Rijk Zwaan launches vegetable snack brand to “inspire healthy snacking category expansion”

15 Jan 2020 --- Jumping on the bandwagon of the snacking sector’s current market boom, Dutch vegetable breeding company Rijk Zwaan has launched a new snack brand called SN!BS, consisting of small, healthy snack vegetables which can be eaten on-the-go. The new brand hopes to inspire global traders and retailers to drive further growth of the snacking category and help consumers to make healthy choices, according to the company.

“More and more consumers are keen to eat healthily and are looking for convenient snacks to eat at home, or while out and about. The snacking trend is one of the key growth drivers in retail, which has inspired Rijk Zwaan to develop a brand specifically for its growing snack range,” Jan Doldersum, Manager Chain & Retail at Rijk Zwaan, tells NutritionInsight.

Vegetable snacks are ideal for children, but also an increasingly popular choice for adults on-the-go snacking.“With the launch of SN!BS, we aim to inspire retailers and traders spanning Western Europe to the US in a bid to expand the healthy snack category. Meanwhile, retailers in emerging markets, such as Brazil, South Africa, the Middle East and China, are looking for a total solution for the snacking category. In that context, retailers can embrace SN!BS as a consumer brand to be used flexibly in line with specific local needs,” he continues.

According to Innova Market Insights, the snacking category is becoming a central focus of innovation across all food and beverage categories. Indeed, snacking trends have been solidly placed in the market researcher’s trends lists for the past two years, with “Snacks to Mini Meals” highlighted in 2018 and “Snacking: Definitive Occasions” in 2019.

As busy lifestyles continue to disintegrate traditional meal times, the SN!BS brand promotes a whole spectrum of snack vegetables for convenient yet healthy munching, ranging from familiar snack vegetables, such as tomatoes, peppers and carrots, to more unusual options, such as radish, celery, melon, lettuce, kohlrabi and cauliflower.

“Our ultimate goal is to stimulate vegetable consumption by laying the foundation for healthy and appealing vegetables. Because we have a wide range of vegetables at Rijk Zwaan, lots more innovation is possible – interms of snack vegetables and product combinations,” says Doldersum.

Retail collaboration
One concrete example of how intensive chain collaboration can drive retail success is “Little & Fresh,” a concept the company introduced in August 2019 in partnership with Dutch grocery chain Jumbo, The Greenery and many other regional organic growers. “Little & Fresh” increased Dutch households’ access to smaller-sized, organically grown vegetables sold loosely – as opposed to in bulk – to help fight food waste.

Little & Fresh helps smaller-sized households purchase organic vegetables and reduce food waste.Alongside its SN!BS launch, Rijk Zwaan will be showcasing the Little & Fresh concept and other organic ideas at the Fruit Logistica trade fair, hosted in Berlin, Germany, February 5 to 7, this year.

Forty-six percent of US consumers opt for salty snacks between meals in the afternoon, according to an Innova Market Insights report. For most consumers, snacking is still an integral part of daily nutrition, prompting a “fourth meal” culture.

Doldersum affirms Rijk Zwaan has plenty of ideas about developing its product portfolio and its packaging concepts to serve the growing snack category. “We are keen to share them – both at the event itself and at our Retail Center in Berlin,” he concludes.

Vegetables are having an increasingly strong presence in snacking, with ZEBB debuting its Veggie Bites last week. They are touted as being a bite-sized snack that offers a new way to get a full cup of vegetables into your daily diet. Each pouch of ZENB Veggie Bites offers a full cup of vegetables, is a good source of fiber and comes in a resealable package of six.

By Anni Schleicher

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