State of Snacking™ report explores global consumer snacking trends

Mondelēz International, an American multinational confectionery, food and beverage holding company, has announced the launch of its first-ever State of Snacking™ report, a global consumer trends study examining the role snacking plays across the world in meeting consumers’ evolving needs.

The study reveals the rise of global snacking, underscored by regional parallels demonstrating how snacks are said to be helping lead the future of food by delivering on the spectrum of needs that exists in our day-to-day lives.

The State of Snacking report, developed in partnership with consumer polling specialist, The Harris Poll, uses research conducted among thousands of consumers across twelve countries.

According to the report, six in 10 adults worldwide (59 percent) say they prefer to eat many small meals throughout the day, as opposed to a few larger ones, with younger consumers especially leaning into snacks over meals as that number rises to seven in 10 among millennials (70 percent).

Key findings from the 2019 State of Snacking report include:

Consumer relationship with food is fundamentally changing

• For consumers around the world, the role food plays in health and wellbeing is top of mind; people are more commonly considering how smaller bites – snacks – effect their emotional wellbeing, as well as their physical health
  • For more than eight in 10 people, convenience (87 percent) and quality (85 percent) are among the top factors impacting snack choice
  • 80 percent of consumers are looking for healthy, balanced bites
  • 71 percent of adults say snacking helps them control their hunger and manage their calories throughout the day
• However, moments of indulgence continue to have an important place in daily routines
  • 80 percent of adults worldwide acknowledge the need for balance by appreciating the option of both healthy and indulgent snacks depending on the moment of need
  • 77 percent of consumers agree there is a time and a place for a healthy snack, and a time and a place for an indulgent one
  • The majority of people say snacks are just as important to their mental (71 percent) and emotional (70 percent) wellbeing as their physical wellbeing.

Snacking is about so much more than what we eat

• Snacking is a keyway for people around the world to connect to their culture and share their sense of identity with their communities and families
  • 71 percent say snacking is a way to remind themselves of home
  • Seven in 10 adults make an effort to share their favourite childhood snacks with others (70 percent).
• Around the world, more than eight in 10 parents use snack time as a small way to connect with their children (82 percent)
  • 76 percent of parents use snacks to pass cultural snacking rituals on to their children
  • More than three out of four parents (78 percent) say the snacks they choose for their children reflect who they are as a parent.

“As the snacking market continues to grow globally, we are living our purpose to empower people to snack right by constantly learning about the many different ways consumers around the world are snacking and evolving their relationship with food,” said Dirk Van de Put, Chairman and CEO of Mondelēz International.

“We see that the average global adult now eats more snacks than meals on a given day, driven by a number of evolving demands largely associated with how we live today, including a growing need for convenience, yearning to share nostalgic and cultural experiences, expanded wellbeing preferences and the desire for choices that range from wholesome to indulgent.

“We embrace the fact that snacking habits around the world are as diverse as the consumers who enjoy them,” continued Van de Put. “However, people snack, and they should not have to choose between snacking and eating right, or to worry about the impact their choices have on the world and their communities. That is why we are committed to empowering people to snack right.”