Ideal Snacks is a compression popping, better-for-you snack manufacturer, producing products without frying in oil.
“Our process is naturally low in fat. Our products contain one or two grams of fat, as opposed to maybe seven or nine [grams of fat] for a potato chip,” the company’s VP of contract manufacturing, Gunther Brinkman, told BakeryandSnacks at Snaxpo held in Savannah, Georgia at the beginning of April.
The company recently worked with Our Little Rebellion on its popped corn snack, PopCorners, he said.
“About half of the chips [we’re developing] are made with some sort of expanding starch, rice or corn. Cassava also works very well. Into that, we can blend a number of different ancient sprouted grains, peas and pulses,” Brinkman said.
Products, perception and probiotics
Brinkman noted that many of the larger CPG companies seemed to be struggling with a dissonance between their existing products, their perception of the market place and the future of probiotics.
“Some of the smaller companies we are working with are not starting from the position where they’ve (the bigger companies) already been pegged as something in particular.”
Brinkman said big chip manufacturers, such as Frito-Lay, should either introduce a new brand that's fortified with probiotics or carve out a little bit of their brand equity that “doesn’t scream fat and actually says health.”
Beet snacks
Ideal Snacks showcased several snack prototypes at Snaxpo, including a probiotics-fortified beet popper made from popped rice and wheat-based pellets covered with cocoa.
The company sources its probiotics from Ganeden BC30.
Growing probiotics market
Global Market Insights forecast the North America probiotics market may gain over 6.5% in CAGR to be worth $6.5bn by 2023, while the global probiotics market is expected to worth $64.6bn by 2023.
Brinkman said Ideal Snacks has experienced a double-digit growth in 2016 - with bean and pulse-based chips being the major growth drivers - and hopes to maintain its strong performance this year.
IPA World Congress + Probiota Americas
The IPA World Congress + Probiota Americas 2017 in San Francisco, June 7-9, explores the probiotic scientific frontier, its evolution and commercial application in food, supplements and related product areas.
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