Snacking habits of Americans revealed: Nielsen
When it comes to American snacking habits, salty reigns over sweet, and cheese outranks cookies.
That's according to a recent Nielsen report which found that in the snack food chain, Americans are more apt to reach for chips and crackers when the snack attack hits, over candy bars and cookies.
Salty snacks generated more than US$27.7 billion in sales in the year ending April, 2017, while sweets and candy trailed behind at US$20 billion.
A Harris Poll EquiTrend Study for Nielsen revealed regional preferences among US consumers, who were asked to rate 275 popular snack brands and identify their favorite 3pm and late-night foods.
In the East, the most popular snack is M&M's Milk Chocolate Candy, while in the South, it's the Snickers candy bar.
In the Midwest, snackers are more likely to pop a few Hershey's chocolate Kisses, while in the West, Tillamook Cheese is the preferred snack.
The survey was based on a sample of 102,617 US consumers, and rated 4,051 brands. Each respondent was asked to rate a total of 40 randomly selected brands.
Annual snack category sales for period ending April 1, 2017:
1. Salty snacks $27.7 billion
2. Candy $21 billion
3. Cheese $17.3 billion
4. Cookies $7.4 billion
5. Crackers $6.7 billion
6. Ice cream $6.6 billion
7. Nuts $6.1 billion
