Dive Brief:
- Sales of SkinnyPop, a product of Amplify Snack Brands Inc., have grown 300% in the last two years, generating revenues of $176.9 million, according to Bloomberg.
- Amplify has its sights set beyond popcorn, recently purchasing Boundless Nutrition, which makes snack bars and cookies. It is also wants a bigger piece of the salty-snack market, expanding U.S. distribution of its tortilla chip product, Paqui, an organic cheddar cheese flavored, gluten-free, non-GMO tortilla chip.
- On Monday, Amplify announced the launch of a public offering for 10 million shares of the company's common stock. The company went public in August 2015 with a $270 million initial public offering.
Dive Insight:
Sales of ready-to-eat popcorn have nearly doubled since 2011 to $1.1 billion, Bloomberg reported. PepsiCo's Frito-Lay leads the category with its Smartfood product. The RTE segment leads the popcorn category as consumers shy away from microwave popcorn; Amplify is ranked No. 4 in the overall popcorn market, according to Euromonitor.
Innovations are happening throughout the industry. Boulder Canyon Authentic Foods' Real Thin Pop popcorn applies seasonings by a departure from traditional tumble mixing, according to Food Processing. "Anybody can do a different flavor, but not everybody has the technology to use different oils," Steve Sklar of Inventure Foods (makers of Boulder Canyon) told Bloomberg.
The entire snack market is changing, which bodes well for popcorn. Research shows snacks are eaten at least once a day by nearly 83% of Americans in 2016, compared to 73% in 2014, according to Technomic.