The Future of Salty Snacks
Published Date: May 6, 2026 | "Salty snacks will win by owning occasions – healthy mornings, ageing needs and we‑time moments.
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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Where are we now
- In the next two years
- In five years and beyond
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IN THE NEXT TWO YEARS
- Mintel’s perspective
- Healthy snacks will claim breakfast mornings
- Breakfast rituals are fading, but the demand for healthy mornings remains
- Graph 1: frequency of consuming breakfast and a snack between breakfast and lunch, by daily consumption, 2025
- Graph 2: snacking motivations for Millennials, by time of day, 2025
- The ‘snackification’ of mornings creates a clear opening for healthy snacks
- Graph 3: morning snack frequency, 25-34 age group, 2022-25
- Graph 4: snack launches with select claims, 2016-26
- Breakfast trade-offs will create whitespace for healthy snacks
- Three levers will turn healthy snacks into ‘smart’ breakfast solutions
- How brands will successfully show up at breakfast
- Nuts and fruit snacks are breakfast-ready but need variety to win
- Snacks will support healthy ageing
- As populations age, everyday snacks will take on greater significance
- Graph 5: top concerns around leading a healthy lifestyle while ageing, by age, 2024
- Graph 6: what does ‘healthy ageing’ mean to consumers, 2025
- Salty snacks will aid older consumers with longevity
- Graph 7: desired product benefits in better-for-you foods, by age, 2022
- The need for salt will remain essential, even as consumers age
- Graph 8: importance of low salt and sugar in a salty snack, by age, 2024
- Smarter flavour design will quietly support salt reduction
- Snack brands will reframe protein relevance for older consumers
- Graph 9: importance of high protein in a healthy snack, by generation, 2023-25
- Brands will reposition protein snacks to target the needs of older consumers
- ‘Chewability’ in snacks will become the new lever for cognitive health
- ‘We time’ will inspire modular snacking
- The true scale of ‘we time’ snacking
- Premium, less-frequent special occasions
- Graph 10: frequency of hosting at-home social gatherings, by generation, 2024
- Economical, more-frequent everyday sharing
- Graph 11: snacks consumed by occasions, by parenthood, 2024
- Graph 12: at-home activities parents do with kids in a typical week, 2024
- Brands will target ‘we time’ across special occasions and everyday sharing
- Opportunity 1: everyday snacks will become customisable ‘we time’ platforms
- Graph 13: new launches in potato snacks, top 10 flavour components, 2021-25
- Current formats lack ‘wetime’ lens of showcasing novelty, effort and variety
- One base snack will create many social moments
- Everyday micro-occasions will drive new snack bundles
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IN FIVE YEARS AND BEYOND
- Mintel’s perspective
- While mindlessness will reduce, indulgence will not
- Indulgent snacks will move from mindless self-reward to eating less, savouring more
- Graph 14: unhealthy food/drink can be part of a healthy diet, 2024
- The future will see a premiumised category, providing more with less
- As BFY levers become standard, brands will need new sources of differentiation
- Graph 15: product launches with select claims, 2016-26
- Differentiation will move from claims to benefits
- Graph 16: interest in health-focused innovation in snacks, “I would be interested in buying snacks that…”, 2025
- Snacking power will shift to APAC
- Graph 17: region specific snack launches, 2021-26
- Larger snack brands will move from adaptation to assimilation within APAC
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KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Key takeaways
Discover the future trends in the global salty snacks market with Mintel’s Future Of report. The report identifies the key consumer and industry trends that will impact the global snacks industry over the next five years.
The most important upcoming trends in salty snacks are analysed and succinctly presented alongside relevant insights from Mintel’s consumer data. So you can understand how consumer demands will change and identify future innovation and growth opportunities.
This report also presents Mintel’s analysts’ pick of the most innovative and inspirational launches in salty snacks. Understanding the future of the snacks industry has never been so easy.
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