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1 0 SNACKING NEWS April 2019 Drink, will also address trends in her "Consumer Insights: The 5 Snack Trends You Need to Know about Right Now." Other sessions address technology, online vs. brick-and-mortar shopping, best business practices, using social media to create customer loyalty and how to build business through non-tra- ditional channels. The winners of the nine Most Innova- tive New Products will be lauded in a spe- cial ceremony on May 21. The National Confectioners Association sponsors the Sweets & Snacks Expo each year. It is the largest show in North Amer- ica to represent the confection and snack industries. n Sweets & Snacks Continued from Page 1 Nevada. The company is best known for its fig bars, though it also now offers a line of brownies and a line of organic snacks. "Moms are looking for snacks they can feel good about giving to their kids," she says. "They want products with high- quality ingredients that they can recognize and understand." Today's hectic lifestyles have con- tributed to the changes in kids' snacks as well, Arellano says. "The changes are driven by parents whose kids need the nutrition to grow and stay healthy. We need to understand what's happening in consumers' lives so we can find solu- tions." Lauren Jupiter is a founder of Ac- celFoods, a venture capital company with three funds valued at more than $85 mil- lion that invest in packaged foods. Among AccelFood's clients are Cocomel and Kalahari Biltong. She says changes in kids' snacks are reflected in her own home "My cup- board, as a Millennial mom, looks very different than my cupboard did as a child. The Millennial focus on well- being, and the drive to give their kids better foods than they had has led to an explosion in bet- ter-for-you snacking," she says. "The Millennial customer is also devoting more of her disposable income to food, which in- cludes snacks." Those snacks need to be convenient to carry along in purse, backpack or car, says Jupiter. "Snacking is becoming a bigger portion of the day, so c o n v e n i e n c e and on-the-go portability are becoming much more important," she says. "Kid-friendly, family-friendly ingredients – a lot of brands have started in response to a gap in the marketplace. People saw a white space in the mar- ket and started a company to fill it." Consumer Concerns That Didn't Exist Before Nancy Kalish of Rule Breaker Snacks in Brooklyn, New York, used to be a health and nutrition journalist, and she says she's definitely noticed the change in kids' snacks. "Ten years ago, I wrote about kids' health, and I never heard about allergens or better-for-you snacks," she says. "Now there's been an explosion in healthier, bet- ter-for-you and allergen-friendly snacks for kids." Her customers – whom she says often email or call her directly – "go down a laundry list of potential allergens. They're really digging into our allergen claims." Kalish says some of the mothers are concerned for their own chil- dren, but that many want snacks that can be safely shared with class- mates or team mates. She praises con- sumers who read labels carefully, and for being vigi- lant on behalf of their children. Those parents have also "demanded bet- ter-quality ingredients – non-GMO is ex- tremely important (to these customers), and gluten-free certification is also impor- tant." In fact, she says, the wide range of cer- tifications available to manufacturers now didn't exist a decade ago. "Those certifi- cations are kind of a shorthand that allows consumers to see that a lot of people have vetted this product already, so they can trust it," Kalish says. Changes in the Toddler Snack Segment "In the toddler or baby snack category, there hasn't been a lot of in- novation," says Saskia Sorrosa, Founder and CEO of Fresh Bellies, a New York, New York, company that makes sa- vory snacks for young children. "Whether it's puffs or yogurt melts or gummies, the options are relatively the same – but what parents are choosing has changed." Unfortunately, Sorrosa says, too many of those snacks have sweet flavor pro- files. Fresh Bellies' freeze-dried fruit and vegetable snacks are crunchy yet airy and easy for children to swallow. Their ingre- dients are simple – roasted red peppers with sea salt and sunflower oil, beets with thyme, mango with basil, and apple with cardamom. They fit the profile of natural, clean ingredients that Millennial parents demand, she says, "but parents in general are demanding completely different prod- ucts than what they wanted ten years ago." The Effect of Social Media Between blogs, Instagram, Facebook and other social media sites, everything starts as a trend, says Rule Breaker's Kalish. "So some part of these changes is that everyone wants to be part of a trend," she says. "Millennials are very into food in a way that previous genera- tions weren't. They're well-educated as a group, and they're very protective of their children." n Nutrition-Savvy Continued from Page 1 Global Healthy Snacks Market Expected to Reach $32.88 Billion by 2025 The global healthy snacks market size is ex- pected to reach USD 32.88 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc., expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 5.2 percent during the forecast period. Increasing awareness re- garding health and wellness benefits offered by the product among consumers is likely to be a key trend driving the market. The consumption of healthy snacks is growing on account of their ability to meet various dietary requirements such as sugar- free, low salt content, and low cholesterol levels. However, high cost of production due to volatile prices of raw materials is ex- pected to negatively influence the growth of the market over the forecast period. Growing purchasing power parity, which has increased immensely in the past few years, is anticipated to fuel the de- mand for meat snacks in the upcoming years. This factor, in turn, is projected to boost the growth of the market during the forecast period. Healthy snacks provide grab-and-go op- tion coupled with convenience to meet the needs of customers. Further key findings from the report suggest: In terms of revenue, the meat snacks segment is projected to expand at a com- pound annual growth rate of 5.4 percent over the forecast period; Cereal and granola bars dominated the healthy snacks market with a global revenue share of over 36.0 percent in 2018; Rising consumption of dried fruit snacks by customers due to changing lifestyles is likely to fuel growth over the next seven years; Major industry players aim to achieve optimum market growth and strengthen their presence through various market ex- pansion strategies such as new product de- velopment, joint-ventures, and acquisitions Some of the key companies present in the industry are Nestlé S.A.; PepsiCo, Inc.; The Kellogg Company; Tyson Foods, Inc.; General Mills, Inc.; Mondelez Interna- tional; Hormel Foods Corporation; Kind LLC; and Select Harvests. n

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