The Hunger Games

Produce plays a leading role in America’s surging healthful snack trend.

A growing number of the nation’s healthiest consumers are embracing smaller meals or snacks consumed whenever and wherever hunger strikes. Many of these snacks include fruits and vegetables conveniently packaged to encourage better-for-you eating on the go.

“Not everyone eats three squares anymore. A lot of folks like to graze throughout the day,” says Kathy Means, spokeswoman for the Produce Marketing Association (PMA), in Newark, Del. “We’re seeing healthy snacking as part of an important diet trend. We’re seeing it with kids in particular, but the overall move toward snacking crosses every demographic.”

Indeed, everyone from health-conscious baby boomers to Gen Xer moms and dads to millennials is opting for nutritious, unprocessed snacks. But it’s this last group — a generation that cut their teeth on snacks, as it were — that has some retailers revamping their offerings to appeal to the young and health-wise.

Take the convenience chain 7-Eleven, which recently rolled out healthier snack sections in the majority of its approximately 8,000 U.S. stores. The new snack sections feature bulk aisle-style clear containers of wholesome treats such as dry-roasted edamame, veggie chips, dried fruit, banana chips and nuts.

“Better-for-you is one of the fastest-growing segments of the snacking category,” says Rebecca Frechette, a VP of merchandising at Dallas-based 7-Eleven.

This trend isn’t surprising when we consider who’s doing the most snacking. According to the NPD Group’s “Snacking in America” report, consumers with the healthiest diets consume 36 percent more snack meals a year than the average consumer, and snack twice as often as those with less healthy diets. The Port Washington, N.Y.-based researcher also found that fruit was the top snack among the nation’s 167 million daily snackers.

Naturally Delicious Produce

When it comes to healthier snacking, what’s not on a product’s ingredients list is often as important to consumers as what is.

“Mindful of the negative health implications of processed snacks like potato chips, consumers are turning to natural alternatives like fresh fruit and vegetables,” says Tanvi Savara, author of Datamonitor Group’s new study “Consumer & Innovation Trends in Healthy Snacks.” “The concept of ‘clean labeling’ is also taking more prominence as consumers demand products with just a few simple, natural and healthy ingredients.”

The global market researchers at London-based Datamonitor further found that consumers’ “rising attentiveness towards health” is driving demand for unprocessed, naturally healthy products, as well as piquing an interest in learning about the potential benefits of such products.

For many consumers, “natural” is synonymous with “nutritious,” says Savara, who notes that 55 percent of consumers globally are highly influenced by “no-additives” claims when purchasing food and beverage products. “As consumers continue to demand pure products, manufacturers should look to drive the purchase of snack products by explicitly making ‘natural’ and ‘additive-free’ claims through product labeling and marketing initiatives,” she asserts.

Unprecedented innovation also has fueled growth in the healthful, produce-based snack category. Datamonitor points to recent international product introductions – such as kale-based snack chips and yogurt featuring chopped carrots – that have emerged as creative and tasty ways to boost vegetable consumption.

But innovation doesn’t mean esoteric. “Sometimes these products are new, but sometimes they’re the same old thing; it’s just being seen by the consumer in a different light,” observes PMA’s Means. A handful of grapes, cut vegetables with dip, an apple or a banana aren’t revolutionary, but they do resonate with consumers looking for a nutritious and portable snack.

“Convenience is very important, especially to impulse buys,” Means adds. “It has to be as easy to grab as a candy bar or a bag of chips.”

Cartoons and Celery Sticks

Within the produce-based snack category, kid-friendly offerings have been an area of exponential growth.

“We’re seeing a lot of attention paid to kids’ snacks and lunchboxes,” Means says. For example, at the PMA Fresh Summit in New Orleans last October, “our New Products Showcase featured a whole section devoted to kids. They have colorful characters on them, and the snacks are the right size for small hands.”

October also marked the launch of a two-year agreement among PMA, the Sesame Workshop and the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) to help promote fresh fruit and vegetable consumption to kids. The agreement allows PMA’s community of growers, suppliers and retailers to use the “Sesame Street” brand without a licensing fee.

“In produce marketing and merchandising, we need to be sure we’re competing in the snack arena in ways that make our products as attractive to consumers as what they traditionally think of as snacks,” asserts Means.

West Des Moines, Iowa-based Hy-Vee has put healthier produce-based snacks head to head with conventional chips and candy bars in some of its stores. The move has been met with a sigh of relief from many parents who shop there.

