After seeing a shift in consumer shopping behaviors, Simply decided to venture beyond natural gum and mint products and explore the creation of candy with its all-new Smoothie Bites. The clean, natural and crunchy bites are snackable treats that are made with freeze-dried fruit pieces and skim milk yogurt. The bites share four grams of natural fruit per serving and just 75 calories per bag.
Made with real fruit and non-GMO ingredients, the Strawberry Banana Yogurt Smoothie Bites are free from added sugar and artificial sweeteners, since they are already naturally sweet. The free-from Smoothie Bites are also made without nuts, soy, gluten, corn and sesame, so they have the potential to appeal to a wide range of ingredient-conscious consumers who are craving a sweet snack.
Key Themes Behind This Trend
- Clean & Natural Snacking
- Brands can innovate by creating more grab-and-go natural snacks that are low in calories and sugar, made with real fruit and non-GMO ingredients.
- Freeze-drying Technology
- Investment in freeze-drying technology can help brands diversify their product lines with unique, crunchy texture snacks while preserving the nutritional value of the ingredients.
- Customized Snacks
- Personalized freeze-dried fruit snack subscriptions can be a disruptive innovation opportunity for startups to create curated snack boxes for health and wellness-conscious consumers.
Where This Applies
- Food and Beverage
- Food and beverage companies can explore innovation opportunities in the clean snacking segment by using freeze-drying technology and natural ingredients to create more low calorie and low sugar grab-and-go snacks.
- Nutrition and Health
- With a growing focus on health and wellness, nutrition and health companies can propose personalized plans that incorporate healthy snack options such as freeze-dried fruit and low sugar yogurt bites.
- E-commerce
- E-commerce companies can leverage this trend by offering subscription-based services that allow consumers to create custom boxes of freeze-dried snacks based on their taste preferences or dietary restrictions.
