In North America, snack foods (also known as convenience foods) are a 40-billion-dollar industry and employ more than 55,000 people in over 3,000 businesses. In comparison to 20 years ago when the market was driven by less healthy food choices such as overly salty potato chips and sugar-loaded candies, growth in the industry today is fueled mostly by fortified, organic, and high-protein ingredients. The year 2016 marked a turning point in the snack food industry in North America: for the first time in snack-food history, sales growth of healthier options outpaced that of their more indulgent counterparts.
While the snack food grocery category is over 100 years old in North America and now includes everything from pretzels to jelly beans, composite cans as a packaging option are relatively new to the market. In fact, it wasn’t until major nut packagers like Planters® started canning their products in the late 1930s, and the U.S. military made use of cans to preserve and ship various foods for its troops during WWII and the Korean War that composite cans for snack foods really took off. In the late 1960s, in order to differentiate themselves from their bagged competitors, Proctor & Gamble produced the first stackable potato chip packaged in a composite can. With the slogan “Once you pop, you can’t stop”, Pringles® (now owned by Kellogg’s) went on to become one of bestselling chip brands in the world. It established the composite can as one of the top packaging options in the marketing-driven snack food industry.
Canfab is a leader in this segment and has helped many consumer food manufacturers make the right packaging choice for their product. From a communications standpoint, composite cans make products stand out to the consumer in busy retail environments because they are easy to face, stackable for island displays, and printable all the way around for a 360 degree marketing message. For conservation purposes, composite cans are available with a wide variety of inner linings and sealing options that help keep the product fresh for an extended shelf life. The various top options also make dispensing different forms of snack foods a breeze.
Send us a message or call us today at 1-888-5-CANFAB for more information on using composite cans for packaging snack foods.