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Key Takeaways
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Food giant Conagra is leaning into smaller portion sizes now that Americans snack more frequently than they eat other sorts of meals.
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The company is adding more frozen appetizers, such as smaller pieces of chicken and fried pickles. It's also making bitesized versions of Slim Jim as meat sticks take off.
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Conagra shares, which dropped Tuesday, were reclaiming some of those losses Wednesday morning.
No snack is too small to be Conagra's business.
The $12 billion food company behind Slim Jim jerky and David sunflower seeds is focused on satiating Americans' hunger for snacks with meat stick bites, frozen appetizers and new popcorn flavors. Portion size is a priority now that consumers snack more often than they eat traditional meals, Conagra Brands (CAG) said.
Snacks are so ubiquitous that they're now a part of meals, Bob Nolan, Conagra's senior vice president of growth science, said at an investor conference Tuesday.
“Snacking between meals has been growing,” Nolan said, according to a transcript made available by AlphaSense. “Another surprising element is actually snacks being consumed at meals, so as a side or a part of the meal, or actually as the whole meal with three or four snacks being combined.”
The market for mini and bitesized foods like empanadas, tacos and other street foods has grown more than 20% in the past five years, according to Nolan. Conagra aims to capture more of this with new types of frozen P.F. Chang's chicken, and frozen fried pickles.
Consumers want snacks with “better-for-you” attributes and protein, with meat sticks growing faster than any other food category, CEO Sean Connolly said. In response, Conagra is making resealable packs of bitesized Slim Jims as well as chicken sticks with Buffalo Wild Wings flavors.
New flavors are important since consumers seek variety, according to Nolan; households, he said, have an average of about 11 snack items in their pantry. The company has seen cinnamon churro flavored sunflower seeds take off, and is adding pickleball-inspired corn puffs and a mango habanero version of Angie’s Boom Chicka Pop popcorn.
Conagra's shares fell Tuesday after it cut its outlook for the fiscal year, citing challenges sourcing chicken for frozen meals as well as frozen vegetables. They were rising a bit less than 1% in Wednesday morning action.
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