With today’s busy consumers on the lookout for healthy grab-and-go snacks, protein-packed bars, cookies, and other snack options have exploded in popularity over the past few years. Whether it’s a crunchy peanut butter protein bar or nutty trail mix with yogurt-covered raisins, consumers are concerned about the healthiness of the snacks they’re eating, with 30% of Americans claiming to only snack on healthy foods.

Yogurt has long been a go-to ingredient for many manufacturers and the category has consistently grown year over year. Capitalizing on the trend is both popular and challenging for manufacturers — popular because including the word “yogurt” on a label implies certain healthful benefits that appeal to consumers, but challenging because using fresh yogurt introduces a host of complications: special permitting, a limited shelf life and even some risk of product contamination.

Nearly 70% of today’s adult Americans are considered to be overweight or obese, and the consequences of this epidemic are dramatic. Obesity-related conditions such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer have associated medical costs estimated to be between $150 and nearly $210 billion every year. With growing concern about their health and wellbeing, consumers are looking for healthy and satisfying foods to help them combat this trend. 

When we first introduced Grande Primo™ Dried Yogurt there was a whole lot of excitement around the fact that food and beverage manufacturers now had a way to put “yogurt” on their labels without needing to use fresh yogurt in their formulations. As you know, fresh yogurt requires a specific type of permit, has a relatively short shelf life, and has some risk of contamination that other products don’t. 

There’s no question that today’s consumers are seeking out healthier, more natural foods. From lowfat dressings and dips to lowfat desserts, it’s hard to go grocery shopping these days without seeing healthier, more natural product variations lining the shelves. In fact, 62% of consumers seek out minimally processed foods while shopping, and 84% of Americans buy “free-from” foods (e.g., gluten-free, sugar-free, fat-free, preservative-free, etc.) because they believe them to be more natural and less processed. Even traditionally sweet and salty foods, like cookies and crackers, are getting a healthy overhaul, but making these sweet and salty snacks healthier isn’t exactly easy for manufacturers.

You’ve no doubt heard the old saying before: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. When consumers skip breakfast, their metabolism and blood sugar levels are thrown off for the rest of the day, and research has shown that breakfast skippers are at a higher risk for heart disease and diabetes. The thing is, however, many consumers aren’t skipping breakfast because they want to cut an extra meal’s worth of calories out of their diet; the second most cited reason for skipping breakfast is simply not having enough time! 

For food and beverage manufacturers, keeping up with the latest consumer trends is a never-ending battle – especially with fickle Millennials having more buying power these days. In one quarter, your products might stand out as favorites with your audience, but if a trendy new superfood or diet fad enters your space, it won’t be surprising if your customers jump ship for the next big thing. Consumer preferences are changing much more quickly than they did in the past, and today’s brands need to be willing to change with them, or risk being ignored by consumers.

Over the past few years, there’s been a noticeable shift in the eating habits of American consumers, and it starts with eating more snacks. Today’s consumers are moving away from the “three square meals” approach, and now favor 4-5 smaller meals and eating snacks as meal replacements instead. According to the white paper “Snacker Nation” from the Sullivan Higdon & Sink FoodThink, researchers found that 81% of consumers admit to snacking at least once a day, with nearly half snacking a couple of times a day or more. And with 23% of consumers saying they also intend to snack more in the future, it’s time for food manufacturers to get serious about their snack food offerings.

Today, 78% of U.S. consumers agree that protein contributes to a healthy diet, and more than half of adults say they want more of it in their own diet. Despite its numerous health benefits and superfood status, however, if there’s one thing holding consumers back from eating more protein, it’s this: they think all protein-rich foods will taste and look like the protein shakes and bars bodybuilders eat.