of potential customers. He would place free 3-lb tins of chips on doorsteps with a note telling people that if they liked them, they simply needed to return the tin, pay the fee, and another tin would be delivered.

“Back in the 1940s, you didn’t have all these supermarket chains,” said Ed Herr, James Herr’s son and current chairman and chief executive officer of Herr Foods Inc., Nottingham, Pa. “Back then, it was more mom-and-pop stores.”

Things have changed a lot at Herr’s in the 76 years since that humble beginning. Indeed, automation, packaging, distribution, ingredients and so much more — including snackers and their habits — have all had a hand in transforming the snack industry into the vibrant, multifaceted powerhouse it is today. As Sosland Publishing, the parent company of Baking & Snack, celebrates 100 years in business, we are taking a closer look to see what’s gone before and what’s next.

Managing dramatic changes

Many automation innovations have been developed for snack makers over the past century, including many pieces of machinery that have only become faster and more efficient through the years. This list includes equipment bagging salty snacks like chips and pretzels.

“The automation that has come in has been fantastic, and the systems and controls have been amazing,” said Barry Levin, CEO of Snak King Corp., City of Industry, Calif. “When I first started, we had volumetric fillers. Then we had bulk and dribble feeders going into a single scale. Today we have combination weighers that are significantly faster and more accurate. The tools we have today are remarkable to help us make good products consistently.”

The equipment has come a long way for pretzels, too, said Justin Spannuth, vice president and chief operating officer at Unique Snacks, Reading, Pa.

“With twisting, braiding, filling, the rate of extrusion back when we were on Montrose Avenue — this was pre-1980 — we had a Unex brand extruder, which extruded two pretzels at a time,” he explained.

That amounted to about 100 pretzels per minute while extruders today can produce several thousand per minute, although Mr. Spannuth said that to ensure quality, Unique Snacks doesn’t operate at maximum speed.

And the industry has changed significantly over the years, said Troy Gunden, president of Herr’s and the third generation to run the family-owned company, which employs 13 family members in a variety of roles.

“For the first 75 years of your publication, there would have been a lot of mom-and-pop businesses and independent snack food companies in each different area producing either potato chips or crackers or any number of things,” he said. “In the ’80s, ’90s and definitely now, it seems like there’s significantly more consolidation.”

Malcolm McAlpine, business manager for branded snacks and confections in foodservice for Mondelez International, Chicago, pointed out that there wasn’t much in the way of packaged snacks outside of retail 100 years ago.

“Over the past 30 years, the variety and pack formats have exploded,” he said. “For example, on Oreo we have probably 20 different pack formats on a regular Oreo. Everything from two-count, four-count, six-count, king size, mini big bags, regular bags, retail family size, 20 oz. What’s really happened is not only has snacking increased dramatically, but also the fact that, particularly in the last 20 years, pack sizes and formats have been developed to fit specific channels.”

Creating community

Snack producers say they have found success in a variety of ways. Herr’s maintains not only a dedication to tradition, community and sustainability but also through steady expansion and progress.

“We pretty much stick to what we do and try to do it really well,” Mr. Herr said. “We’re really proud of our culture and our people. Our slogan this year is ‘It’s our people.’ We believe it’s not just our Herr family, it’s the Herr Foods family, and we all work together to build a strong reputation in the industry. We believe in our mission to safely provide the best products and service to our customers.”

Community is a theme that snack makers touted as vital. That comes in the form of company culture as well as reaching out to customers by establishing personal connections.

“You build digital brands by building a community,” said Joe Ens, CEO of HighKey, Orlando, Fla., which started by selling no-sugar cookies online before jumping to retail. “We invested heavily in digital, social and influencers to build a foundation, a consumer community that stays with us still. As soon as we hit a retailer shelf, we’ve already got a built-in loyalty.”

E-commerce and direct-to-consumer websites help startups connect with consumers by creating unique brand experiences, said Stacey Benham, vice president marketing, Quinn Snacks, Boulder, Colo., which sells all-natural snacks.

“This channel also makes it possible for more personalized conversations with loyal consumers to really understand what they love about your product and your brand so you can deliver an exceptional experience,” she said.

Connecting online with consumers is good business as 62% of people enjoy food content on social media, according to the Third Annual “State of Snacking” report from Mondelez International. That number jumps to 82% among Generation Z consumers.

Mr. Ens credits part of HighKey’s success to a growth mindset. That includes seeing failure as progress.

“What e-commerce has enabled for a company like us that has a growth mindset is you can just go for stuff,” he said. “And as long as it’s in the brand parameters, you can lean in and fail faster and cheaper than using traditional approaches.”

Obviously, a company must also be creative, have strong leaders with drive and a product worth selling. And as Mr. Levin said, “I don’t know if you can replace hard work with anything.”

Snack nation always changing

Because Americans are snacking more rather than eating full meals, they’re looking for greater variety of snacks that satisfies their desire for healthfulness as well as indulgence. The “State of Snacking” report said that nearly two-thirds of consumers prefer to eat many small meals instead of a few large ones, and 85% of global consumers eat at least one snack each day for sustenance and one for indulgence.

“Over the course of time, snacks have changed dramatically in terms of what they are because technology has changed so much,” said Lynn Dornblaser, director of innovation and insight, Mintel. “One of the biggest consumer behaviors that really stands out to me is how for the US market, we snack all the time.”

Just 10 years ago, she said, consumer data defined super snackers as those eating four to six snacks a week. Now people are eating that many snacks a day. Hostess Brands, Lenexa, Kan., recently said its research found 18 distinctive consumer snacking occasions.

