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8 SNACKING NEWS October 2018 SNACKING NEWS nutrition as they snack almost constantly throughout the day, sometimes combining snacks to make mini-meals. Christine Webster, of Portage, Michi- gan, says her two sons, ages 12 and 15, are "at prime snacking age because they can now reach the cupboards." She doesn't indulge them often in puffed snacks, but adds, "They always seem like such a treat – like they must be bad for you." But, she says, "I'm glad there are healthier versions today, because my kids love the taste and texture of cheese puffs." Puffed snacks signal fun. Why is that? "Puffs are more fun than chips, because they come in a variety of sizes and shapes," says Jack Kuo, Founder of Fuller Foods near Portland, Oregon, which makes Seriously Cheesy Puffs, finger- length puffs available in Asiago Black Pepper, Blue Cheese Jalapeño and Sriracha Cheddar flavors. A more food-oriented culture means Millennials are making room in an aging segment for new innovators, he says. "In the past 15 or 20 years, we, as a country, have gotten more 'foodie' – we appreciate food more, we're more food- centered," Kuo says. "In terms of snacks, we're looking for fat, sugar and salt. But we want those snacks to be good for us. Puffs are an old category, dominated by old standbys," – like Cheetos, he means – "so in the past five years, there are more upstarts like us, focused on dietary needs." Puffs also signal stress reduction to many consumers. "Puffs are sort of a comfort food to begin with," says Rob Ehrlich, Founder and CEO of Vegan Rob's in Seacliff, New York, and the Founder of Robert's American Gour- met Foods, the maker of Pirate's Booty, the puffed corn, rice and cheese snack. "Most people see puffed snacks as child or youth snacks, with a very orange color." The Millennial love of snacking – many industry surveys say Millennials snack four or more times a day – makes better- for-you puffs attractive, Ehrlich says. "There's a non-stop attitude about snacks these days – they're meals. Around-the- clock snacking is what's happening." Vegan Rob's has created puffs made with Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, beets and other vegetables. These puffs, he says, are sorghum-based – a cereal grain unfa- miliar to most of us. Sorghum, long used in the South as animal feed and to make sorghum molasses, has gained in popular- ity because, when ground into flour, it can stand in for wheat flour. That makes it at- tractive to manufacturers who want to cater to the gluten-free market. "We use sorghum, a drought-resistant crop that grows without water," he says. "You can make these puffs into snacks without having the constraints of typical snack ingredients – corn in tortilla chips, or rice. You can do a lot more in extrusion these days." The Demand for Clean Label Snacks Seriously Cheesy Puffs are made of corn- meal sourced from Bob's Red Mill, which is just down the road from Kuo's develop- ment lab. Corn is the most common sub- strate for puffs, he says, and he boasts that Fuller Foods is the only company in the country using corn from Bob's. Although the corn is not certified, it's non-GMO and organic, he says. Kuo was trained as a food scientist, he says, and that's partly what prompted him to found Fuller Foods. "In snack products, it's very common to include ingredients like maltodextrose and yeast," he says. "After a while, the flavor profile becomes kind of boring. Even 'nat- ural flavor' is a huge bucket of things that you wouldn't recognize as ingredients – yeast added to impart umami flavor after the loss of flavor in processing. We wanted to use ingredients that you could find in your home kitchen." Part of Kuo's mission is to provide the backstory, the story behind the product, he says. Millennials and the up-and-coming Gen Z – now 11 to 23 years old, according to consumer insight research firm Mintel – especially want that transparency about how their food is produced. "We ultimately want to tell our story in the same way that specialty coffee roasters do," he says. "Our cheese comes from Oregon, Washington and Idaho; our corn comes from California." For Ehrlich, the timing of this new in- terest in puffed snacks couldn't be better. "We just happened to be positioned in- credibly well," he says of Vegan Rob's line, which he describes as "adaptogenic and ayurvedic snacks." But he notes that there's more to success than simply mak- ing a new product: "You have to take it further and make [the snacks] delicious," he says. Consumers "won't buy a second bag if it doesn't taste good. They have to hit on all four cylinders. There's a psycho- logical part as well – most people buy snacks to reduce stress, not just because they're hungry. We emphasize all those parts in our products." n Puff Sales Popping Continued from Page 1 Topps Company Supports Kids who Play, Learn and Grow The Topps Company, Inc., including its Bazooka Candy Brands division, has continued its support of DREAM (for- merly Harlem RBI). DREAM is a non- profit youth development organization that serves 2,500 low-income boys and girls in East Harlem, the South Bronx and Newark, providing opportunities for children to "Play, Learn and Grow" through a charter school, after-school and summer programs, a baseball and softball league and other support pro- grams. Topps began its partnership with DREAM in 2017 and has contributed over $100,000 to date, along with providing various in-kind donations to meaningful DREAM programs and events, including Stonyfield Organic Dips into Snack Packs Stonyfield Organic has introduced three new snacking options for families on the move. Featuring a duo of creamy or- ganic low-fat yogurt paired with organic graham crackers or organic pretzels for dipping, the new Organic Snack Packs are the latest addition to Stonyfield's kid-friendly line-up of organic yogurt, pouches, smoothies, tubes and string cheese. "The dippable format makes eating on the go a little tastier and, more importantly for busy parents and kids, a lot more con- venient -- whether it's from a lunchbox, on the sports field, or as an after-school snack," said Natalie Levine, Stonyfield Brand Director. Available in three flavors, each Snack Pack contains a combination of Stony- field Organic low-fat yogurt with a sweet or salty choice of dipper, including: Strawberry Low-fat Yogurt and Graham Crackers; Chocolate Flavored Low-fat Yogurt and Graham Crackers; and Chocolate Flavored Low-fat Yogurt and Pretzels. Almost half of American households are composed of Millennial parents, 46 percent of whom report that nutrition is a leading factor when deciding which snacks to purchase for their children. Stonyfield is dedicated to providing par- ents with better-for-you organic prod- ucts made without the use of pesticides, artificial hormones, antibiotics or GMOs. Stonyfield Snack Packs are available in Kroger, Hannaford, Market Basket and Wakefern supermarkets for a suggested re- tail price of $2.29. n its "A League of Our Own" event, which celebrates DREAM girls and young women; the "Adopt a Dream Class" pro- gram, which creates workshops to assist scholars prepare for college and the work- place; and League Sponsorship, which provides resources for coaches, team uni- forms, equipment, transportation, etc. for an entire elementary school league and team. In addition, Topps employees have ac- tively volunteered for various activities in- cluding after-school tutoring programs and "Coach for a Day." And for the second year in a row, Topps served as a key organ- izer and sponsor of DREAM's "Champi- onship Day," where more than 50 Topps employees participated in DREAM's end- of-season celebration and hosted 800-plus members of the DREAM community and their families. The day included a block- wide street fair with carnival games, food, and two championship games from DREAM's REAL Kids summer program played on its "Field of Dreams" in East Harlem. Using a blend of youth development principles and sports, DREAM provides kids with opportunities to "Play, Learn and Grow" using collaborative relationships and open, optimistic communication. Pro- grams are designed to ensure that its mem- bers graduate from high school and go on to college. For more information, visit www .wearedream.org. n

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