Dive Brief:
- Bananas are booming with appearances in everything from desserts and snack foods to flavor applications such as snack seasonings for chips and popcorn, assorted dry baking mixes, and cream cheese and dip seasonings.
- Part of the reason for this increased popularity is the consumer health trend, as consumers often think food is healthier if it contains fruit, even if the product is not inherently healthy. Also, banana pairs well with other foods, such as walnut, chocolate, and other fruit, and specialized banana flavors like banana cream pie and bananas foster are being asked for by consumers.
- Banana also comes in more ingredient forms today beyond just flavoring, including freeze-dried, dehydrated, in slices, dices, chips, powders, flour, and juice concentrates, which increases its versatility in food and beverage products.
Dive Insight:
From a marketing standpoint, the rise of bananas could in part be attributed to the success of the film "Minions," in which the main characters have an affinity for the fruit. Hostess Brands, PepsiCo, and General Mills have all launched "Minions"-themed banana-inspired products in the past year.
And it's not just the U.S. — PepsiCo's Frito-Lay introduced Cinnamon Banana Cheetos in Japan, and Mars developed banana-flavored M&M’s chocolate candies for Australian consumers.