\n
![](\"https:\/\/content.fortune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1746855146-e1710412923939.jpg?w=2048\")
<\/p>\n [ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
In an age of relentless price rises, even the most luxurious things are replaceable. But chocolates, biscuits and nutribars aren\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n
People are prioritizing the ease and comfort of snacking in their busy lifestyles\u2014often, even replacing entire meals for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what we\u2019re seeing is the continuing, enduring power of snacking,\u201d Nick Graham, senior vice president and global head of insights and analytics at food behemoth Mondelez, told Fortune <\/em>in an interview. In its State of Snacking<\/em> report for 2023, released Thursday, the Chicago-based food company studies how consumers around the world think about snacking.<\/p>\n Graham has observed that people are using snacking \u201cincreasingly as a way to provide that pleasure [and] indulgence that\u2019s more affordable and accessible,\u201d especially when big experiences like travel feel out of reach.\u00a0<\/p>\n As the cost of living crisis has persisted, the snacking industry has grown in markets like the U.S., U.K., and Germany, according to data insights firm Mintel<\/a>. Mondelez\u2019s 2023 State of Snacking<\/em> report<\/a> found that two-thirds of people are giving in to the so-called \u201csnackification\u201d movement, breaking big meals up into smaller ones spread out throughout the day. This trend has been cooking for years, accelerated by the pivot to hybrid working, but has proved its ability to endure amid rising costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n The near-universal importance of snacking calls back to the \u201clipstick effect<\/a>,\u201d in which companies like Sephora have benefited from people splurging on smaller pleasures when they can\u2019t afford big ones during periods of economic volatility.\u00a0<\/p>\n Chocolates have been pitched as one of the many alternatives to lipsticks\u2014and they also happen to be among Mondelez\u2019s largest varieties of snacks as the company makes, with brands like Cadbury, Milka and Toblerone.\u00a0<\/p>\n The U.K.-based Savills\u2019s Stephen Toal argued that chocolate<\/a> could be the new \u201clipstick,\u201d while Deloitte suggested Bourbon (the whiskey)<\/a> was a better alternative. The takeaway? People eat and drink their inflation-linked sorrows away, and this time, they\u2019re turning to snacks.<\/p>\n Modelez reported in January<\/a> that its net revenue grew by 14.4% in 2023. However, its volume\/mix was positive, pointing to how people were actively choosing its brand despite price hikes, a Mondelez representative told Fortune<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen it historically\u2014if you go back to prior disruptions, economic recessions, etc. there is a bit of a \u2018lipstick effect\u2019 on things like chocolate and cookies in particular, where people use that as a way to access affordably, accessibly a bit of indulgence, a bit of pleasure when they can\u2019t necessarily afford other things,\u201d Graham said.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Snacking has become the dominant force in the food industry. People are opting for snacks now more than ever before\u2014so much so that the fraction of people globally snacking at breakfast or dinner has climbed to 58% in 2023 compared to 52% and 45%, respectively, in 2019, Mondelez found.\u00a0<\/p>\n Millennials and Gen Z are at the forefront of this shift away from the sacred three-meal ritual, as they navigate busier lifestyles and the need to find newer experiences through food. In its snacking report, Mondelez surveyed over 3,600 people across 12 countries and found that the \u201cexperience economy\u201d<\/a> was a big driver for people as snacking presented a moment of escape for consumers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe see this real desire for novel experiences\u2014something that\u2019s a little bit out of the ordinary,\u201d Graham said. He gave the example<\/a> of Cadbury\u2019s tropical pineapple-flavored chocolate and exotic Oreo flavors in China as ones that consumers sought.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s also becoming increasingly important, Graham said, to design snacks for the health-conscious shopper, offering nutritional benefits with a dash of guilt, while still being affordable.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the main ones for us is also making sure that we\u2019re hitting a magic price point for consumers because while we\u2019re all having to deal with the cost of living \u2026 we also know that for many consumers, particularly on lower incomes, there\u2019s just a certain price point that they\u2019re not able to afford above,\u201d Graham said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Costs have gone up on the business end, too, which has caused \u201cshrinkflation\u201d across different grocery aisles. Mondelez has shrunk some of its product sizes<\/a> and jacked up prices as ingredient costs like cocoa and sugar have soared in the last few years. While some of these moves came from the brand, Graham says consumers too have been asking for smaller packets to control their portion sizes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mondelez, like other big food companies<\/a>, plans to continue increasing prices as inflation remains elevated<\/a>. But in the meantime, snacking in every shape and form will reign supreme.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019ll start to see people using snacking as not just \u2018I\u2019m going to fill this gap\u2019 but actually really as a positive food choice to supplement their diet,\u201d Graham said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe paradigm shift to snacking<\/h2>\n
Subscribe to the new Fortune CEO Weekly Europe newsletter to get corner office insights on the biggest business stories in Europe. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n