Opportunities Ripe for Retailers as More Consumers Snack

CHICAGO —The pandemic has influenced many facets of people’s lives, and snacking is well within that sphere.

Almost three-quarters of American adults, 74%, say their meal and/or snack habits have changed during the pandemic, according to a survey conducted online by the Harris Poll for CVS Pharmacy in March.

When considering choices today compared with what they would have done before the pandemic, 67% of American adults who snack say that in general, they now snack more at home, and 52% of American adults choose better-for-you snacks and meal solutions.

These findings prompted CVS to expand its assortment of more than 140 better-for-you snacks, including more than 60 completely new to the chain.

Variety is also part of the strategy of convenience retailer Lee Harrill, who along with his son owns six Drop-In Food Stores in the Forest City, N.C., area. Harrill said he can’t rule out any products when it comes to selling snacks.

“I’m a salty snacker, but the next guy might be a sweet snacker,” said Harrill, who has been in the business 40 years. “And so we’re going to go after every part of it, because you just can’t tell.”

There are items, however, that fit the category best: grab-and-go snacks, he said.

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Today, 32% of consumers say they usually replace one meal a day with snacks, and 61% say their definition of a snack is anything consumed at nontraditional meal hours, according to the 2020 Snacking Occasion Consumer Trend report from CSP sister research firm Technomic, Chicago. As a growing number of consumers replace a meal with snacks, the report shows, retailers should offer high-protein options to help consumers satisfy cravings. “High in protein” was tied for first place with “energizing” among 10 choices of what makes a snack appealing.

Harrill has high-protein options covered when it comes to snacking. Four of his stores have full delis and sell chicken, burgers and more. A fifth store sells pizza only, and the sixth does not have a fresh-food option.

“Our big grab-and-go [options] are wings, pizza sticks, egg rolls and Hunt Brothers’ grab-and-go Hunk A Pizza, which is one-quarter of a pizza,” he said. “We also sell a lot of potato wedges and chicken strips, which are made from 100% breast meat. Our chicken is fresh, never frozen, and marinated and breaded in store. In the morning, we do a big biscuit business for the people headed to work.”

Harrill’s stores aim to strike a flavor balance when it comes to their wings, which are light on spice. “Most people do not want hot wings,” he said. “We try to hit a medium that will satisfy the most people.”

Chad White, foodservice category manager at York, Pa.-based Rutter’s, echoed Harrill’s commitment to grab-and-go snack options. The most successful snacking items are quick to grab, easily accessible and easy to eat on the run, he said. “Sweet bologna and cheese cups (pictured) are a high-selling item that is available for a quick buy in our cold case and always available. This product is already prepared and easy to eat on the road.”

White said Rutter’s promotes snacking with “twofer” offers and by adding signage at points of sale. “The signage is at times to promote an offer but also used to just get the word out that we have the product,” he said. “We also market on social media and on the kiosk to bring more visibility to the product or offer.” And because Rutter’s customers are snacking during all dayparts, “We work to promote items and have them available as much as possible to accommodate all customers.”

White said Rutter’s promotes hot snacks by staying true to their daypart but promotes and makes cold-case and center-store items always available. “At breakfast, we promote our (hot) breakfast snacking items, such as French toast tornados, and keep the hot-hold full during breakfast,” he said.

To drive foodservice traffic into his stores, Harrill includes promotions on gas pumps via video ads and pumptoppers.

When it comes to which sell better, self-serve snacks vs. those made to order, White gives the edge to the former because they are more likely impulse buys. “For example, edible cookie dough is a self-serve snack with huge success,” he said, having the advantage of always being available in the cold case as a quick-impulse purchase. However, “Mac and cheese bites (pictured) are a great item that many people grab in the later part of the day, but it is certainly an item that is made to order.”

Ultimately, White said, a good mix of made-to-order and self-serve items for quick impulse brings the most success. Harrill concurs on the benefit of a mix of products, adding a financial perspective. Ten feet from a Drop-In checkout, he said, is a table of sweets, some prepackaged, like Hostess, and some repackaged items from his distributor, Sysco, such as cakes and pies.

“Overall, you’re going to sell more name-brand stuff, but you’re going to make better margins off of the repackaged items,” he said. “You take a cake and cut it into 10 slices or eight slices and put $2.99 on it. I said, ‘This’ll never sell,’ but darn, it does. … Compared to packaged, it’s more like a fresh cake.”

This freshness component is an aspect that plays well with consumers, according to Technomic, which in its Q4 2020 C-Store Consumer Marketbrief found 32% of those surveyed said they increased their c-store purchases of food that “looks/tastes fresh.”

Harrill said selling fresh desserts near the checkout (pictured), a recent development started duringthe pandemic as a comfort-food addition, is a success that caught him by surprise. “We can’t keep these (in stock),” he said. “We had red velvet slices in a clam shell. As soon as they turn around from the checkout counter, they’re going to see all these sweets.”

Also during the pandemic, Harrill noticed that customers’ snacking tastes changed somewhat, with a shift from chips to more nutritional items like potato wedges.

This nutritional change also is reflected in the Technomic 2020 snacking trend report, which included “energizing,” “high in vitamin C,” “high in vitamin D,” “contains antioxidants,” “high in fiber” and “high in calcium” as attributes that increase the appeal of a snack.

“We were fortunate to be one of the only places open for miles around during the pandemic,” Harrill said. “I hate it for the people that were sick and having to stay in, but it really was a boost to our business. But they were buying heavier snacks, more of the meat-and-potato-type variety.” Because of the di­fficulty in finding a good selection of foods, Harrill said, customers would “get a snack, and then they’d also get something to take home.”

One trend that will never change is students coming in after school, Harrill said. This observation is bolstered by the 2020 snacking trend report, which shows 74% of consumers say they snack at least once per day.

Also, younger consumers snack the most and are more likely than older consumers to eat three meals daily with many snacks in between.

“The rhythm of our store (pictured) is it’s either school’s in or school’s out,” Harrill said, adding that being near both high schools and grammar schools really makes a difference. “At 2:30, we’re ready with pizzas and pizza sticks,” said Harrill, who varies what’s in the warmer and goes “a little heavy on egg rolls and pizza sticks during that time frame.”

Time frames and dayparts in general, for Harrill, are fluid. “There are certain things that are considered lunch items that we’re going to have out there at breakfast time,” he said. If there was ever a “The customer is always right” mentality, it comes into play here at Drop-In by starting cross-promotions early in the day and bending dayparts substantially to meet customers’ needs. Harrill said he won a new customer in July from a c-store nearer to the customer by promising him a pizza at 6 a.m.

“Our manager told that guy, if you want pepperoni pizza at 6 o’clock, you just call me and I’ll have it for you,” he said.

The competitor “didn’t want to do pizzas until 10 o’clock. …. Starting at 7 o’clock, we put pepperoni pizzas out because we’ve got third-shift people coming in, and they don’t want a breakfast pizza, but they want a pizza. … And then we run through lunch.”

This nimbleness is a trait Harrill attributes to the small size of his c-store chain. “We are small, but that means we can be more agile,” he said. “We’re going to get something and have it out there as soon as we can. And I think our customers know that every time they come in the door, from one week to the next, we’re going to have something different.”

That variety of foodservice offerings in general, and of snacks in particular (including cake slices, pictured), is a key to c-store success he thinks will become only more crucial.

“I’ve said this before: I don’t see how people make it these days with the margins if they don’t offer foodservice,” he said. “And I think it’s going to be more and more the norm.”