This year’s Sweets and Snacks Expo, hosted by the US National Confectioners Association (NCA), showcased the industry’s enhanced innovation capabilities and efforts to refocus on providing the most value to consumers. The unveiling of new product launches backed by sophisticated technologies, the diffusion of trendy flavours across various snack applications, and meaningful conversations on the purpose of and what it means to be a snacking brand today were top takeaways.
Snack brands upgrade their wow factor
The snacking category has long been known to provide the most fun eating experiences for consumers. At this year’s expo, there were a number of premium, better for you and indulgent brands extending the sensorial appeal of their snacks and finding new ways of delivering delight.
For example, US brand Burlington has taken the natural appeal of popcorn to another level with an even more nature-based, whole cobb microwave popcorn. Taiwanese brand Captain Danny displayed what it calls the world’s first corn-free, rice popcorn.
Rice snack manufacturers have been expanding their potential – which is currently the smallest, yet fastest growing forecast savoury snack category in the US at a 5.6% CAGR
Source: Euromonitor International
Chinese manufacturer Amos amplified its 4D gummy innovation with its gummy mystery cube and musical lollipop candy innovations – aiming to continue the success of the Peelerz predecessor. Beijing Youshare Food Co’s Hicey brand brought its fruit-shaped and -flavoured ice cream treats to the expo floor; it has seen growth, in part due to its play in the Going Viral trend. And Serbian brand Munchmallows displayed a texturally forward confection that would appeal to the more than one in four global consumers that say food texture is important to them, according to Euromonitor’s Voice of the Consumer: Health and Nutrition Survey, fielded February 2024 (n=21,207).
Flavours, trendy and traditional, take on new forms
With Americans hyper-focused on getting the most value from the snacks they buy, taste/flavour remains a top factor influencing purchases. This year’s expo showcased a broad assortment of traditional, creative, and trending flavours. In addition to the rise of spice and pistachios, traditional caramel, sensory stimulating sour taste, and dill pickle flavours were omnipresent. Euromonitor International’s Innovation Attribute Tracker (spanning 30 markets) shows caramel in sweet biscuits, truffle in salty snacks, and pistachio in chocolates are up 35, 129, and 200 percentage points, respectively, in 2024 versus 2023.
The expanding experimentation of flavours among various applications continues to keep products interesting for consumers and adds to the brand experience. PepsiCo’s Frito Lay is betting on even greater flavour depth with customised flavour multipacks offered through its direct-to-consumer site. Other brands, like Henrietta Said and M&Ms, build flavour and brand depth by humanising their products.
Discussions deepen on more purposeful snacking
In addition to the greater technological depths seen across snack manufacturers’ product lines, conversations about how to deliver value for the consumer in a time of tariffs, high commodity costs, and dynamic consumer pattern shifts were unmissable.
Given that a value conscious snacking trend is on the rise, the industry discussed the need to be more tuned into the demands of consumers as daily stressors weigh on their ability to support brands and alternatives grow in the market. For example, private label’s increasing investments to address value concerns are, in part, why it gained more than USD12 billion in global snack value sales following the peak of the cost-of-living crisis (2021-2024). Dozens of new and niche brands were also present at the expo, eager to expand upon the value propositions currently in the marketplace.
Leveraging new age tools, like AI and quick commerce, to action growth strategies is becoming more common; however, greater consumer, and human, concern and insight must also progress in order for snacks to continue to be seen as something with multiple purposes (eg a treat, nutrition, a gift, etc).
Read our article, Top Three Trends from the 2024 Sweets and Snacks Expo, for our recap of last year’s show, and our article, Latest Developments in Packaged Food Innovations, for more analysis on product value strategy.