December 18, 2012
Snack Bars Enjoying Snack Time
According to a report from financial services provider Rabobank Group, the U.S. snack bar market has grown at twice the rate of other snack foods over the past ten years and nearly three times the rate of the overall packaged food sector. The category is comprised of breakfast, energy and nutrition, fruit, granola/muesli, and other bars.
The report, titled "Never Eat More Than You Can Lift," listed several factors driving the growth:
- Snack bars are multi-purpose and thus appeal to a broad range of consumers: i.e., high protein bars work for athletes looking to bulk up and for dieters trying to suppress appetites;
- Flexibility in where and when to eat snack bars makes them attractive, relevant and convenient for today’s consumers;
- Increased snacking between meals creates more eating occasions — the USDA estimates that snacks now provide adults with about one-third of total daily calories;
- Broad retail distribution — from delis, dollar stores, gas stations and grocery stores — encourages impulsive consumption, a key driver in many snack and candy purchases.
Most of the growth over the last ten years is attributable to Clif Bar & Co., which owns the Clif Bar, Luna and Mojo brands. The other two major players are General Mills, with its Nature Valley, Betty Crocker, Fiber One, and Larabar brands; and Kellogg’s, which has rolled its breakfast brands — Kashi, Rice Krispies, Nutri-grain, and Special K — across multiple snack bar formats.
"Snack bars are one of the few bright spots in today’s U.S. processed food market," says Nicholas Fereday, author of the report and Rabobank analyst, in a statement. "By capitalizing on consumer trends and evolving demographics, snack bars have found broad appeal among a large consumer base that ranges from athletes to couch potatoes, from working mothers to professionals on the go."
BrainTrust
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
What do you think is driving growth in the nutritional snack bar category? What other food and snack brands should make a run at the category? What should other food categories glean from snack bar’s success?
Poll
Laziness would be the real reason, as you have to prepare a meal before going to work. The nature of us always in a hurry, makes a healthy snack bar easy to grab with our starbucks on the go go go.
I recently brought in the Good Greens bars, and they are selling well. Complete nutrition, low glycemic index, and that they taste good is what I look for in a bar.
Snack bars are also easy to carry on a plane, as they serve nothing anymore, and they are great for kids for sporting events. Choose wisely, and the nutrition is there for you. Good God, do I miss my snickers bars though….
Consumers love the convenience of snack bars. They are small, easy to carry, not messy to eat and offer calorie controlled portions. Many snack bars also claim health benefits. The industry has convinced consumers that snack bars are meal replacements.
Eating on the go has become an everyday consumer phenomenon. Snack bars fit consumers’ harried lifestyles.
Other foods need to determine if they can transfer the benefits of their products into simple, easy to carry and use packages.
Nutritional snack bars have a lot going for them. Because they are “nutritional” and tasty moms are happy to buy them for their kids. Because of nutritional and caloric control, moms and dads love them for their own consumption. You’ve got young adults on the go along with older folks trying to stay on the go with extra nutrition.
Nutritional snack bars appeal to every consumer segment. Finally, they are considered a good value for the money. It’s a crowded category, but there’s always room for one more. Based on my research, the way to get in is through taste appeal…the nutrition is the final justification for purchase.
They’ve got convenience and the all-important ‘healthy halo,’ so long as you consider only the name of the bar and not the list of ingredients. Some seem good for you, but the majority have real problems. Tony O. is very wise to select carefully in this regard.
Other food categories can ride the coat tails by coming up with healthy-sounding names, good PR that associates them with athletes, and ingredients statements that are particularly difficult to read.
Hate to throw any negatives into this, but seems some of my original snack bar favorites have gone over the edge in becoming more of a treat bar than nutritional.
The area is big for the nutritional snack space—as long as they do not step over the edge into a good-for-you “candy” space.
My old favorite bar did that and now I’m searching for a replacement for trips and the many times when my wife says “you cook dinner.” Cook? Me? Only if outside with a fire, a tent, and my motorcycle. Tom…Having SPAM tonight!
Is that a note of skepticism I detect in previous posts?
Surely not! These bars are chock full of … things to make the stuff that is good for you taste good. But manufacturers have to make food that sells. And people only want bars that taste good like Tony O. said above.
So the horns of dilemma stick us again. Perhaps what consumers are actually saying is “I want stuff that I THINK is at least better for me—but that I KNOW tastes good.” Whatever it is, manufacturers seem to be hitting the target based on trend.
