Frito-Lay Reveals Super Bowl Snacking Picks

Ahead of this year’s big game, Frito-Lay North America unveiled the results of its first-ever U.S. Snack Index, a poll asking consumers what snacks they plan to serve on Super Bowl Sunday, one of the single-largest retail sales days for snacks.

“The Super Bowl is synonymous with enjoying snacks with friends and family,” noted Steven Williams, SVP of sales, chief commercial officer at Plano, Texas-based Frito-Lay North America, a division of PepsiCo. “As a leader in snacking, Frito-Lay keeps its finger on the pulse of snacking, always looking at what consumers prefer. It’s interesting to see how different regions and age groups snack – whether it’s potato chips or tortilla chips, classic or spicy – everyone definitely approaches snacking in their own way.” 

Among the index’s key insights:

• Nine out of 10 viewers plan to have at least one snack during the game; additionally, 80 percent of those polled will have potato chips or tortilla chips.
• While Chicago’s top pick – popcorn, Los Angeles had the highest percentage of potato chip fans and Bostonians chose tortilla chips as their top pick. Cities such as Dallas, Miami, New York City, Seattle and Washington, D.C., also went for potato chips. Meanwhile, Houston and this year’s Super Bowl HQ, Atlanta, agreed with Boston in selecting tortilla chips.
• Almost half of Gen Z and millennials opted for cheesy snacks as their preferred pick. Spicy snacks also performed best with these demographics.
• Salsa was the overall most popular dip choice, but in the area of chip-dip pairings, French onion dip was the top dip for potato chips, with both salsa and guacamole scored high for dipping tortilla chips.
• More than one-third of survey respondents planned to share their snacking photos on social media.
• More than half of viewers prefer to whip up easy recipes to bring to a party or when holding their own get-together.

“Super Bowl Sunday is one of the busiest shopping days of the year for snacks,” added Williams. “It’s different than other holidays we see throughout the year, as consumers are most likely to be enjoying snacks specifically at home, which can mean their choices can vary from other occasions. At Frito-Lay, we are hyper-focused in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl to make sure consumers can get the variety of snacks they want for game day. What better time to launch our first U.S. Snack Index and get insights into their snack plans for this major snacking event?”