Could dried ‘meat bars’ be just as popular as chocolate bars?
The Hershey Company is hoping this will be the case revealing this month that it will be launching a new line of jerky bars under its recently acquired Krave Jerky brand, according to a recent report by the US-based Quartz newsletter.
According to Quartz, the bars will come in a variety of unique flavours and they are being launched at a time when Americans are eating less chocolate.
Using Euromonitor International data, Americans in 2005 were consuming over 12kg’s of chocolate but were eating just under 12kgs in 2014.
Hershey’s turns to health
Hershey’s first decided to expand its products beyond sweet treats in January 2015 when it acquired to the Krave Jerky brand.
Krave Jerky was established in 2009 and has since targeted Americans looking for healthy, high-protein snacks. Prior to the Hershey’s acquisition, popular American celebrity fitness instructor, Jillian Michaels, invested in Krave Jerky and promotes its product as a healthy food option.
“Krave Jerky is a great fit to our portfolio and overall snacks and adjacencies strategy,” Michele G. Buck, North American President at the Hersey Company said at the time of the acquisition.
The power of protein
The Hershey’s Company believes in the rising popularity of meat snacks. According to its research the overall meat snacks category is growing at a double digit pace with a compounded annual growth rate of approximately 10 per cent from 2010 – 2014.
“The better-for-you, premium subset of the category, where Krave participates, increased at a rate of almost four times greater than mainstream brands,” The Hershey’s Company said when it acquired Krave Jerky.
Australian Food News has already previously reported on the growing US meat snack market. In March 2016, the America’s Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies identified meat and snack products as the two biggest areas of growth for the US’ food industry.
In July 2015, Innova Market Insights revealed that the meat snacks industry globally was benefitting from an increasing consumer interest in high-protein snacks.
