Smaller Snacks Blog Post

The New Food Trend: Smaller Snacks In Lieu of Full Meals

For those of us near or over 40, it’s still business as usual regarding your eating habits. We try to eat a healthy protein rich breakfast, lunch at noon and dinner from 5-7pm. But if you are any younger than that, there’s a good chance that this is very far from your daily eating routine. According to research, the line between meals and snacks is blurring for younger generations.

Snacks over meals

If you are a Millennial or Gen Z, there’s a great chance that you favor snacking many times a day over sitting down to a traditional meal, or 3 squares as it’s called. This is probably because the world has seemed to speed up. With things such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and all the other social media platforms, it seems that things are going too fast sometimes, especially in big cities, that it’s perceived that there is not enough time to eat. Fast food chains have picked up on these trends and are using them to their advantage. Snack wraps, dollar menu’s and quick to go items have grown in popularity over the past 5 years, especially with the younger crowd.

Bakeries follow the trend

Bakeries have also picked up on this trend as well. You may have noticed in your neighborhood, the rise of the cookie shop, biscuits and lime aid or just the fact that all coffee shops offer small items to snack on in their display cases. The newer generations feel that not only are bakery items premium and convenient, but they are also healthy as well.

These snacking trends go a bit further than that though. We are also seeing that not only are pastry items preferred to meals, but the preference is toward very small items, like mini cookies, mini muffins, scones and sausage dogs (a sausage or turkey link wrapped in a Danish pastry with syrup on top. These items are not only perceived as “premium”, but they are also filling and at most times affordable and seen as healthy.

These trends mean that not only is there a shift in eating habits, but that there is much opportunity for local bakeries and pastry shops to pick up on these trends and run with them. Bakeries must adapt to trends if they are wanting to grow and stay relevant in their current communities. So, whether it’s mini cookies, mini muffins or mini cupcakes, there’s plenty of room for innovation in a field that will see a lot of growth in the future thanks to the eating habits of Millennials, Gen Z and generations to come.

If you are a baker or have a pastry shop or cookie shop, Stratton Sales has Kookie King cookie makers, rack ovens, deck ovens and refrigeration for all your baking needs. Contact us anytime.