Trends from Candyland

Features

03 June 2012

food4_june12 New confections and snacks offer a reliable barometer of consumers’ evolving flavor demands and food choices, as revealed at the 2012 Sweets & Snacks Expo.

Fun fruits and shared sweets, foreign flavors and healthy snacks are emerging as the trends to meet the ever-evolving appetites of consumers. The 2012 Sweets & Snacks Expo, which began on the last day of this year’s NRA Show in Chicago, featured new products from more than 560 companies leading the industry with the new flavors that meet consumers’ tastes.

“Trends in confectionery and snacks for 2012 are pushing new boundaries,” says Larry Graham, president of the National Confectioners Association. “People are looking beyond borders and convention for what’s next—whether it’s crunchy snacks with Asian or Mediterranean influences, the growing popularity of all things salty and sweet, or tropical-fruit flavors such as mango.”

Top consumer snack trends in 2012 as revealed at the annual expo (now in its 16th year) at McCormick Place in Chicago, May 8-10, are:

Packing a healthy punch. Healthy snacking continues to gain momentum this year. The top-growing snack item is nutritional health bars, and many new snacks provide a variety of health advantages. Whether gluten-free, all-natural, made from whole grains or including B vitamins and antioxidants, there’s no doubt consumers can find a snack packing the healthy punch they want.

Sweets are for sharing. Consumers celebrate sweet moments in life together by indulging in affordable treats. “Share bags” and theater boxes have increased in popularity and are becoming more widely available at retail.

Perfect pairings: sweet & salty. The wildly popular pairing of salty and sweet remains an American favorite. This year there were a variety of new products with this flavor coupling, from milk-chocolate-covered raisins and peanuts to cinnamon-sugar popcorn to chocolate-covered pretzels and potato chips.

Flavor beyond borders. In addition to the popularity of all things sweet and salty, snacks with Middle Eastern, Asian and Mediterranean-influenced flavors are popping up on store shelves. A number of snacks coming to market are based on chickpeas, lentils and seaweed, providing alternative choices to American classics such as potato chips, corn tortilla chips and wheat crackers.

Mango mania. A new generation of tropical-fruit flavors is appearing on store shelves, with mango leading the way. Pairing mango with pineapple, orange, coconut and strawberry to create new confectionery flavors is gaining popularity, but the tropical fruit is also making its way to the snack aisle, from freeze-dried fruits to mouthwatering salsas and more.

Despite a difficult economy, consumer dollars spend on confectionery products at retail continue to rise.

The confectionary industry contributes $32.1 billion to U.S. retail sales and employs more than 70,000 workers. Retail sales have grown steadily since 2007, increasing from $27.4 billion. Confectionery (chocolate, candy and gum) ranks as the fourth-largest product category in overall food sales and is ranked first when combined with other types of snacks like savory treats and cookies. These combined snack categories saw retail sales increase a total of 4.7% in 2011. At $80 billion, sweets and snacks account for about 10% of total store sales.