General Mills has defended the future of Annie’s natural and organic snacks under its ownership, but two experts say the company will have to work hard to beat the critics.
DIGGING INTO INNOVATION AND NPD WITH DATAMONITOR CONSUMER
Cereal pots appeal to consumers seeking faster, easier ways of eating breakfast, but manufacturers must go beyond simple, on-the-go pot packaging, says Datamonitor Consumer.
Premier Foods has put £10m ($16m) behind a multi-media promotional Mr Kipling campaign, just months after committing £20m ($32m) for a snack pack production line.
Younger consumers are reaching for snacks to accompany and round out meals, and the better-for-you category is set to benefit most, finds The NPD Group.
Deli breakfasts have boomed in the US as consumers seek faster, fresher alternatives to traditional ready-to-eat (RTE) cereal category, according to Nielsen.
UK flavor house Maverick Innovations will set up a US manufacturing hub in the next five years; bolstering its presence with British flavors like banana and custard, its CEO says.
DIGGING INTO INNOVATION AND NPD WITH DATAMONITOR CONSUMER
There is hope for cheaper and more accessible wheat as a draft genetic blueprint of bread wheat genome is unveiled by the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium.
Gluten-free bread made with omega-3 and flavonoid-rich chia seed and tartary buckwheat flour has 12 times greater alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) content and 75% greater total antioxidant capacity than wheat bread, according to researchers.
Finnish firm Fazer has announced the closure of two of its bakeries – a move it said was unavoidable considering a market shift from pre-packed bread to in-store baked.
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) will buy WILD Flavors for €2.3bn citing fast-growing demand for natural food and beverage flavors and ingredients as the rationale.
Sales of wraps, sandwich thins and gluten-free products have helped Warburtons offset “difficult” trading conditions to increase turnover and operating profit in the 52 weeks to September 28 2013.
Instant hot cereal is rising in Russia as urban consumers seek healthy, convenient options, but beware - indulgence remains top of mind, says an analyst from Canadean.
Since it was created in 2012, Chapul Inc. has been on a mission to integrate edible insects into Western diets, using its cricket energy bars as the vehicle.
Liquid snacking is a healthy, convenient alternative to snack bars – a segment many consumers are bored of, according to the co-founder of NUWI Quinoa Snacks; a drinkable snack.
Synder’s-Lance will kick-start a restructuring plan to improve margins and drive focus on its branded products following the completion of its private brands divestment to Shearer’s Foods.
Breakfast biscuit makers should reduce sugar and calorie content and develop healthier variants if they want to secure continued growth, says Euromonitor International.
KP Snacks has gone pub-themed for the 2014 FIFA World Cup; recreating a local UK pub in Rio for the games and running a consumer competition fronted by celebrity pub landlord Al Murray.
Craft snack brands will lead innovation because of their fresh take on an old market, and balancing health and indulgence will be top of the agenda, says Innova Market Insights.
Political instability in the Ukraine has reinforced the UK’s need to increase its own food security and production, National Farmers Union (NFU) president Meurig Raymond has warned.
Snack firms should brace for a transition year shaped by new competition but brimming with opportunities in digital brand building and expansion, says a leading sector analyst.
Fuchs North America will launch a line of snack seasonings that draw inspiration from Asia, South America and the Mediterranean region to differentiate amid the ethnic flavor boom.
A consumer’s definition of ‘snack’ is broadening to encompass beverages and foodservice items, and snacking at least twice a day is up, according to new research from foodservice research and consulting firm Technomic.
Philibert Savours CEO said a new organic variety in the firm’s Campasine bread mix line may offer value-added possibilities and be closer to his own ethos, but the firm must provide something for everyone’s budget.
Snack makers survived a difficult 2013 with increased competition forming a much larger battleground that included quick-serve, online and even airlines, says a leading sector analyst.
The World Cup may well place Brazil in a global spotlight, but the world should see that the country has more to offer than football, carnivals and samba, according to a Brazilian trade association at this year's Europain.
Kellogg Australia’s new Fibrelicious muesli expands the brand beyond its traditional flake format and taps into the ‘superfood’ seed trend, according to a Datamonitor analyst.
Dispatches from Snaxpo 2014: Frito-Lay marketing executive insight, part I
Mass marketing no longer resonates with today's consumer and it must be replaced by one-on-one marketing with dedicated focus on pre-shop behavior, says Frito-Lay’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer.
The US trend of skipping breakfast or eating it on the go hurts both cereal and packaged breakfast baked goods, according to an analyst behind a Packaged Facts report.
Weetabix and Weight Watchers have joined forces to develop a high fiber cereal - a good example of how weight loss firms and breakfast brands can become more resilient in difficult dieting times, say analysts.
Locusts, lentils, seaweed or “hybrid” meat? Researchers have found that consumers prefer the thought of non-specified meat substitute snacks over those containing insects or seaweed.
Noodle pots, bagels, pizza slices, yogurts, soups – you name it – have muscled into the snack space. So what hope do old-fashioned potato chip, popcorn and nut makers really have?
Nestlé has made another chocolate brand extension, this time into breakfast, with adult-targeted Toffee Crisp cereal – set to be a win with older consumers, says innovation director at Mintel.
Kellogg has cut prices of its single-serve cereal bars in the UK by 29% which could make them competitive amid waistline woes and catapult the brand out of the breakfast aisle, an innovation expert says.
Snacking as we know it will evolve, driven by an unruly consumer desire to try new and exciting concepts and companies must buck up and innovate to profit, says a healthy foods analyst.
People don’t eat cereal from a bowl every morning – they go to Starbucks, drink smoothies and eat breakfast biscuits. Cereal makers need to play catch up, says a healthy foods consultant.
![The breakfast biscuits sector needs healthy innovation to secure future growth, says Euromonitor International. BelVita [pictured] kickstarted the market.](/var/wrbm_gb_food_pharma/storage/images/_aliases/news_teaser_medium/7/8/4/9/1789487-1-eng-GB/Euromonitor-Breakfast-biscuits-threatened-by-health-concerns.png)
