Market trends: Australia’s favorite snack

Potato chips remain the favorite snack in Australia, according to Roy Morgan Research. The data from the company shows that Australians’ tastes tend to favor savory over sweet. Potato chips are the snack of choice for men more than women, especially for consumers in their teens.

In an average seven-day period, 41 per cent of consumers snack on potato chips, 37 per cent snack on nuts, and 32 per cent snack on savory biscuits/crackers. But, while these salty treats are the nation’s undisputed favorites, sweet snacks outnumber them when we consider the top 15 snacks enjoyed by Aussies 14+.

Angela Smith, Group Account Director, Roy Morgan Research, says:

“With two of every five Australians 14+ saying they ‘tend to snack throughout the day’, the snack market in this country is huge. While potato chips remain the nation’s undisputed favorite snack, their popularity varies between men and women and different age groups. Indeed, this is true of most snacks”.

The latest findings from Roy Morgan Research show that among the 15 snacks most commonly eaten by Australians in an average week, five are savory, nine are sweet and one (plain/natural yoghurt) is ‘neutral’.

Women tend to be more likely than men to opt for snacks that are generally considered to be healthy. They choose nuts (39 per cent vs. 35 per cent), savory biscuits/crackers (35 per cent vs. 28 per cent), natural/plain yoghurt (32 per cent vs. 20 per cent) and health/muesli/fruit bars (18 per cent vs. 15 per cent).

Nutritional value and/or calories appear to be of less concern for men, who are more likely than women to snack on potato chips (44 per cent vs. 38 per cent) and corn chips (19 per cent vs. 15 per cent) in an average seven days.

Age is also a determining factor in Australians’ snacking habits. For example, in any given seven-day period, 60 per cent of teenagers under 18 and 50 per cent of 18-24 year-olds snack on potato chips — compared with 34 per cent of 50-64 year-olds and 23 per cent of those aged 65+.

“Age and gender are just two factors that influence a person’s snacking habits: attitudes towards food are obviously another. For instance, more than three of every five Australians say they ‘prefer to eat healthy snacks’ and nearly the same amount restrict how much they eat of fattening foods. Predictably, these people are more likely than others to opt for healthier snacks such as nuts and muesli bars”, explains Angela Smith.