The Rise of Healthy Snacking: Trends and Innovations

There has been a notable shift in snacking recently. While some of the classic snacks that have been filling up vending machines for years remain popular, many consumers are moving toward healthy snacks. For a business owner or manager trying to make convenient food options available to an office full of workers, it’s important to understand this trend so the right products can be stocked.

If the thought of establishing some reliable, healthy snack options in your office overwhelms you, don’t worry—InReach is here to help. With a long list of services, including micro markets, vending machines, and office pantries, InReach is the partner you need to resolve any snack-related stress. Contact us today to learn more!

Healthy Snacking: Trends and Innovations

Start With These Three Trends

To understand the move toward healthy snacking and what it looks like in practice, you need to first understand these three popular trends:

• Clean Ingredients: A big part of what consumers—and likely many of your employees—are looking for in snack foods is a list of clean ingredients on the back of the package. Everyone has their own definition of what constitutes a list of “clean” ingredients, but that’s likely to mean things like no artificial additives and only a little (or no) added sugar. Many people use the approach that if they can’t pronounce the ingredients on the label (or they simply don’t know what they are) they won’t eat it. Often, the fewer ingredients, the better.
• Plant-Based Snacks: There is certainly some overlap in these first two trends, but many of your employees will likely value the availability of plant-based snacks in the office. Whether these individuals eat an entirely vegan diet or simply like to eat plant-based items whenever possible, having a portion of your snack inventory fall into this category will show that you want to include everyone equally.
• Sustainability: Apart from the actual taste and nutritional value of the snacks, plenty of consumers now think about the sustainability of those snacks. How are they packaged? Where are the ingredients sourced? How long does it take for them to ship (are they local)? Including brands in your snack selection that prioritize sustainability is another way to make options available that your employees will feel good about eating.

One other trend to keep in mind is that more and more consumers are looking for their snacks to deliver some type of specific functional benefit. That might mean high-protein snacks to promote muscle recovery or probiotic snacks to promote gut health as just two of many healthy snack ideas.

Convenience: Some Things Don’t Change

There has been plenty of upheaval in the snack landscape over recent years, but one thing hasn’t changed and is unlikely to change anytime soon: snacks need to be convenient. After all, convenience is pretty much the whole point of a snack in the first place. Snacks should be a great way to refuel in between meals, or a couple of snacks could even serve as a meal replacement during a busy day.

So, while attending to the points above, like sustainability and a list of clean ingredients, it’s important not to lose sight of the convenience that makes snacks appealing in the first place. As market demand shifts and consumers look for healthy snacks to buy, more and more brands are producing snack options that people will be happy to eat and that continue to meet their convenience expectations.

Two main components need to come together for a snack to be seen as convenient. First, it needs to be easily accessible. If it’s too hard to get to snack food options, they will be ignored. Depending on the size and layout of your office, solutions like micro markets and vending machines in high-traffic areas can put snacks in places where your workers will have no trouble reaching them.

The other piece of the convenience puzzle is an appropriate form factor. A plate of salad with a tasty dressing drizzled on top might look appealing, but it’s not always suitable for those who are on the go and need to eat something between meetings or while taking a walk. Packaging and portion sizes that match the needs of the consumer are just as important as the food itself. Healthy vending machine snacks that come in a compact, portable format are ideal for the busy worker.

Offer a Personalized Experience

Working with InReach is a great way to find the right products to stock in your office. You don’t have to start from scratch and source everything on your own; we live this and will be able to curate an ideal mix of snack options for your entire office to enjoy. As time passes and we gather data on your workers’ snack habits, the product mix can be further refined for even better performance and satisfaction.

The last thing you want to do is stock an office full of snack foods that don’t align with the preferences and values of your employees. Not only will this be a waste of time and money, but it will also position you as being out of touch with your teams. Maintaining employee satisfaction—and retaining employees over the long term—comes down to being connected and understanding what they want and what they don’t. Snack foods are only one part of this equation, but they’re a big part. Present your staff with the kinds of foods they are likely to enjoy and you’ll be seen as an attentive, considerate owner or manager.

Modern Solutions to a Classic Problem

For generations, employers have been trying to figure out how to keep their employees fueled up for a productive day of work without having them disappear from the office in pursuit of meals or snacks. Traditionally, on-site food and drink options for employees were expensive to maintain and often fell short of quality expectations.

Times have changed, to say the least. With a partner like InReach, it’s now possible to present fresh, tasty, healthy snack and meal options to your employees day after day. One popular way of achieving this goal is through micro markets. Our micro markets require very little space within your office building, but their impact can be significant. Delicious meals and snacks can be presented to employees here, and the market space is likely to become popular as a hub of office activity and interaction.

As an alternative to a micro market—or, perhaps, in addition to a micro market—we can provide vending machines with healthy snacks. We make advanced vending machines available with features that would have seemed impossible just a generation ago. Today’s vending machines can be stocked with healthy options in addition to traditional vending staples, so the product mix is appealing to everyone. Also, functions like cashless transactions, real-time data reporting, touchscreen interfaces, and many more are available.

Healthy Snacking Is InReach

Is healthy snacking on the rise? Absolutely—and everything about what we do here at InReach positions us perfectly to be your healthy snack partner. We can create a micro market in your office that is stocked with fresh, tasty options, or we can outfit your space with vending machines to accomplish a similar goal.

Regardless of what you have in mind for your office snack options, the first step is the same. Contact InReach to learn more about what we do. We’ll be happy to chat about your needs and build a custom program that checks all of the right boxes. Let’s get started today!