I’m about to tell you a secret.
But before I tell you this secret, I should preface it by saying that I love all snacks. That is no hyperbole. I love them all. And believe me, I’ve made it a personal mission to try as many as I can.
But, like anyone, I do have a favorite. It’s corn nuts.
I know: In a sea of snacks, how can a self-proclaimed snack expert revere those tiny, tooth-breaking beer accompaniments? Have you not seen the Sriracha potato chips, you say? Yes, yes; they are mighty delicious. What about the zesty barbecue and onion hot-dog-flavored corn puffs? Yes, I love those too. Roasted sea salt almonds? Hmmm, a solid second place, for sure.
But if you told me I could only have one snack for the rest of my life, I would tell you—after getting mad and shouting a few unprintable expletives—that snack would be corn nuts. Without a doubt.
Part of that affection comes from childhood memories. Road trips to visit my grandparents in Ohio meant nine hours worth of potential convenience-store stops. And each stop represented a chance for a treat. However, a treat in my family meant something that was only somewhat indulgent—nothing blatantly sugary like a candy bar, a bag of gummy bears or a Twinkie.
So I chose corn nuts—almost every time.
Sure, there weren’t as many options back then. In those days, we’d pull up to a c-store in our yellow, two-door AMC Pacer, windows down because there wasn’t air conditioning, kids rolling around free-range in the back seat, and Neil Young on the radio. We three kids would run inside and grab a snack of our choice: My brother always picked a Little Debbie Nutty Bar, and my sister, whom I still don’t understand to this day, would willingly choose grapes or a cheese stick.
They didn’t have Sriracha-flavored chips when I was a kid. And I certainly didn’t have hundreds of protein and nutrition bars to choose from. You had corn chips and potato chips, and that was about it. There were no fancy quinoa or turnip chips on the shelves back then.
The Balancing Act
Today, I am my mother’s daughter. I try to help my kids make the best choices they can when faced with both indulgent and better-for-you (BFY) options. And you know what?
It takes forever.
There are so many options—and rightfully so. We are in a period of transition, one that sees core SKUs sharing space with newcomers with a healthy twist. There are fewer duplicative facings to make room for the new guys, too. There’s just more to look at, and more subcategories of snacks—way more than there were back in 1985 when I was unbuckled in the back seat of the car we called Big Bird. I don’t think nutrition, energy and protein bars existed. The closest thing was likely a granola bar, and I would have never entertained that option over corn nuts.
Consumers are saying they want better-for-you options, but retailers shouldn’t forget those core SKUs. It is, as with anything in retail, a balancing act. For every Pringles chip, try an alternative-veggie chip. For every corn-chip SKU, try a baked option. For every corn nut, why not try actual nuts?
Take a look at our cover feature (p. 8) on the disruptive growth of natural, organic and better-for-you snacks to see what some of the experts are saying about this category in flux.
We look at the numbers that help identify the category’s growing relevance: Twenty-nine percent of consumers indicate that they have purchased more healthy snacks this year, and 43% of millennials have said they buy more of these items. And then we explore ways in which retailers can effectively integrate these BFY treats and snacks into their sets.
So go ahead, try something new. Just don’t touch my corn nuts.
Abbey Lewis is a lover of snacks and editor-in-chief of Convenience Store Products. Reach her at alewis@winsightmedia.com.
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