The ‘Tapaz2go’ box contains a bag of Snyder’s mini pretzels and a single-serve portion of Mediterranean Snacks’ red pepper shelf stable hummus. It contains a total of 180kcal and 5 g protein.
Rod Troni, chief marketing officer for Snyder’s-Lance, said such product pairings were a future focus for the snack firm.
“We’re starting to develop those types of things because I think the next frontier is to give consumers new solutions. So, we’re going to go from meal bridges to meal replacements to meal solutions,” he told BakeryandSnacks.com.
“We’re just starting to do that; I see it as a big opportunity. You can either let consumers do their own pairing or provide consumers with pairing that is already done in a box they can easily carry.”
A first but not a last…
Snyder’s-Lance has previously done retail promotions with Anheuser-Busch InBev for beer and snack combinations, but the partnership with Mediterranean Snacks marks the first packaged product pairing.
And Troni said Snyder’s was open to future partnerships. “We’re looking at licensing opportunities. We’re talking to a couple of companies at the moment and with one of them we’re developing a product in conjunction – they’re very good at the world of fruit and we’re good at snacks, so we’re looking at putting together a product with both brands,” he said.
He said beyond natural product pairings like tortilla chips and dips, the future would be to offer unexpected pairings - “that’s something we want to explore more over the next 18 months”.
Moving the center aisle
Troni said there could also be work done to bring savory snacks outside the traditional center aisle.
“Maybe we want to move the center aisle where consumers are walking…One idea is to bring (the aisle) out. A classic example is: there is a whole new section of consumers eating snacks in the morning, so what about if you start pairing Lance snacks with milk? It’s totally unexpected but you’re giving them a solution.”
Similarly, he said there were opportunities to bring deli and produce sections closer, especially as snacks could do very well in such areas. “Produce and deli are two areas that scream better-for-you; that scream freshness; that scream taste and there are a lot of snacks in deli – we have Pretzel Crisps there and the product does very well.”