When I was in business school we did a case study on Snapple, which was having a lot of difficulties at the time. One of our suggestions was that they do a line extension into snack bars: I believe they eventually did this—though sadly we got no credit for it—and I would think there are many products that could benefit from a similar treatment. Perhaps Ragu could make a “Pasta snacker” or something. Thinking “outside the box” leads you “inside the box,” as it were.
With busy schedules, a nutritional snack bar fills the gap for some. Many consumers start out early, away all day, running errands, picking up and dropping off children, going to the gym. Healthier snacks keep folks going. Nutritionists advise to eat every 4 hours or so, so we don’t fill up on empty calories, healthier choices here help. Convenience here is key.
It would help if there were choices that were less sweet—hard to keep the healthful eating halo around sweeter and chocolate bars. Savory choices would be nice!
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Laziness would be the real reason, as you have to prepare a meal before going to work. The nature of us always in a hurry, makes a healthy snack bar easy to grab with our starbucks on the go go go.
I recently brought in the Good Greens bars, and they are selling well. Complete nutrition, low glycemic index, and that they taste good is what I look for in a bar.
Snack bars are also easy to carry on a plane, as they serve nothing anymore, and they are great for kids for sporting events. Choose wisely, and the nutrition is there for you. Good God, do I miss my snickers bars though….
Consumers love the convenience of snack bars. They are small, easy to carry, not messy to eat and offer calorie controlled portions. Many snack bars also claim health benefits. The industry has convinced consumers that snack bars are meal replacements.
Eating on the go has become an everyday consumer phenomenon. Snack bars fit consumers’ harried lifestyles.
Other foods need to determine if they can transfer the benefits of their products into simple, easy to carry and use packages.
Nutritional snack bars have a lot going for them. Because they are “nutritional” and tasty moms are happy to buy them for their kids. Because of nutritional and caloric control, moms and dads love them for their own consumption. You’ve got young adults on the go along with older folks trying to stay on the go with extra nutrition.
Nutritional snack bars appeal to every consumer segment. Finally, they are considered a good value for the money. It’s a crowded category, but there’s always room for one more. Based on my research, the way to get in is through taste appeal…the nutrition is the final justification for purchase.
They’ve got convenience and the all-important ‘healthy halo,’ so long as you consider only the name of the bar and not the list of ingredients. Some seem good for you, but the majority have real problems. Tony O. is very wise to select carefully in this regard.
Other food categories can ride the coat tails by coming up with healthy-sounding names, good PR that associates them with athletes, and ingredients statements that are particularly difficult to read.
Hate to throw any negatives into this, but seems some of my original snack bar favorites have gone over the edge in becoming more of a treat bar than nutritional.
The area is big for the nutritional snack space—as long as they do not step over the edge into a good-for-you “candy” space.
My old favorite bar did that and now I’m searching for a replacement for trips and the many times when my wife says “you cook dinner.” Cook? Me? Only if outside with a fire, a tent, and my motorcycle. Tom…Having SPAM tonight!
Is that a note of skepticism I detect in previous posts?
Surely not! These bars are chock full of … things to make the stuff that is good for you taste good. But manufacturers have to make food that sells. And people only want bars that taste good like Tony O. said above.
So the horns of dilemma stick us again. Perhaps what consumers are actually saying is “I want stuff that I THINK is at least better for me—but that I KNOW tastes good.” Whatever it is, manufacturers seem to be hitting the target based on trend.
When I was in business school we did a case study on Snapple, which was having a lot of difficulties at the time. One of our suggestions was that they do a line extension into snack bars: I believe they eventually did this—though sadly we got no credit for it—and I would think there are many products that could benefit from a similar treatment. Perhaps Ragu could make a “Pasta snacker” or something. Thinking “outside the box” leads you “inside the box,” as it were.
With busy schedules, a nutritional snack bar fills the gap for some. Many consumers start out early, away all day, running errands, picking up and dropping off children, going to the gym. Healthier snacks keep folks going. Nutritionists advise to eat every 4 hours or so, so we don’t fill up on empty calories, healthier choices here help. Convenience here is key.
It would help if there were choices that were less sweet—hard to keep the healthful eating halo around sweeter and chocolate bars. Savory choices would be nice!