During the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers have been staying home more often, and searching for familiar snacks. Cookies have helped fill that void, and top brands have taken note of what is trending.
Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery was recently able to chat with Brian Schiegg, president of consumer brands at Schwan's Company (a subsidiary of CJCJ Food, Americas), about frozen pizza sales during the pandemic and why consumers have made it a pandemic staple.
Bakery snacks and snack cakes will always be popular, both for their portability as an on-the-go treat and for feeling like a "small indulgence." Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers are still gobbling up these tasty treats, and if they're pre-portioned, that's a plus too.
From tortilla chips to street tacos, it's fair to say that tortillas are extremely versatile. And tortilla products all saw nice growth over the past year.
Installation of cleanrooms has been on the rise over the past few years. But this aspect of snack and bakery operations has gained more focus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cleanrooms are sealed off from the rest of a production facility to protect against contaminants.
Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery was recently able to talk to Jeff Martin, Jenn Martin, and Teresa Tsou, founders of Pipcorn, on using heirloom corn in its products, its Shark Tank beginnings, and being selected for Oprah's Favorite Things list.
Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery was recently able to talk to Josh Harris, president and founder, Distinctive Foods, about sanitation protocols that the company has enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it became apparent very quickly that personal protective equipment (PPE) was going to be vital in order to combat the virus. Some companies in the snack and bakery industry pivoted to producing PPE, in addition to their normal lineup of products. Also, other PPE companies started making PPE specifically for the food industry.
In some areas, it wasn't uncommon to walk into the local grocery store during the COVID-19 pandemic and see the shelves wiped out of frozen pizza. Consumers want quick and easy meals that also function as comfort food, and the same goes for easy-to-prepare frozen snacks like pizza rolls and pizza bagels, as well as ethnic appetizers like egg rolls.