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Planet Positive Snacking


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The Snacking sector is continually evolving to keep up with the ever changing snacking habits of consumers globally.  Except in France that is, where the French are known for not snacking!

There are various snacking trend reports readily available on-line, including the Mondelez State of Snacking report.  Some of the recent trends that we’ve come across include:

  • Snacking preferred as regular eating habit over regular mealtimes;
  • Healthy snacking, with consumers thinking about their wellbeing;
  • Purchasing via different channels – think delivery apps and direct-to-consumer websites;
  • Gifted snacking;
  • Consumers making purchasing decisions with a level of mindfulness for themselves, society and the planet.

The fight against climate change is influencing changes in the snacking market.  It’s worth taking a look at the Ellen Macarthur Foundation website, to see their thoughts on the circular economy and how we can make a better food system. 

Food waste is a huge issue, exacerbated by recent conflicts, with over 30% of all food produced globally lost or going to waste – a big problem for society and the planet.   Upcycled food could help alleviate this problem by creating new, high-quality products from surplus food.   The Upcycled Food Association is one of the organisations championing the upcycling of food waste.  Upcycled Food Association (UFA) is a non-profit organisation working to prevent food waste by accelerating the upcycled economy. UFA is a network of more than 180 businesses from around the world, collaborating to empower consumers to prevent food waste with the products they buy. UFA recently launched the Upcycled Certified™ program, the world’s first product certification for upcycled products and ingredients.

 

At Strategic Allies, we’re seeing a major uptake in client projects looking at replacing materials/ingredients with more sustainable alternatives, looking at making manufacturing processes more efficient and less wasteful and generally thinking more about circular business models.  Here are some of the young exciting companies, from the snacking world,  that we’ve come across that are thinking about the planet and taking action.

Tackling food waste…..

Too good to go, founded in Denmark in 2015, is one company you are most likely to have heard about. They are all about eliminating Food waste and getting the world’s largest food brands on board to rethink date labels.  Their mission is to inspire and empower everyone to take action against food waste and save food that’s ‘too good to go’ to waste.  The company has developed a B2C app, allowing companies to sell off close to “end-of-date” food as “Magic Bags” and for Consumers to pick up a bargain whilst reducing food waste. The company is doing well and is operating in more than 15 European countries and the US, at the date of this article.

 

Using upcycled ingredients….

Kazoo Snacks is a US based company founded by Joshua Death, using upcycled corn germ to make tortilla chips.  The tortilla chips are made using 40% upcycled corn germ, with the upcycling reducing Kazoo’s water footprint by at least 20 gallons of water per bag of chips.  Their proprietary manufacturing process allows the company to upcycle corn germ that would have otherwise gone to animal feed.

 

Sustainable, alternative sources of protein ( and maybe controversial?)…….

Eat Grub are a UK based, food brand using insect based ingredients to create snack products, including Smokin’ hot flavoured Crunchy Roasted Crickets.   Insects are a highly nutritious source of food and alternative protein source.  The company have produced cookbooks to help people understand how the products can be used.

 

Rethinking packaging…..

Twiice, are a young New Zealand company, founded in 2019, in the packaging and container sector.  The company has developed an edible cup that can be used as an early morning pick-me-up or late-night dessert.  We have been eating ice-cream in edible cones for some time now, but this is  taking that concept to the next level.  The Twiice edible cups are no-waste, free from additives and preservatives and leakproof!

UK based Notpla is a startup creating sustainable packaging out of seaweed and plants.   Their first product was Ooho, a flexible packaging sachet that is suitable for drinks and sauces, which is 100% edible (ideal for takeaway sauces and condiments) – leaving behind zero waste – or alternatively, it can biodegrade in 4-6 weeks.  Notpla are developing other products and machinery:

  • The company is developing a bespoke manufacturing machine that produces Oohos sachets in the range of 15-100ml, depending on the application. Once fully tested and scaled up the plan is to lease the machines and sell cartridges of materials to food manufacturers, co-packers and event organisers, enabling them to produce and sell Oohos containing drinks or sauces as desired.
  • Notpla has developed a Notpla Liner, which tackles the problem of water- and grease-proofing cardboard takeaway food containers. As opposed to conventional lined cardboard, which usually uses plastic, Notpla’s is biodegradeable and even re-pulpable.

Notpla is definitely a company to watch!

 

No packaging…..

Ryeharvest Limited is one of our fellow tenants at Rothamsted Enterprises.  Ryeharvest have just launched their first product Nurhu (rebranded to One Good Thing in 2022), a range of energy bars with edible packaging.  Find out about the inspiration behind Nuhru in the Strategic Allies Tech Spotlight.

 

This is just a small selection of the many young companies we have recently come across, and there are lots of others out there.  This is an exciting sector with lots of innovation helping tackle the climate crisis as well as provide tasty snacks.  A space to watch!

 

Strategic Allies works with multinational manufacturing companies, across all sectors, who are seeking differentiation through partners with innovative technologies and solutions for their products and services.  If you’d like to find out more about how we can help you to explore and exploit new markets and/or offer opportunities to differentiate your offerings, please contact John Allies at john@strategicallies.co.uk