Dive Brief:
- Brownie Brittle is launching three organic varieties: chocolate chip, pretzel with dark chocolate and chocolate with toasted coconut.
- Founder Sheila G. Mains told Food Business News the move to go organic was in response to requests from retailers and fans of its 120-calories per 1-ounce serving packages featuring flavors such as toffee crunch and salted caramel.
- After more than a year of experimenting to find the right organic ingredients, the company was able to replicate the flavor and crunch of the original treat.
Dive Insight:
The original product has been endorsed by Weight Watchers as a guilt-free snack, and eventually the company put the calorie count on the front of the package. Mains said the company created a rich indulgent snack that "wasn’t going to kill your calorie count for the day."
Consumers seek better-for-you and healthier snacks, but at the same time want to indulge in rich and sweet treats every now and then — without the guilt. Manufacturers of indulgent foods can capitalize on trends such as organic, natural and functionality when developing sweets.
When it comes to snacking on sweets, food companies will find the baby boomer generation is expected to stem the decline of the sweet snack foods, according to a study by NDP Group. "Part of it has to with life stages," NDP’s Darren Seifer told Food Dive. "When we get older we tend to develop a bit of a sweet tooth, and every once in a while we want a sweet indulgence."
Today, Americans turn to savory snacks and better-for-you snacks — sweet snacks have fallen behind the other two. The only time of day sweet snacks outperform the other two categories is 8 p.m.