Page 73 - January_2019

peanuts dried fruits & nuts Leveraging The Power Of Peanuts
Advantages abound to promote the popular snack, from health bene ts to avors to price.
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is, ironically, far from peanuts
also helping push product out the door. “Nuts in general will see a big increase this year, as consumers are moving toward plant- based protein,” notes Amy Hartigan, market- ing director for Waymouth Farms, Inc. in New Hope, MN, which uses peanuts as part of its popular line of trail mixes. Retailers, she and her colleagues say, should “ ll the produce depart- ment with a healthy mix of produce and nuts to
meet the demand of this rising trend.”
e calendar also lends a hand. Lauren High ll Williams, marketing and commu- nications manager for the National Peanut Board (NPB), points out that March, as both National Peanut Month and National Nutri- tion Month, is “a perfect time to bring extra attention to peanuts and their nutritional bene ts. Peanuts have more protein than any other nut, and they contain more than 30 es-
sential vitamins and nutrients.”
Millennials appreciate the fact peanuts are
also the most sustainable nut. It takes fewer than ve gallons of water to produce a sin- gle ounce of peanuts, according to Williams. “Compare that to almonds, which use about 80 gallons of water per serving.”
Indeed, Millennials are a growing con- sumer of peanuts, Williams points out. “ ey appreciate the great taste, value and nutrition that peanuts provide. High-quality peanuts with on-trend avor pro les are key drivers for sales.”
SNACKS AND MORE
According to market research rm Mintel Group Ltd., with o ces in Chicago and New York, new peanut product introductions in- creased 5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2017 to the third quarter of 2018. Sixty-per- cent of new peanut product introductions are classi ed as snacks, and the snack category continues to maintain growth and innovation for peanuts, with a 28 percent increase.
Among the most-popular package claims for peanut product introductions over this pe- riod were ease-of-use, microwaveable, time/ speed and functional-cardiovascular. ese claims align with consumer demands for food that is convenient and supports health. Although snacks are the largest category for peanut product introductions, categories with the biggest growth over the past year were sauces and seasonings (400 percent) and breakfast cereals (133 percent).
“Snack bars with simple and short lists of ingredients are trending in the new-product category,” the NPB noted recently. “For exam- ple, Jonesbar PB&J Bar contains strawberries, peanuts, dates, sea salt and chia seeds. e only ingredients in the new Peanut Butter Choco- late avor of Epic Performance Bar are dates, peanuts, egg whites, chocolate, peanut oil and sea salt. e ultimate in simplicity, RXBar’s new RXBbar Kid PB&J Protein Bar has two egg whites, eight peanuts and one date.”
Y HOWARD RIELL
he revenue generated by pea- nuts in a produce department
– and can climb even higher
when retailers decide to focus some of their expertise on them.
Peanuts are a staple of almost every pro- duce department. And although a large vol- ume is sold in conjunction with sporting events, there are lots of ways supermarkets and suppliers can join forces to sell more that have nothing to do with athletics.
Coming up with innovative ways to sell peanuts as an impulse item, as a season- al food, and as an ingredient in dishes can bolster any store’s bottom line. Price is obvi- ously another plus: peanuts have always been a less-expensive snack, so for many, retailing them at $1.99 to $2.99 per package is a must.
Even better: in addition to the popular salted and unsalted varieties of peanuts in the shell, there are many new avors, such as chi- potle- avored, BBQ, honey mustard and cin- namon dusted. Licenses with pro sports teams and partnering with established food brands is
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