Oser Communications Group

SNACKING NEWS 4 SNACKING NEWS October 2018 WWW.SNACKINGNEWS.COM PUBLISHER Kimberly Oser SENIOR ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Jules Denton-Card jules_d@oser.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Lorrie Baumann EDITOR Robin Mather ASSOCIATE EDITORS Jeanie Catron Greg Gonzales JoEllen Lowry ART DIRECTOR Yasmine Brown GRAPHIC DESIGNER Jonathan Schieffer CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGERS Caitlyn McGrath Susan Stein DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS Tara Neal tara_n@oser.com CIRCULATION MANAGER Jamie Green subscriptions@oser.com PUBLISHING OFFICE 1877 N. Kolb Road Tucson, AZ 85715 520.721.1300 Fax 520.721.6300 SUBSCRIBER SERVICES Snacking News P.O. Box 30520 Tucson, AZ 85751 520.721.1300 OSER COMMUNICATIONS GROUP FOUNDER Lee M. Oser Periodicals postage paid at Tucson, AZ, and additional mailing office. Snacking News is published bi-monthly by Oser Communications Group, 1877 North Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715; 520.721.1300. Publisher as- sumes no responsibility for unsolicited material or prices quoted in newspaper. Contributors are responsible for proper release of proprietary classified information. ©2018 by Oser Communications Group. All rights re- served. Reproduction, in whole or in part, without written permission of the publisher, is expressly pro- hibited. Back issues, when available, cost $7 each within the past 12 months, $12 each prior to the past 12 months. Back orders must be paid in advance either by check or charged to American Express, Visa, or Master Card. Snacking News is distributed without charge in North America to qualified professionals in the retail and distribution channels of the chain drug, convenience, grocery, and specialty foods trade; paid subscriptions cost $65 annually to the U.S. and Canada. All foreign subscriptions cost $150 annually to cover air delivery. All payments must be made in U.S. funds and drawn on a U.S. bank. For subscriber services, including subscription information, call 520.721.1300. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Snacking News, 1877 North Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715. There's a tremendous amount of information in this issue of Snacking News. From a story that examines the sudden in- terest in puffed snacks – including who's making them and the secrets behind why they think your customers love them so – to the profile of a whimsical candy store owner in Pennsylvania who shares his tips for success, I hope you'll find something you find useful. One of the best things about being a re- porter is that you get to exercise your cu- riosity about many topics. Reporting for the stories for this issue was fun and en- lightening for me. With every issue, I learn something new. Have you ever encountered a cheese with frog's mouth? I hadn't heard that term until I learned about the standardized lex- icon that the American Cheese Society has developed which defines cheese faults (and yes, frog's mouth is a fault) and fla- vor profiles so that cheesemakers, cheese- mongers and cheese devotees can all speak the same language. I knew that everyone's snacking much more than they used to, but I had no idea that as many as 90 percent of respondents to an NPD snacking survey would say that they sometimes or often use snacks as meal replacements. I learned, too, that your minority cus- tomers, be they Hispanic, African Ameri- can or Asian, don't live inside a bubble. They see themselves living in dual cul- tures, not a single one, and a savvy retailer markets to them in some surprising ways. Again and again, the issue of time or, more precisely, the lack of it, surfaced – no time to prepare meals, no time to eat breakfast if you want to get the kids out the door on time, no time to shop, or share meals. Millennials, it's said, often prefer to eat alone, and I'm guessing this is be- cause they're eating at their desks, or in their cars, and have gotten used to that. I found it telling that an expert with the Nielsen company says one of the big driv- ers of snack purchases is single-serving size. I'm old enough to be hardwired to be- lieve in the importance of the family meal, and this trend of solo eating saddens me some. But I'll get over that. I guess I'll have to change my thinking. I hope you'll find plenty to engage you in this issue. n FROM THE EDITOR

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