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SNACKING NEWS 4 SNACKING NEWS February 2019 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. 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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Snacking News, 1877 North Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715. My goodness, I learned a lot while putting this issue of Snacking News to- gether. In 2018, I thought a lot about generational prefer- ences in snacking, and how they drive innovation. Millennials and their adventurous palates are changing the snacking landscape, we were told again and again last year. But creative thinkers and industry ob- servers have come to think about snack consumers in another way: by which food tribes those snackers identify with. Some- times these food tribes are diet-related; sometimes they're more philosophical, as with the eat-local tribe. Sometimes they're national, but they're also often close-knit geographically. This is a new way to think about your customers, because food tribes form across demographic, generational and many other lines. Baby Boomers, GenXers, and Mil- lennials may all belong to the Whole30 or gluten-free tribe, for instance, and they may all seek snacks in your outlet that are a good fit for their tribes. I like this way of thinking about the snack market because it models what I see in real life: People form friendships across generations, and those inter-generational friendships influence their buying deci- sions. This way of thinking feels inclusive to me. Inclusiveness and the idea that strength comes from diversity show up in other sto- ries in this issue. The new Women in Snacks Network (WinS), a project of SNAC International, has the express purpose of increasing the number of female leaders in an industry that has traditionally been led by men. With the support of many of its male mem- bers, the network aims to welcome, nur- ture and highlight the presence of its women members. I think only good can come from women members seeing more female speakers and women-specific edu- cational sessions at SNAXPO, SNAC In- ternational's annual trade show. I was pleased to see how many of the up-and-coming snack makers those incu- bators are helping were started by people from diverse backgrounds. For example, one of the start-ups chosen for the Chobani incubator is Masienda, led by Jorge Gaviria, which partners with Mexican and American farmers to grow heirloom vari- eties of corn to use in its tortillas. These heirloom varieties encourage biodiversity, among other things. Sometimes the inclusiveness and diver- sity are found in a company's mission. I enjoyed speaking with Mike Tilsen of Tanka Brand, which makes traditional Na- tive American meat snacks from buffalo trim. Ten percent of Tanka's profits go to the Tanka Foundation, which helps mem- bers of the Oglala Lakota tribe get started in raising their own buffalo. Doing so helps lift tribe members out of poverty, in what is one of the poorest communities in the U.S. One of KeHE CAREtrade's newest part- ners is The Soulfull Project, which donates a serving of its hot cereals to a food bank with every sale, selecting a food bank in the region where the sale was made. We're just at the beginning of 2019, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of the good things I've seen from snack makers and the snack industry already this year. n FROM THE EDITOR

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