By Dylan Thompson, Marketing & Consumer Insight Specialist
We recently published the Symrise Top 12 Trends from the 2017 Summer Fancy Food Show right here on in-sight. The Symrise Marketing team attended the show in New York City and analyzed all of the product offerings, eventually synthesizing them down into twelve trends that permeated the show. Two of the trends that are showing great category growth potential are protein snacks and jerky.
CLICK HERE to view Symrise’s Top 12 Trends from the 2017 Summer Fancy Food Show
The amount of protein snack and jerky offerings at the Fancy Food Show seems to have grown each of the last few years. This makes sense since there is growing demand among consumers for snack foods that offer high levels of protein for satiety and healthier snacking.
Some of the protein snacks spotted at this year’s show include Ips Snacks, Protes and Nutribug. Ips Snacks products include chips and popcorn that offer 5-6 grams of protein per serving. Their mission is to eliminate “senseless snacking” and they claim that 1 serving of Ips chips equals 1 egg in protein content. Protes snacks offers chips with “15g protein and 0g guilt” that utilize pea protein to deliver on a healthier vegan, non-GMO snacking option. Nutribug offers multiple cricket protein products. Their snacking product is a protein bar that contains quinoa and cricket protein powder which claims to deliver 28% of an average person’s daily protein requirement. Even though the “protein snack” market is emerging, the bigger piece of the pie lies within the meat snacks category.
The meat snacks market in the U.S. has surged in growth over the last four years with a CAGR of 7% between 2013 and 2017. The popularity of meat snacks has been powered by millennial consumers, who snack more than any other generation. They are demanding snack products that pack in the protein with low calorie counts and minimal carbs.
CLICK HERE to explore another popular Fancy Food Show trend: Functional Beverages
The health halo around meat snacks has also expanded as brands have more recently been working to reduce fat and sodium levels as well as offer alternative proteins to beef, including turkey, bison, boar and ostrich. Some of the alternative meats spotted at this year’s Summer Fancy Food Show include salmon, bison, chicken and turkey.
Another factor powering growth in the meat snacks segment is the recent onslaught of new flavors in the jerky world (think beyond teriyaki). Bold, global flavors are drawing in millennials who desire experiential food products. Some major flavor categories include sweet heat, smoke, barbecue, fruits, Latin and Asian.
Some market examples include sweet heat options like sweet chili, maple bacon,cherry chipotle, strawberry black pepper and mango habanero. Smoke has become more crafted and specific with offerings like mesquite, applewood, hickory and smoked jalapeno. Barbecue has become premiumized with offerings like blueberry barbecue, Korean barbecue and chipotle barbecue brisket. Fruit flavors showing up in the market include cranberry thyme, cranberries with apple and orange peel, blackberry merlot and tangy orange teriyaki. Lastly, global flavors are shining with options like cilantro lime, carne asada chili lime, chorizo lime, sriracha, kimchi, Szechuan peppercorn and miso ginger.
Symrise can help you create targeted, bold flavored new concepts in the protein snack and meat snack categories. Symrise value-added seasonings bring the best of the spice world together with culinary inspired flavors. Our Spice Exploration series can help bring global Latin and Asian flavors to your brands with our libraries from North Africa, Southeast Asia, Regional Mexico and Latin America while our recent Heatonist Hot Sauce series can deliver on sweet heat and smoke concepts. To learn more click here: https://in-sight.symrise.com/contact/
