The economics of eating are changing, and so are snack foods. Today, snacking is a global industry worth $374 billion and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down soon. Snacking also appeals to all age groups. While Millennials crave healthy, easy to eat foods and snacks, it’s the Baby Boomers who consume the largest amount of snacks.
Indeed, roughly 45% of U.S. consumers stated that they are replacing one or meals each day with snacks instead of a full menu. And, American workers now take one-third more snacks to work than they did even two years ago.
These trends have a significant impact on the packaged food industry. Case in point: snacks accounted for 20% of Kellogg’s revenue in 2000, but by 2015 snacks accounted for 50% of the company’s revenue. In the industry, the largest growing segment is health and energy bars with 87% increase over the past five years. Even jerky has transitioned into new, healthier snacks and has grown 12% to a $2.8 billion industry.
What’s in your backpack?
Group Activities and Discussion Questions:
- Before discussing this case, ask students what was the last full meal they ate? Then, ask about snacking habits. (Have students dig into their backpacks and bags and pull out any snacks.)
- Show the CBS video about snacking: https://youtu.be/9Hu5eNTcLYk
- Discuss where foods fit on the product life cycle. How are snacks repositioning foods on the product life cycle?
- Show a few Web sites for companies that produce jerky:
Krave Jerky: https://www.kravejerky.com/
Think Jerky: https://www.thinkjerky.com/
Health Jerky Co: http://www.healthyjerky.com/
- Divide students into teams. Have each team select a traditional food and reimagine it into a snacking product.
Source: CBS News
