Kids, Teens Top Snack Eating Occasions

The typical American eats over 1,000 snack-oriented convenience foods throughout the year, and kids and teens are the heaviest consumers of such foods, reports The NPD Group.

According to NPD’s snacking research, women eat 3.1 snack-oriented convenience foods per day on average, compared to 2.7 snacks for men.

About eight in 10 in-home snack food occasions are considered to be a snack-oriented convenience food versus other foods, regardless of time of day, finds NPD’s “Snack Track.” During a typical year, there are over 356 billion eating occasions of such foods.

Among the top ten motivators for selecting a particular snack are: “like the taste,” “was hungry,” “had a craving,” “favorite snack,” and “was simple and easy to eat,” finds NPD. While taste is the leading motivator across all age groups, women are more likely to select snack foods to satisfy specific expectations -- chocolate, sweet, crunchy, healthy -- while kids’ favorite snacks are simply fun to eat. Fresh fruit, chocolate, potato chips, cookies and yogurt are, in rank order, the top five snack-oriented convenience foods consumed annually.

“An individual’s mood and situation has a strong effect on what will be snacked on,” said Darren Seifer, NPD food and beverage industry analyst. “Connecting your marketing messages to the emotional nature of snacking – think taste, cravings and indulgence — will help drive your product’s selection.”

Chicago-based NPD Group provides comprehensive consumer and retail information to more than 2,000 manufacturers, retailers and service companies to help them drive critical business decisions at the global, national and local market levels.