Every food trade show I’ve attended in the past few years has been dominated by “grab and go” products. But what does this breed of portable convenience look like for the post-pandemic consumer? Snack companies are going to need to drastically reinvent their formats and packaging to service the raft of hygiene-conscious consumers that will emerge from their houses in the coming weeks and months.
In early March, a week before I started working from home, I had a Larabar for my afternoon snack. I was sitting at my computer and didn’t feel like going downstairs to wash my hands. Normally, I might break off a piece or accidentally swipe my hand against the bar while gripping it with the wrapper. But this time I was hyper-conscious to avoid doing either of those things. The unruly foil wrapper made this difficult. If energy bars are the BC (before Covid-19) model for the grab-and-go snack, producers are going to need to retool their packaging to make something truly hands-free.
On one hand, this could lead to a rise in containers with included cutlery. In 2019, Kellogg’s trialed a breakfast bowl containing freeze-dried fruits and instant oatmeal, which could be quickly reconstituted with water from a bottle or faucet. The first iteration tucked a foldable spoon under the cap for an all-in-one meal. But when I spoke with the company at the 2019 Natural Products Expo East trade show in Baltimore, they said they were working on a second edition without the spoon because consumers complained that there was too much plastic.
I’ve heard predictions that post-pandemic consumers won’t be plastic averse because packaging will signal that an item is sterile. Yet others expect that consumer will be more eco-conscious post-lockdown because they’ve seen how quickly the environment can turn around if we stop driving cars and flying non-stop. I’m anticipating something in the middle. Consumers will want to see plastic in FMCG products, but not others. I believe that most snacks come in such formats where excess plastic is unwarranted.
This might correspond to a shift in how we buy our snacks as well. In early April, PepsiCo launched two websites to sell its pantry staples and chips direct to consumers. On PantryShop.com people can purchase themed boxes filled with the company’s products. One quick click will get you a breakfast box filled with three flavors of Tropicana juice, two boxes of cereal (Life and Quaker oatmeal squares) and a pack of Quaker instant oatmeal. If you just want crunchy snacks, Snacks.com collects everything from hard-to-find Doritos flavors to Stacy’s pita chips and Smartfood popcorn. While current statistics seem to suggest that the surge in online grocery services is a mini-bubble, there will undoubtedly be people who do convert to grocery delivery. For these people, grab-and-go products could mean themed-sets, shipped directly (even better if it’s a customizable subscription service that allows them to determine re-order intervals).
For those who continue to shop at the supermarket in-person, easy-to-eat products and easy-to-handle packages will be front of mind. What if a packet of chips came with a thin glove inside to prevent you from reaching into the bag with your dirty hand? Or maybe nuts will come packaged like Tic Tacs or Nerds, allowing you to pour a few into a clean hand to eat. For granola and protein bars, paper wrappers with wax liners could allow you to simply pull away the container as you eat, rather than struggling with a crinkly foil wrapper. Every layer of the product experience will need to be reimagined, from eating accessories and container structure to materials.