IRI research showed the salty snacks category saw notable to strong growth over the past year, particularly in dollar sales. Traditional snacks and their brand extensions performed particularly well.
The salty snacks category saw $23.7 billion in sales over the past year, up 4.7%. By segment, cheese snacks had $2.3 billion in sales, up 7.7%; other salted snacks, not including nuts, $4.4 billion, up 9.2%; pork rinds, $470.8 million, up 11.3%; potato chips, $7.5 billion, up 2.1%; ready-to-eat popcorn and caramel corn, $1.3 billion, up 5%; and tortilla and tostada chips, $5.2 billion, up 4.2%.
Frito-Lay led nearly every segment, with standouts including Doritos, which had $2.2 billion in sales, an increase of about 6% over the past year, while the brand accounted for $42 of every $100 sold in the tortilla and tostada chips segment. Lay’s saw $2.2 billion in sales as well, an increase of 0.84% over the past year, and the brand accounted for $29 of every $100 sold in potato chips. Ruffles had $1 billion in sales, an increase of 18.2% from the past year, which was $14 of every $100 sold in that segment. In addition, Cheetos saw $1.7 billion in sales, an increase of 6.2% from last year, and the brand accounted for $75 of every $100 sold in cheese snacks.
While products like Cheetos Paws Cheese Snacks saw just $35 million in sales over the past year, dollar sales were up 312% during that time. Frito-Lay is experiencing incremental growth with its clean label and better-for-you brands as well, as evidenced by Lay’s Poppables. Although the snack had just $74 million in sales, dollar sales were up 570% in the last year. In addition, Lay’s Oven Baked Potato Chips had $77 million in sales and dollar sales were up 360%.
For the full story, go to this week’s Food Institute Report.