Stores may be filled with more adventurous products, but newer flavor profiles aren’t replacing the classic and nostalgic. Instead, many brands are looking to both current trends and timeless tastes to create products that grab – and hold – consumer interest.
A bold move
Things are heating up, according to experts, with many brands responding to an increased tolerance – and preference – for spice.
According to T. Hasegawa flavor house, the total market for hot sauce in North America is more than $1.36bn and that’s expected to grow. When it comes to bakery and snacks, this appetite is typically met by dry seasoning added to bread, crackers and salty snacks – familiar vehicles for less familiar flavors.
It’s a movement that’s being driven by younger consumers who, said 210 Analytics’ Anne-Marie Roerink – a panelist on Bakery&Snacks’ recent webinar debating the parameters of a healthy snack – are more likely to experiment with spice.
“Many innovations by young brands and line extensions of legacy brands are playing into this trend,” she added.
“While these are often not the big sellers, retailers leverage these types of items as limited time offers. Seeing a fun new flavor, like crackers with sriracha or a bagel with jalapeño, can result in that extra item in the cart.”
Bold flavors and combinations can also boost brands’ social media reach, helping to drive growth in a tough market.
Global flavors also have huge potential. According to Mintel’s 2024 Salty Snacks report, 27% of respondents said they’d try products inspired by international cuisine. Increasingly, Asian, Latin American, and Mediterranean notes are taking consumers’ tastebuds on a journey.
T. Hasagawa named ube, the bright purple root originating in Filipino cuisine, its Flavor of the Year for 2024, while on a spicier note, points to Korean gochujang as ‘the next sriracha’.
Swicy: here to stay?
Combine spices with sweet notes and bam! Sweet and savory is nothing new, but the position of ‘swicy’ (sweet and spicy) products in the bakery and snacks category seems far from a passing trend.
Hot honey is a prime example and manufacturers are introducing ever-bolder combinations. Rudolph Foods has added extra heat to its Southern Recipe pork rinds, adding Hot Honey and Pineapple Ancho Chile flavors.
Cody Masters, executive chef for Everson Spice, believes success comes down to balancing sweet and spicy – it’s the sweetness, he said, that makes the spice approachable.
“Blends like Habanero, Maple & Bourbon and Cherry & Jalapeno Cola have all proved successful because the consumer is excited to experience the heat, but I’m evoking nostalgia and/or pleasure in the taste by pairing it with very comfortable flavors,” he told Bakert&Snacks.
“Sweet evokes comfort and nostalgia.”
Which takes us to the flip side: palates are also gravitating backwards, with nostalgic flavors coming to the fore. Canadian-based Coco Bakery is among those to jump on the trend, launching macarons in Birthday Cake and Peanut Butter & Jam flavors.
“As much as experimentation with unthinkable combinations and new flavors is a thing, sometimes it’s all about tradition and the known, the childhood favorite,” said Roerink.
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For Masters, nostalgia and experimentation are far from mutually exclusive.
“Take something like popcorn. There’s a new brand called NOMAD, which won the Best Salty Snack Award at this year’s Snack Expo with its Ramen varient. For something like that, I see the popcorn being just as nostalgic as the ramen flavor, especially for certain demographics, while also fusing two cultural nostalgias together.”
Healthier choices
Health and wellness are increasingly important factors: more than 24% of consumers seek products that are diet friendly, according to Mintel’s 2024 Salty Snacks report, while 21% crave snacks with functional benefits.
This is perhaps an opportunity for brands to tap into a previous underserved market. Consumers who, in the past, may have swerved the snack aisles due to health concerns are being won over by added wellness functionality. They’re still choosing bakery and snack products that are indulgent, yes, but in a balanced way.
Debating the principles of a healthy snack
Today, consumers have veered away from the three-meals-a-day tradition to all-day grazing, a trend termed ‘snackification’. This is driving the demand for better-for-you (BFY) snacks that offer functional benefits to boost energy and moods, aid digestion and gut health, and get fortification from protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals and probiotics, among others.
It's conscious snacking that helps meet nutritional needs with the benefits of functional ingredients but still provides guilt-free pleasure and indulgence. It also means fulfilling the desire for better practices to protect the planet and society, in general, along with the demand for enhanced sensory experiences.
Is there such a snack? Find out more.
The biggest challenge may be pinning down exactly what 'healthy' mans, from clean label and free from to products targeting specific concerns.
According to Mark Webster, VP of Sales & Business Development at T. Hasegawa, “The only consistent aspect of successful ‘healthy’ products is that they taste great – so flavor science has evolved and progressed to offer practical solutions and technologies that deliver on health trends without compromising on flavor.”
Our very definition of health and wellness is changing, too, moving beyond calorie-counting and dietary concerns.
When Gen Zers in particular talk about health, they’re also talking about emotional wellbeing.
“Innovations include the full spectrum from inclusion of ingredients that add nutrients, whether that is protein, fruit or vegetable inclusions or turmeric, to items that may be more indulgent in nature but have a sheer happiness halo,” said Roerink.
In other words, healthy can encompass products that bring smiles to faces, while choosing flavors that awaken tastebuds or evoke happy memories can translate into sales.