Griffith Foods plans bold growth strategy to take responsible snacking across the globe

Hans Schinck, VP Marketing & Sales, Europe, told BakeryandSnacks the 100-year-old company has always been quite humble about the innovations it has created, done on a one-to-one basis with customers – true to its ‘Creating Better Together’ mantra.

However, he noted Griffith has successfully grown in double digits for the past decade.

“For us to continue the growth path, we need to do a couple of things differently,”​ he said.

“One is to have a bolder voice, thereby attracting new customers, solidifying our stand in industry and facilitating our growth strategy. There’s still a lot of room for us to excel our growth within our current geographies with our existing products, portfolios and services.​

“On top of that, we’re starting to move further east, to Russia, for example. [There] we see high volume growth but also high value growth. That market is maturing and increasing its focus on high value products and that's an area where we really can contribute,”​ he added.

Culinary inspired

According to Schinck, Griffith is “very much a culinary inspired company,”​ so every new innovation involves a group of chefs to achieve a concept that is “not only nutritious but also delicious.”​

And that is at the heart of the company’s innovations in driving new standards in salt and sugar reduction without compromising flavor, along with ensuring that its ingredients are sourced sustainably across the supply chain.

“We source our products only from companies that we’ve audited ourselves, so, looking back into the chain, we feel comfortable with the companies [with which] we work. It gives us a lot of trust and transparency, which we think is a value to our customers and to consumers as well.”​

Innovative snack prototypes

At this year’s Snackex exhibition, held in Barcelona, Spain, in June, Griffith Foods highlighted its  concepts tailored to allow snack producers to tap into the ‘responsible snacking’ trend.

The company’s Product Development & Innovation division developed a range of prototypes across various snack segments, including a low/no sodium tool kit, called Sodium Flex, that can reduce sodium levels by 70% – demonstrated with sodium reduced ‘Black Garlic Sweet Chili’ hand cooked crisps (potato chips), no added sodium ‘Thai Green Curry’ extruded balls and sugar reduced dipping sauces.

To top that, the company keeps its finger on the industry pulse to respond quickly to consumer demands to include concepts with additional functional properties, for example, such as vegetable coating for nuts.

“By adding vegetables in the coating, we’ve created a higher fiber content and a more playful, colorful visual for consumers,”​ said Schinck.

The nuts are covered with a coating that consists of at least 20% vegetables and are oven-roasted, providing a snack that is high in fiber and healthy fats.

The company’s NuBana Green Banana pregelatinized flours are high in starch, giving them excellent binding and adhesive capabilities, and low in gluten.

“It’s an interesting proposition for extruded snacks that again, fits into that health trend of eliminating,”​ said Schinck.