The knack for sugary snacks
New figures from the NPD Group, a global information company, show that’s doughnuts are among the fastest growing ‘out of home’ snack items in the year ending December 2013.
The year ending December 2013 saw an increase of 11.1% servings of doughnuts compared to the previous year, bringing the total number of servings for the year up to 63.7 million. Brownies came a close second, growing by 10.9% to a total of 54.6 million servings for the year.
Consumers also claimed that the desire for a little treat is a big motivator to snack. ‘Treat’ snacking accounted for 14.5% of all snacking in 2013.
However, overall the appetite among Britons for snacking away from home is declining, with a 2.3% drop in the year ending December 2013 following several years of growth. Pubs saw the biggest drop in snacking business, with 28 million fewer snacking visits in the year ending December 2013 (a decrease of 11.7%).
In fact, most snacking occasions declined including ‘on-premises- snacking, and snacking at school or work. However, snacking on the go is on the rise, with people eating in cars or other forms of transport up by 2.6%.
The biggest loss of appetite for snacking was among the C2DE social groups, with snack visits down by 13.1%. In contrast, snack visits among the more affluent ABC1s were up by 5%. But consumers will still be tempted to snack if there’s a promotional deal involved. Snacking visits to take advantage of a promotion increased this year by 2.1%.
Chocolate bars finished the year way ahead, with 7.3% of all snack visits including one of these treats. Cake and crisps came in 2nd and 3rd, while beef burgers came in 4th, narrowly beating ice cream into 5th place.
Jessica Chambers, client development manager for The NPD Group, says, “We spent £8.1 billion on ‘out of home’ snacks in 2013 so we are not losing our knack for a snack, even though some people are definitely trying to save money by snacking less often. And with three sweet snacks in the top five fastest growing, and nearly 425 million servings of chocolate and cake happily consumed out of home in 2013, we clearly have a sweet tooth.”
