It’s not exactly a do-or-die situation, but when it comes to snacks, most people just have to have them. In fact, Mondelez International’s latest State of Snacking study revealed that 66% of respondents — and 73% of millennials — agreed with the statement: “I couldn’t live without snacks.” 

Snacking is also becoming more rampant and is replacing main meals in many cases. In fact, the study, released in February and based on a Harris Poll survey, noted 58% said they look forward to consuming snacks more than meals, and 62% prefer to eat several small meals daily instead of a few large ones.

While the broader food industry has struggled during the past year, the total salty snacks market has held its own. Dollar sales inched up 0.3% to $31.2 billion while units rose 1%, according to the Circana OmniMarket Integrated Fresh quarterly report of retail sales in the US snacking market for the 52 weeks ending Jan. 26, 2025, provided by SNAC International.

This relatively stable performance is reflected in the largest category, potato chips, which increased 1.8% to nearly $8.8 billion with units growing 2.8% while tortilla chips approached $7 billion, up 0.9% and units seeing a 1.9% bump. The core salty snack universe also includes pretzels, cheese snacks, corn snacks, ready-to-eat (RTE) popcorn, other snacks and pork rinds.

David Walsh, vice president of membership and communications for SNAC International, acknowledged that snacks aren’t seeing the dynamic, double-digit sales hikes like they did during the stay-at-home pandemic, but they are outperforming most of the other segments of the food market.

“Overall, the snack category is not experiencing the explosive growth that we’re used to seeing, but there are some real positive signs for the future,” he observed.

SNAC International’s view of the industry goes beyond salty snacks and includes cookies, crackers, bars, nuts and meat snacks. In this universe, dollar sales rose 1.8% and unit sales increased 0.9% during Q4 2024 compared to the same period a year before, according to the association’s new SNACtrac platform that compiles Circana and other detailed trending data for key economic and snack food industry-specific indicators.

Walsh said the data could indicate inflation and pricing strategies by companies may have somewhat impacted consumers’ shopping behavior because dollar sales still slightly outpace unit growth. The good news, he added, is that the consumer price index for food and snacks was decreasing faster than the total price of food at home.

“The fact that snack inflation is cooling faster than overall food at home is a positive sign for the consumer, but it could also mean some stabilization on the ingredient side, specifically for corn and oats and possibly potatoes and oils,” he explained. “That cooling of inflation could mean some snack producers and brands are being strategic with their pricing to be sure they keep the demand stable and maintain the consumers they have.”

Walsh said lower ingredient pricing in recent months may result in more cost-effective pricing, especially for functional or better-for-you (BFY) snacks made with fiber, protein, whole grains and other nutritional ingredients that consumers value.

“That could lend itself toward a lot of innovation like BFY ingredients, new formats, new textures, new flavors and other exciting developments for the snack industry in the coming months,” he added.

Drilling down into specific categories, protein-driven meat snacks surged 16% in dollar sales and 11% in unit sales during the fourth quarter.

“The unit sales being double digits is a positive sign,” Walsh said. “If you look at savory snacks, they grew 1.1% in unit sales, which are not the high-growth numbers that we were expecting to see from the category as of five years ago. That fact that snacks are growing in dollar and unit sales is a very positive sign and lends to future innovation in the category.”

Another stalwart was pretzels, which once again experienced low single-digit growth, reflecting the product’s baked-not-fried positioning and flavor innovation by premium brands like Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels, a brand of The Hershey Co., Hershey, Pa.

Mini pretzels also fueled the category’s growth with new product innovation like Hanover, Pa.-based Utz Brands rolling out its branded Mixed Minis pretzels that combine twist, ring and waffle shapes in one bag.

More recently, Unique Snacks rolled out Knead ’Ems pretzels with a sourdough recipe and slow-baked methods to create more flavor and texture while using Non-GMO Project verified ingredients.

“The Knead’ Ems line begins with a sourdough mini twist pretzel that will redefine consumers’ expectations of what a mini twist pretzel can and should be,” said Justin Spannuth, vice president and chief operations officer of the Reading, Pa.-based company. “While we have expanded beyond making only pretzels, we still maintain a dedicated approach to knowing our strengths within the pretzel category.”

Walsh indicated that RTE popcorn looks poised for a rebound. During the past five years, there’s perhaps no better snapshot of what’s happening to the more mature segments of the salted snack market.

After riding a strong growth trend before and through the pandemic, sales softened last year and then declined 4% in 2024, according to Circana. In Q4, however, he pointed out that RTE popcorn sales shrunk only 1%, meaning possible stabilization in the near term and greater growth in the longer run.

“There’s a lot of opportunity to recapture some of the high growth that this category saw from years ago, and co-branding and product mashups are two of those opportunities, including new flavors and better positioning,” he said.

Take Angie’s Boomchickapop, a brand of Conagra Brands, Chicago, which has partnered with Cinnabon and its gooey cinnamon roll flavors to create Boomchickapop Cinnabon Drizzled Kettle Corn.

In one of its many innovative moves, PepsiCo, Purchase, NY, has cross-pollinated the classic flavors of Doritos to add a Nacho Cheese and Cool Ranch twist to its Smartfood popcorn brand.

Popcorn Indiana, owned by Cleveland-based Eagle Foods, has paired up with the No. 1 streaming service and launched a line of branded RTE popcorn called Netflix Now Popping.

“Popcorn has long been seen as a lighter snack,” Walsh observed. “It’s easy to be clean label. It feels like it doesn’t fill you up as much as other snack foods, which serve their place as far as satiety, but popcorn is one of those light snacks where you can get that indulgence without feeling as full.”

Nick Fereday, executive director, food and consumer trends at Rabobank, also suggested that popcorn seems prime for a resurgence, which he noticed after attending this year’s Natural Products Expo West show that is a bellwether for emerging food trends.

Part of its rediscovered popularity might be the emergence of anti-obesity medications (AOMs) and the rise in GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic that reduce hunger, making naturally light popcorn a preferred snacking option. 

“I saw a ton of popcorn brands, which I haven’t seen for quite a long time,” he said. “Two of them mentioned that ‘it’s the Ozempic effect.’ ”

For consumers, it’s not a life-or-death situation when it comes to snacking. There are more than plenty of snacks around, and by leading the pack when it comes to health, wellness and food innovation, snack makers will expand the number of consumers who can’t live without their products for another day.

This article is an excerpt from the May 2025 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Salty Snacks, click here.