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SNACKING NEWS NEWS SEE PAGE 6-10 n The Secret That Will Keep Jasper Specialty Foods Going n Snack Food Manufacturers Broaden the Category with New Launches www.snackingnews.com August 2018 Volume 2 • Issue 4 BY LORRIE BAUMANN Snack foods are leading the way as food sales migrate to online markets, according to Jordan Rost, Nielsen Vice President of Consumer Insights. He revealed the new research at a presentation in May at the Sweets and Snacks Expo in Chicago, Illi- nois. Snacking categories have grown in im- portance across the retail grocery store, with sales for snack foods up more than $16 billion since 2014 – from a total of $128 billion in 2014 to $145 billion in 2018, Rost said. "This landscape is chang- ing very rapidly. People are spending more on a growing variety of snacks," he said. Sweets & Snacks Expo Lauds Most Innovative Products BY ROBIN MATHER Nearly 270 products vied for most innova- tive product at the Sweets & Snack Expo, held in May at McCormick Place, Chicago. Winners were judged on four criteria, in- cluding taste, packaging, innovation and market feasibility, Expo organizers said. Hostess Brands' Bakery Petites won the a suggested retail of $3.69 for the 7.9-ounce pouch. ParmCrisps won the Gour- met/Premium award for its Trios shelf-stable blend of dried fruit, nuts and ParmCrisps. Each package offers 13 grams of protein and has a suggested retail price of $3.99 for a 1.8- ounce package. Continued on Page 9 In Chicago, Dylan's Candy Bar Sweetens the Magnificent Mile BY ROBIN MATHER Snugged into the ground floor of Tribune Tower at 445 N. Michigan Avenue just north of the Chicago River in Chicago, Illinois, Dylan's Candy Bar is a sugar- scented wonderland with 2,300 kinds of candy. Pop music – every song with a candy theme – plays on the store's sound system. The walls are covered with candy- themed graphics. It's noisy, somewhat overwhelming, and a lot of fun. On a recent visit to the two-story con- fection palace, a posse of tiara-wearing princesses, all about six years old, formed whirlpools and eddies as they explored the store after a birthday party. Their bemused mothers followed them around, indulging the girls' desires to see every single thing Continued on Page 9 Continued on Page 8 Continued on Page 10 BY LORRIE BAUMANN The snack foods category now accounts for almost a third of the American spe- cialty foods market, and, while many snack-food buyers are now channel-blind – buying their favorite snacks wherever they can find them – the market strength of the category is helping to maintain the vitality of the center store aisles in conven- tional supermarkets. Chips, pretzels and snacks, as a cate- gory, accounted for $3.8 billion in sales in 2017 with an 11.8 percent growth rate from 2015 through 2017, and snack foods are now high on the list of important spe- cialty food categories. This phenomenon is documented in the Specialty Food Association's annual "State of the Specialty Food Industry" re- port, presented during the Summer Fancy Food Show 2018 by David Lockwood, Di- rector of Mintel Consulting, which pre- pared the report for the association. The Summer Fancy Food Show was held June 30 through July 2 at the Jacob Javits Con- vention Center in New York City. Consumers are Fickle about Retail Channels While many in the grocery industry have predicted the death of center store as online grocery sales steal that part of the grocery market, that's not the case for specialty foods, according to the Mintel research re- sults. "It's by far the biggest sector, and is also growing nicely, adding more dollars than the perimeter even though the growth rate is not as high because it's a bigger sec- tion," Lockwood said. He noted that the center store leaders are Snack Foods Strengthen Hold on Specialty Food Market Consumer Research Offers Insight on Snack Category SWEET SEE PAGE 15 & 16 n Swiss-Trained Chocolatier Seeks Partners in Passion n Sweet Heat Peppers Brings the Jalapeños SWEET SHOTS: Crispy Green SEE PAGE 18 SUPPLEMENT: Healthy Indulgence SEE PAGE 19 SAVORY SHOTS: Kitchen & Love SEE PAGE 14 show's "best in show" award. Judges said the brand's new Double Chocolate Bakery Petites "offer permissible indul- gence in bite-sized cakes, and a first-ever resealable pouch in the category." Bakery Petites have

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