A few hot trends from the Sweets and Snacks Expo

There are few better places to spot the latest trends in the Fourth Meal (snacking) than the Sweets and Snacks Expo, held annually in Chicago.

“It’s basically like Halloween for adults,” says Matthew Hudak, an analyst at Euromonitor, who was at the most recent show held this past week.

In a video blog, Hudak explained four trends he noticed at the show. Among them:

Health foods are back. “There are a lot of healthy veggie chips or other candy products that have antioxidants," he said.

Candies are getting smaller. Many companies are introducing smaller formats of their popular brands. For instance, Kit Kat Mini

Meat snacks are getting spicier. Flavours like jalapeno are adding some kick to the meat snack segment.

And on another meat note… ”A lot of chip manufacturers seem to be going for meat flavoured chips,” Hudak notes, pointing to flavours such as Hot Dog and Baby Back Ribs.

See his video report here.