The Food World Is Seeing A Wave Of Mergers, And Snacks Are Driving Them
Consumers have moved way beyond Fritos and Pringles. Choices are endless.
Hi and welcome to the CulinaryWoman Newsletter! If you’re new here, welcome, and thanks for returning. CulinaryWoman is me, Micki Maynard. I’m a business journalist who aims to bring you useful information and interesting thoughts.
This week, I wrote about two big business deals for Food & Wine. One of them has happened; the other is still on the bubble. I wanted to share some additional perspective about what both deals mean.
In a word, they’re about snacks, and to a lesser extent, electric vehicles. (Didn’t see that coming, huh?)
Snacks Are Big, Big Business
Americans love snack foods. But we’re not alone. Snack foods — potato chips, corn chips, peanuts, popcorn, all those crunchy things — are a huge international business.
The global snack market is now nearly $500 billion and is estimated to grow to $650 billion by 2030. We can see the impact right nearby.
Canada has become a country known for maple syrup, Montreal bagels, and the snack aisle. Everyone who visits from the States comes back talking about ketchup flavored chips and the flavor called “all dressed,” which is a mix of ketchup, barbecue sauce, sour cream and onion, and salt and vinegar.
In recent times, Frito-Lay has imported some of those Canadian choices, with limited time offerings like masala, tzatziki, oregano and crispy taco, which is being promoted by soccer star Lionel Messi. (They’re some how connected to the Mexican “Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole” chant that follows a Messi goal, although he is from Argentina.)
Those might seem exotic, but walk into a Japanese, Korean or Chinese market, and you will see not only different types of flavors but different ways of manufacturing them.
Last week, I visited Orange Market, the K-food store owned by Jane Kim and Esther Kim, who also run Plate Sushi and Chicken here in Ann Arbor.
Among the numerous snack
offerings on their shelves were Turtle Chips, in Flamin’ Lime. The bag boasted that the chips come in four layers, with the shape bringing to mind a turtle shell. Turtle Chips are available in other flavors, such as corn soup (a popular dish in Korea and Japan), pink Himalayan salt, seaweed, sweet soybean and chocolate churros.
The Orange Market shelves also bore all kinds of crunchy peanut snacks, which are a staple in Canadian stores as well, and there were multiple boxes of sweet crackers and cookies.
All this snack activity (snack-tivity?) completely explains the transactions that took place and were proposed last week.
Two significant deals
Mars, best known as the maker of M&Ms, Snickers, and its eponymous candy bar, agreed to buy Kellanova, whose crunchy lineup includes Pringles and Cheez-Its. Until last year, Kellanova was part of the W.K. Kellogg Company, which divided itself into two separate entities last year. That deal was valued at a staggering $35.9 billion.
But another merger could be equally as big, if not bigger. Alimentation Couche-Tard, the Quebec-based owner of Circle-K, Ingo, and its eponymous convenience stores made an unsolicited takeover bid for Japan’s Seven & i Holdings, the parent company of a vast network of 7-Eleven stores in Asia, the United States, and the world at large.
The value of the deal wasn’t disclosed, however, you can bet it will easily be in the tens of billions. What do those stores sell? An awful lot of snacks, and beyond them, food, both grab and go and items that can be prepared on the spot, like iced coffee, smoothies and noodle soups.
These companies watch global trends very closely. One thing that is boosting the snack business is social media. Almost every day, a video dumps into my Facebook account that features a convenience store in Japan.
Couche-Tard wants to own those stores; Mars wants to make the food that is sold in them, beyond its traditional candy lineup. For one ting, cocoa and sugar prices have been volatile, and some consumers have shifted away from evergreen candy brands, believing them to be less healthy.
All these companies are aiming for the same market: young people with disposable income and adventuresome tastes.
The electric vehicle connection
There’s another little element involved in the Couche-Tard bid for 7-Eleven that struck me as I was researched the proposed deal. Both companies have promoted their convenience stores as places for electric vehicle owners to charge their automobiles.
Circle-K declares that its new EV chargers “can charge your car while you recharge, too.” It has EV chargers in the Northeast, Northwest, in California, and in the Southern states — with more in the works.
Meanwhile, 7-Eleven has also stressed its EV charger program, which resulted in the equivalent of 3.6 million miles of travel charged in 2023.
What can consumers do to pass the time while their vehicles are charging? Why, go inside and buy some snacks. The more intriguing snacks they can offer, the more you’re likely spend in the store until your vehicle is ready to go back on the road.
As scientist Carl Sagan famously declared, “We are all connected.” And so, it seems, are food world mergers, too.
The Great Canadian Baking Show Sets A Return Date
Circling back to Canada, my favorite baking competition is ready for a new season. The Great Canadian Baking Show will be back on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation beginning Oct. 6.
