Snack World - May 2013 - (Page 17)

Potato Chips Slicing and Spicing By offering new flavors and varieties, potato chip manufacturers help keep their products from becoming stale with consumers. In any given year, new potato chip styles and varieties find their way onto retailers’ shelves. However, shoppers continue to purchase the tried-and-true potato chips as well such as plain varieties that can be a snack on their own or paired with dips. Some of the products introduced this past year included 40% Less Fat Sea Salt & Pepper, Non-GMO Project Verified chips, Rippled Baked Potato Crisps, Sweet Potato Chips and many others. “Flavor trends continue to focus on spicy and barbecue,” said Steve Sklar, senior vice-president of marketing, Inventure Foods, Phoenix. “Bacon also seems to be popping more and more. Ethnic and strong flavors are an overall theme in flavor trends we are seeing.” The Ruffles brand expanded with several new lines this past year including Ruffles Ultimate. These extensions perhaps cannibalized sales from the traditional Ruffles brand, which remains as the second-largest potato chip despite a 3% sales decline, according to SymphonyIRI. Frito-Lay also reached out to consumers for flavor inspiration as part of its “Do Us a Flavor” contest. It introduced three consumer-inspired flavors — Cheesy Garlic Bread, Chicken & Waffles and Sriracha — from nearly 3.8 million submissions gathered in less than three months last year. BUILDING WITH BACON On the bacon bandwagon, Inventure offers TGI Friday’s Cheddar & Bacon Potato Skins snack chips and is rolling out a Bacon Cut Fry under its Nathan’s Famous license, according to Mr. Sklar. Kettle Brands, Salem, OR, which is known for pioneering potato chip flavors, will introduce two varieties this summer. After more than nine months of development and extensive testing, the final flavor combinations, Maple Bacon and Sweet & Salty kettle-cooked potato chips, were selected from hundreds of prototypes. Even Frito-Lay North America, Inc., Plano, TX, found inspiration with bacon flavors, launching a BLT-flavored chip in the top-selling Lay’s Classic line. The company also introduced a Loaded Bacon & Cheddar Potato Skins-flavored potato chip in its new Ruffles Max line. BAKED VS. REDUCED FAT Herr Foods, Inc., Nottingham, PA, which came out with Baked Potato Crisps in 2009, is now combining the classic ripple-cut potato chips with the wholesome goodness of an oven-baked crisp. Herr’s Ripple Baked Potato Crisps are now available in Original and Aged Cheddar varieties. While talk continues about how consumers want healthier snacks, their spending habits with potato chips do not necessarily reflect that sentiment. Baked potato crisps with less fat than regular potato chips have seen declining sales in recent years. Sales for Baked Lay’s and Baked Ruffles declined 13.8% and 6%, respectively, according to the SymphonyIRI Group. Baptista’s Bakery, a Franklin, WI-based company, makes a lot of potato crisps, but Tom Howe, president, noted that sales for those products has shrunk quite a bit in past years. “It is bringing to the marketplace what people want, not necessarily what they say they want,” he said. “It is not what people say, it’s about what people do.” Kettle Brand Bakes claim to be the only baked potato chips made from real potato slices, and the company launched two new flavors this past year: Sour Cream & Onion and Cheddar www.sfa.org May 2013 Snack World 17 http://www.sfa.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Snack World - May 2013

Snack World - May 2013