September_2021 - 32

an instant product display. They have
a 90-day refrigerated shelf life. The
product's success in convenience and
grocery stores has the Fiorucci Panino
poised for increased growth in the
micro market channel, according to
Docherty. He added that it has seen
" huge sales " in Hudson News locations
at airports across the country.
Keto and Mediterranean diets are
helping to drive the success of the
Fiorucci Panino.
" Just like people in the workplace,
travelers are busy, they are on the go,
and sometimes they don't necessarily
just want to grab a bag of chips
or some fast food, but instead, they
want to grab something that might
be a little bit more aligned with their
dietary needs, or they're just looking
for something that's a little bit more
protein-rich and very simple, easy to
grab and enjoy, " Docherty concluded.
PLANT-BASED AND VEGAN
GO MAINSTREAM
Opposite meat snacks, plant-based
snacks are on the rise and moving
from niche to mainstream. Snacklins,
founded in 2015 and headquartered in
Rockville, MD, is targeting this niche
and building its presence in micro
markets and vending with its crunchy,
airy, low-calorie crisps made from
yuca, mushrooms and onions.
Snacklins' 0.9-oz. snack size
bags come in four flavors: Barbeque,
Chesapeake Bay, Nacho and Teriyaki.
Each bag contains 90 calories and is
non-GMO, kosher, vegan, gluten-free,
grain-free, dairy-free, soy-free and
nut-free. It retails for $2 to $2.50 a bag.
The snack-maker recently
launched its first-ever limitededition
flavor, Cinnamon Churro. " It
was such a huge success that we are
working on adding it to our lineup
full time, " according to Snacklins'
Jeremy Sherman.
Snacklins has a strong following
among women 30 to 50 years old,
32 Automatic Merchandiser * September 2021
Fat Badger Bakery
vegans and dieting consumers. Sherman
said that a pronounced change
in snacking behavior resulting from
the pandemic is that more consumers
were willing to purchase foods of
all kinds online, which drove a huge
uptick in sales at its own website and
other online channels.
" There is certainly a new normal
where consumers are more comfortable
buying online, " Sherman
observed. " However, consumers are
definitely returning to grocery stores
and other physical locations where
foods and snacks are sold. Most snack
sales still happen offline. "
Most of Snacklins' demand comes
from the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and
West Coast, regions where its current
grocery footprints are concentrated,
but plans are in the works to expand
its reach.
Many plant-based foods are also
vegan - free of all animal products
- which is another category that has
moved to the mainstream. Fat Badger
Bakery started baking vegan cookies
in 2018 following its origins under a
different name a few years earlier, baking
dairy-free and kosher cookies.
" We quickly switched the focus of
the company to vegan as we saw that
with a few tweaks to our recipes we
could appeal to a much larger
audience in the vegan and plantbased
market, " said Fat Badger's
Gretchen Dossa. " Our goal was
and has remained to bake cookies
using great ingredients that taste
delicious and homemade. Fat Badger
Bakery's goal is to bake the best
cookie that you have ever had, not
just the best vegan cookie. "
Fat Badger Bakery is located
in Pipersville, PA, a small town
in Bucks County, and remains a small
company operating out of its own
building. " Having a small, established
staff and our own manufacturing
facilities were extremely helpful during
COVID, " Dossa said. " We were
able to quickly pivot the way we did
business and establish safety and
cleaning policies. "
CHANNEL NEWCOMER
Fat Badger is just starting to enter the
micro market and vending space with
eight of its 1.5-oz. single-serve, individually
wrapped cookies. The bakery
makes its soft cookies with a simple
selection of high-quality ingredients,
which are clean and transparent,
without preservatives; the shelf life is
extended with refrigeration or freezing
without compromising taste. All of the
cookies are Non-GMO Project certified,
and vegan and kosher certified.
" Our vegan cookies are a 'healthier'
alternative but are still a delicious
and satisfying dessert as opposed to
a cookie that tastes more like a cereal
bar, " Dossa pointed out. " They contain
organic flaxseed which aids in fiber
and a blend of healthy oils that have
no trans fats or cholesterol. Our ingredients
are selected with care, from
the non-sulfite coconut and Callebaut
chocolate to the red raspberry topping
that is simply dried and powdered
fresh raspberries. "
The cookies wholesale for 87¢
apiece and have a suggested retail
price of $1.76 a cookie. Like most
suppliers, Fat
Badger has had
difficulty sourcing
some of its
Snacklins
September_2021

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