Filming for season eight of CBC Baking, as it is nicknamed, took place in Toronto over the summer. CBC Baking's judges are Bruno Feldeisen, a French chef based on the West Coast, and Kyla Kennaley, who grew up in Ontario, ran a pastry shop in Toronto, and is now based in London.
The co-hosts are comedians Alan Shane Lewis, a Second City alumnus, and Ann Pornel, whose hairstyles and colorful clothes have become her signature. All four of them are on Instagram and fun to follow.
Since CBC Baking’s schedule has been announced, it’s likely that the O.G., the Great British Bake Off, will be returning around the same time, although there has not yet been an announcement from Netflix.
As I did last year, I’ll be reviewing the episodes each Monday in Red Beans & Advice. You can watch CBC Baking on YouTube (episodes are usually uploaded in late evening or the next morning after they air). Or, if you live in a border city, you might be able to see them on a CBC channel.
Jamie and Jules Oliver Take Pay Cuts
If you’re a regular CulinaryWoman reader, you know that British chef and television host Jamie Oliver is one of the most influential food figures across the pond.
He has sold more cookbooks than anyone else in Britain, and he has a vast empire with 70 restaurants, a cooking school, and many types of prepared foods and kitchen gear.
According to The Guardian, 2023 was not a friendly year for Jamie and his wife Jules, who are co-owners of Jamie Oliver Holdings. They took a 66 percent pay cut, to $3.27 million.
Royalties, endorsements and licensing income made up the bulk of JOH’s revenue, bringing in nearly $25 million. However, restaurant income slipped.
Jamie’s latest British TV venture is a show on air fryers, which are used in 45 percent of British homes. They’re soaring in popularity in the U.S., too, where nearly two-thirds of homes have them. (Whether they’ve taken them out of the box is another story.)
What Do Chefs Take With Them On Vacation?
While American college and K-12 students are back or returning from vacation, holidays in Britain tend to last longer. Many chefs choose to rent holiday homes for the month of August, and that means cooking for themselves and their families.
The Times of London published a fascinating round up of the items that chefs take with them on vacation. Among the most frequently cited items were tea bags, olive oil, and spices such as chiles and za’atar. Several chefs said they take microplane graters, while one travels with her sourdough starter.
This answer from chef Paul Ainsworth sounds ambitious (I assume he’s driving, not flying).
“I pack a chopping board, a good knife and a big, round, deep sauté pan from Hexclad, with sides and two handles,” he said.
He also totes “barbecue fuel: good kiln dried logs and some quality charcoal. It makes such a difference; it burns for longer, it doesn’t go out, and improves the taste.”
I definitely am not toting logs, but I do take a favorite knife, tea towels and ZipLoc bags. How about you?
Wild Blueberries Are Feeling The Heat
I discovered wild blueberries one summer when I traveled with my mother to Castine, Maine. They were for sale at roadside stands and I found canned ones readily available in area grocery stores.
Wild blueberries are smaller than the plump varieties we grow in Michigan, and have a deeper flavor. They cost more, but they’re worth the expense for the taste.
However, the Boston Globe reports that climate change, from droughts to severe storms, is changing the nature of the wild blueberry crop. Growers are “conducting research on their fields in real time and adjusting timing, fertilizer, and irrigation year after year,” the Globe said.
The wild blueberry industry contributes over $360 million to Maine’s economy each year, according to the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine.
Wild blueberries are biennials, meaning the plants produce fruit every other year. According to the Globe, wild blueberries spread on their own through underground roots that farmers carefully manage to encourage their growth.
A resilient plant can grow everywhere from mountaintops and rocky cliffs to sandier coastline soil. Farmers and ecologists are in the fields multiple times a week throughout the spring, even tagging specific plants to closely study them for signs of buds preparing to flower, and flowers preparing to bear fruit.
The Globe said the impact of warmer temperatures is evident. This year, the harvest in Downeast Maine started in early July and is expected to wrap up weeks before its usual end in mid-September.
Keeping Up With CulinaryWoman
Have you noticed more chef-driven restaurants when you are in an airport? There’s a concerted effort to line up familiar names to feed you before your flight (or in some cases, after).
When I lived in Phoenix, I didn’t mind arriving early before a flight, because I could find food from restaurants I ate in regularly. Sometimes, I’d even place an order when I returned, and take it home with me.
For Food & Wine, I explored how Paradies Lagardere manages the food side of its vast airport retail business. You’ll read about chefs in Atlanta as well as Zingerman’s presence in Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
In the final episode of our International Summer Vacation series, the Lions, Towers & Shields podcast discussed Don’t Ever Open That Door. It’s a 1952 film noir from Argentina. It focuses on two short stories and the photography is stunning.
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I will be back tomorrow with Red Beans & Advice, the weekly feature for our paid subscribers. Have a great Sunday.