9 November 2018 548 words, 3 min. read Latest update : 27 October 2023

Market research at SIAL Paris 2018. Trend #2: Easy Snacking

By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab PhD in marketing, director of IntoTheMinds
Pleasure remains one of the significant areas of innovation in the field of food and the SIAL Paris 2018 world food exhibition allowed us to identify some exciting products that are following this trend. To understand all the market trends, […]

Pleasure remains one of the significant areas of innovation in the field of food and the SIAL Paris 2018 world food exhibition allowed us to identify some exciting products that are following this trend. To understand all the market trends, don’t hesitate to consult our other articles (superfoods, clean foods, vegetarian alternatives, sensational foods) as well as all our tips for visiting SIAL effectively and an overview of the innovations in the 2018 food market in figures.

Enjoy your reading and discoveries and do not hesitate to contact us for any questions or market research needs.

Betters international

Betters International is a company of American origin with headquarters in Monaco. This year at SIAL, it was awarded an innovation prize (Bronze medal, that is to say, 3rd place in the overall competition and 1st prize in the “fruit and vegetables” category) for its BeKids innovation. Specialists in freeze-drying (a process that consists in sublimating the water contained in a product after freezing) Betters International offered SIAL its “Be Kids” range of freeze-dried fruit sticks for children.

Several fruits are already available:

  • watermelon
  • mango
  • pineapple
  • banana

We even had the opportunity to taste a prototype of a freeze-dried strawberry (see picture below) with a very striking appearance.

From a gustative point of view Be Kids is really very pleasant (especially mango) and the properties of the product are well preserved. From a texture point of view, we prefer the “Be Sweets” version, smaller pieces of fruit whose taste is less affected by the lack of water in the product. We are particularly fond of freeze-dried tomatoes, which are just amazing.

The “Be Kids” lollipops should be marketed in 2019 for a very aggressive public price of less than 1€.

A frozen dried strawberry in BeKinds format by Betters International

Eat Real

Eat Real is a British company known initially as CoFresh. Founded in the 1970s by Indian born businessmen, it has always focused on the snacking market segment and has been successful thanks to its “Bombay Mix” and “Balti Mix” products, which have allowed it to export to 48 countries.

A strategic marketing decision was taken 4 years ago that led the company to adopt a new commercial identity under the name of ” Eat Real ” and to propose healthier alternatives concerning snacking. While the products behind the company’s success are still known, Eat Real is now claiming its position on “healthy snacking” thanks to its range of vacuum-fried vegetables, a process that reduces the amount of oil used and significantly reduces the formation of acrylamide, a suspected cancer-inducing compound.

It is tastefully a very good product, but our preference is for “Snap Pea Crunch” containing only beans.

Packaged in 60g bags, the “Veggie Bites” and “Snap Pea Crunch” are sold for about 2€.

Cynara: artichoke crisps

One of the first companies we visited was Cynara, selected for the SIAL Innovation competition for its artichoke crisps. The SME is based in Murcia in southern Spain and specialises in artichokes.

Their latest product has been on the market since the beginning of the year and is in the form of artichoke crisps. For the Spanish SME, this was an attempt to diversify.

If the idea is original (artichoke crisps are not an absolute novelty), we found that the particular taste of the artichoke was no longer sufficiently present.



Posted in Innovation.

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