As you walk down the aisle of your local grocery store nowadays, you'll find more better-for-you snack and bakery choices. Companies know that consumers are reading ingredient labels more closely, and even private label is getting in on the game.
One of the biggest issues parents have when it comes to kids snacks is finding something that their kids will love and they’ll also feel good about feeding them.
Puffed and extruded snacks are experiencing a renaissance. There are many different types of snacks in this category for shoppers to choose from, including traditional, healthier and even "free-from" options like gluten-free.
Frozen snacks and appetizers are staples in most households, pizza rolls, for example, are a quintessential American snack. And the freezer case has been slowly evolving to meet consumers' needs, branching out beyond typical heat-and-serve snacks.
Crackers remain one of the most-important segments in baked snacks. But growth has stagnated in recent years. To drive sales, manufacturers are doing exciting things with flavors and other ingredients to meet culinary- and health-driven consumer demands.
When you think of crackers, what comes to mind? Your favorite brand? Your favorite topping? The saltines that your mother fed you with soup when you were sick as a child? Or perhaps that time your best friend crammed a dozen of them into their mouth and then tried to whistle?
In private label today, as we see elsewhere across the snack and bakery industry, clean label is still the current buzz phrase, and consumers continue to seek foods that fall into the larger better-for-you category.
In the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the USDA recommended that we consume 6 ounce equivalents of grains per day, half of which should be whole grains.