Snacking is an ingrained habit in Ireland, with 94% of NI and 96% of RoI consumers doing so at least once a day (Toluna, November 2015). Indeed, Irish consumers are most likely to snack twice during a typical day and despite the increasing portability of snacks and development of on-the-go formats, snacking is most likely to take place at home.

Health considerations play a significant role in the Irish snacking market. Although Irish consumers have reduced the amount of sweet snacks they eat because of the negative headlines around sugar, snack food operators remain under pressure from the NI and RoI governments to further reduce the sugar content of their products. Single portion packs, free-from snacks and snacks with added vitamins and minerals such as protein are health-related NPD opportunities that can enable snack food producers to tap into the healthy eating and lifestyle trends.

However, indulgent snacks are still popular among Irish consumers. This indicates that there continues to be demand for treat snacks despite a focus on healthy eating habits. Going forward, the challenge for snack food producers is to combine health and taste to enable people to consume fewer calories without reducing the indulgence factor.

This report examines consumers snacking habits, defined as eating between meals in the home, out of home (eg at work) and on the go (eg when travelling). For the purpose of this report, snack foods are defined as ‘fruit and vegetables, crisps, nuts and corn snacks, chocolate confectionery, cheese, yogurt and cereal bars and breakfast biscuits’ and include total sales across all types of food retailers, including supermarkets, convenience stores and discounters. Sales figures in these categories are the total value of the segment and are an indication of the performance of these markets as they include products that are bought for a purpose other than snacking, eg vegetables as part of a main meal.