In these select stores, customers can opt to exit through a healthy checkout lane. The candy-free lanes, explains Jennifer Haugen, a registered dietitian at a Hy-Vee store in Austin, Minn., feature only grab-and-go produce, apples, bananas, oranges, nuts, dried fruit and other healthful items that don’t require refrigeration.

“It’s been going really well,” Haugen notes. “It’s especially popular with moms who are grocery shopping with kids. That’s hard enough already without facing a barrage of candy bars at the checkout.”

Snacking Around the Clock

As the “boots-on-the-ground educator” of healthful shopping at Hy-Vee, Haugen has a front-line view of the increasingly common trend toward mini meals. “It’s an intentional way of eating for better health, as many people discover that snacking more frequently is easier to digest than bigger meals,” she says.

Not only are consumers snacking more, they’re nibbling at all times of day, including during nontraditional snack times.

“Snacking is also becoming more popular because people are in a hurry, and schedules sometimes only allow for grab-and-go,” notes Haugen. “As a result, even breakfast has become more of a snack.”

At the Austin Hy-Vee, the produce department stocks a variety of breakfast-worthy snack combinations, including grapes and apples with cheese cubes, grapes and almonds, and yogurt and fruit. The cheese-and-fruit combinations have been so popular that the store recently began selling them at its gas station as well.

Haugen believes that offering a combination of fruit and protein has contributed to the success of Hy-Vee’s healthful grab-and-go breakfast items. “People realize that if they just have an apple, it doesn’t stay with them as long,” she says. “Protein at breakfast is a huge trend that’s going to continue.”

A variety of healthful snacks is also doing double duty as side dishes and ingredients at dinnertime. “With things like cut broccoli, cauliflower and watermelon, people are bringing them to work to eat as a snack, but they’re also buying them to add to their meals at home later that evening,” notes Haugen.

Means concurs: “Meal assembly is another trend we’re seeing. The whole convenience piece of having produce ready to microwave with sauce, or blending produce with pasta — folks are looking for things that can be part of meals or served as a snack.”

For Haugen, who offers two-hour store tours to various community groups and consumers interested in nutrition, education is an equally important piece of the puzzle.

“Consumers are definitely more aware of what they need to be healthy, and that includes eating more fruits and vegetables,” she says. “But at the same time, many lack the time to prepare them and even the experience of how to maneuver the produce department. We offer 120 different fruits and vegetables in our store, but the typical consumer buys the same five to 10 things they are comfortable with.”

Explaining the different varieties of fruits and vegetables, how to know whether they’re ripe, and how they can be prepared in a way that’s fun and tasty goes a long way toward winning customers over. “Consumers are looking for healthier options,” Haugen says. “It’s just a matter of making it convenient for them to find.”

Being There and Everywhere

Convenience and accessibility are critical components in maintaining momentum in the produce-based snack category. According to Mintel research, as snacks are often an impulse purchase, people tend to buy the ones most readily available. The Chicago-based market research firm found that nearly half of its survey respondents said it was difficult to find healthy snacks in vending machines or other on-the-go locations, and 16 percent believed it took more time to prepare a healthy snack.

“We have to be where consumers are,” Means asserts. “There’s not any indication that consumer snacking is on the decline, and as they do more of it, produce needs to be a part of it. It’s also important for the consumer to see produce as food, and not as a commodity.”

For retailers, this might mean a change in mindset when, say, planning in-store promotions. “Think about how produce can lead the promotion,” Means says. “Ask yourself, ‘What would be the produce alternative to X?’”

That said, Means doesn’t believe the healthful snacking trend is about health alone, nor is it about denying certain foods. “It’s about making fruits and vegetables a priority, but they have to taste good,” she says. “Consumers primarily want good-tasting products, but if they taste good and are healthy — that’s a bonus.”

As to the future of nourishing noshing, it appears that healthful snacks are increasingly getting their due.

“The category is very much moving to a place where it is about using snacks as a force for good, rather than accepting they are a dietary evil,” notes Datamonitor’s Savara. “Functional snacks are targeting health issues, personalized snacks are addressing dietary restrictions, and constant ingredient innovation is enhancing the potential for great-tasting snacks containing fewer food villains.”

“Mindful of the negative health implications of processed snacks like potato chips, consumers are turning to natural alternatives like fresh fruit and vegetables.”
–Tanvi Savara, Datamonitor

“In produce marketing and merchandising, we need to be sure we’re competing in the snack arena in ways that make our products as attractive to consumers as what they traditionally think of as snacks.”
–Kathy Means, Produce Marketing Association