“With busy lifestyles, with both members of the household working, they’re more time-constrained,” Mr. McAlpine said. “So I think the days of the three square meals a day are long gone. People are eating more frequently and smaller portions at more times of the day.”

Mr. Spannuth said he’s seen a fair number of trends that have come and gone.

“Since I’ve been here — it’s not just exclusive to pretzels, more the snack category — is all the trends between flavor trends, health trends, gluten-free, the changes of oil,” he said. “That’s probably the only thing we’ve changed in our recipe. It went from lard to hydrogenated soybean oil, and then trans fat became a bad thing, and we went to canola oil. Then canola oil became an issue, so we went to non-GMO high-oleic sunflower oil.”

Many brands are finding the balance between tasty and good for you.

“The desire for organic foods is here to stay, and it’s going to continue to grow as people become more conscious of what they put in their bodies,” Mr. Levin said. “But I still think people when they’re buying a snack, they’re looking to get satisfied, and they oftentimes want that indulgent snack. It’s their treat.”

He said that although the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic brought people home and eating meals together, the grab-and-go mentality is still present, and snacks are a good fit for that.

He said the definition of a snack will evolve, an opinion shared by Ms. Dornblaser.

“There are so many more choices now. There aren’t any rules about what a snack is. Anything can be a snack,” she said. “Sometimes when we ask consumers, ‘What do you snack on?’ Cheese and fruit are at the top of the list. It can be grain-based snacks, it can be fried snacks, it can be produce, it can be a beverage. A beverage is often a snack, depending on what it is. What a snack is has changed a lot.”

For instance, she said that products are crossing category lines. That includes items such as Ritz crackers now being offered as chips, yogurt and cottage cheese adding grain-based mix-ins, or snacks that include pretzels and hummus in one package.

“To me the most important thing that’s different now than it was in the past is that snacking is a behavior. It’s not a category,” she added.

And many agree that the BFY products will grow as brands explore more ways to deliver healthful ingredients through the expansion of base ingredients.

“It’s not just about snacks being corn-based or potato-based or wheat flour-based,” Ms. Dornblaser said. “There are so many more base ingredients whether it’s different kinds of grains, beans and pulses. That to me seems like a big change because in some cases it makes the products very, very different.”

Leveling the playing field

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic provided a shot in the arm to the
e-commerce market, which already was growing before March 2020. That’s good news for newer and startup snack makers that may not have access to crowded retail shelves. They can put up their own direct-to-consumer (DTC) websites to get their products noticed.

“Our DTC site allows consumers to engage directly with our brand, learn more about our ‘Be better, do better’ mission and speak with us one on one,” said Stacey Benham, vice president marketing, Quinn Snacks, Boulder, Colo. “As a result, we also gain valuable insights to help us drive new innovation and understand what our consumers expect from our brand.”

Digital brands can ramp up more slowly and don’t need the volume needed to produce a snack that is going on retail shelves.

“E-commerce really has leveled the playing field in that initial startup phase,” said Ryan Quinn, who is a founder and managing partner of Bougie Bakes, Los Angeles, along with his wife, Meghan Quinn. “I don’t think e-commerce can completely replace everything in the food business, but I think it’s a great start that you can get that proof of concept with live sales and direct customer feedback.”

Selling online allows companies to gain quick feedback and understand how their products are doing and being received by customers, said Joe Ens, chief executive officer of HighKey, Orlando, Fla., which started as a digital brand and has moved to retail.

“The unique element that digital does create for a company like ours and others is you can very quickly iterate, you can innovate, you can kill ideas or explode ideas depending on how quickly they succeed, and you’ll know within days or weeks, not months or years,” he said.

Snackers demand sustainability

As the preferences of snackers evolve, so does the definition of better-for-you snacks. Consumers are interested in products that are greener and better for the planet.

“Better-for-you 20 years ago meant low-fat or low-salt,” Mr. McAlpine said. “Now that umbrella encompasses a lot more things. It’s ethically sourced raw materials and ingredients. It’s clean label and non-GMO — all of that. That trend is going to continue as well. People want healthier, but they also want indulgent products. Believe me, we see that. But they want the indulgent product to be more clean label.”

That also extends to the packaging for snacks. Mr. McAlpine said that he’s seen tremendous strides in packaging by extending the shelf life of products as well as the rise in sustainable packaging.

Mr. McAlpine said he thinks that the number of new products will only continue as the world works its way through the pandemic.

“Innovation has slowed up a bit because of COVID, but you take a walk down the grocery store aisle and see how many bars that you have access to,” he said. “You almost see new products every week.”

The last couple of years have produced unprecedented challenges for snack makers.

“Right now is probably a time when the challenges seem the greatest with supply chain, staffing and freight,” Mr. Levin said. “Right now is the most difficult time I’ve seen in my career.”

Although research and development may have suffered lately because of the challenges brought on by the pandemic, he prefers to take a positive view of the situation.

“I’m optimistic that the staffing challenges are going to improve,” he added.

Mr. Spannuth doesn’t expect any reverse of the situation in the foreseeable future.

“I think the shock and awe are going away,” he said. “Unfortunately, it’s the new normal right now. We’re starting to see a plateau. We’re still getting price increases. They’re not as often or as much, but we’re still getting price increases.”

One thing the snack industry agrees on is that Americans will remain committed snackers. And that’s great for manufacturers, whether they’re providing healthful snacks, indulgent treats or a bit of both.

“One hundred years ago there weren’t a lot of snack items,” Mr. McAlpine said. “It’s exploded over the last 100 years, but we’ve seen a big expansion in the last 20 years. I’m very bullish. I only see it continuing to increase.”