Innovative flavors, healthier ingredient profiles and eye-catching packaging are hallmarks of today’s potato chip segment. Manufacturers are now honing in on various advantages today’s chips have over their predecessors in an effort to keep the potato chip segment on-trend for consumers.
The founding family leadership of Brewster, Ohio-based snack food maker Shearer’s Foods, which has been purchased by Wind Point Partners, a private equity firm in Chicago, will be stepping down. Wind Point says the transaction is expected to close in October. Terms weren’t disclosed.
Snack maker Bachman Co. says it has sold its brands and certain assets to Utz Quality Foods Inc., Hanover, Pa. Also part of the sale are distribution rights to the Bachman, Jax, Thin'n Right and Chipitos brands and a plant in Ephrata, Pa.
Visiting what’s considered this country’s most sustainable production operation—Frito-Lay North America’s Casa Grande snack food plant—I was impressed, to say the least, by such a progressive place.
Chipping in for a “greener” future, Frito-Lay North America’s snack manufacturing facility in Casa Grande, Ariz., is the company’s first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold snack unit—a remarkable achievement in its own right. But the plant, which Frito-Lay calls its Near Net Zero project showcase, is also the result of a highly ambitious sustainability project that took the location “off the grids,” running primarily on renewable energy sources and recycled water, while producing zero landfill waste. The plant could be the most sustainable food production facility of its kind in the U.S.
Snacking is really evolving this year, taking on a more important role as a meal substitute in daily eating. For the opening ceremonies, we offer a peek at the many updates in snacks.
Snacks are hanging tough despite the foot-dragging economy, as nearly one-quarter of consumers struggle to make ends meet. But snackers are snacking more frequently, and the products they’re eating play a more important role in wellness- and indulgent-related eating occasions.
Designed with men in mind, Ruffles Ultimate Potato Chips feature ridges twice the size and depth of those of its original Ruffles Potato Chips, making them good for hearty dips.
The Plano, Texas-based company says that most products don't include gluten. Frito-Lay wants a new stamp of approval from the Food and Drug Administration to move forward on its plans to brand many of its products "gluten-free."
Agnetha Faltskog once said that, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it, without a sense of ironic futility…” Otto von Bismarck has said, “The main thing is to make history, not to write it.” We certainly can’t pretend to know the past of baking or snack food manufacturing. But with April marking the 100th anniversary of Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery, we cannot help but revisit some of the amazing past in these fascinating markets of ours.