Dive Brief:

• Takis snack maker Grupo Bimbopurchased gourmet popcorn brand Popcornopolisthrough its U.S. snack division Barcel USA. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
• Popcornopolis has been under the umbrella of the private equity group NexPhase Capital since 2019, and the partnership was focused on expanding distribution channels as well as the company’s direct-to-consumer sales. Under the guidance of NexPhase, the popcorn maker launched a line of everyday snack products.
• Earlier this year,Barcel announced it is expanding its well-known tortilla snacks line into other categories, including popcorn, chips and other salty snacks. This purchase marks the company’s first foray into the popcorn segment through acquisition rather than the expansion of an already existing product line.

Dive Insight:

Few trends have been as attractive to manufacturers as snacking over the past two years, which has seen continued growth as the segment climbed to 1.2 trillion in 2020, according toMondelez’s State of Snacking report。尽管增长爆炸过去菲w years, not all brands have grown equally.Takis reported25% growth for the first half of 2020, outpacing the salty snacks category, which saw 10% growth during the same timeframe.

This past May, Grupo Bimbo debuted Takis Pop, a popcorn product with the same strong flavor as original Takis. While spicy and global flavors areballooning in popularity经典的助教,一些消费者更感兴趣stes — a profile Popcornopolis brings to the Grupo Bimbo portfolio. The popcorn brand offers indulgent flavors like Zebra, Unicorn and Double Drizzle, as well as what the company calls “better-for-you favorites” Nearly Naked and Kettle Corn.

Barcelis jumping into a competitive category where it will be coming up against some of the food industry’s largest titans.Frito Lay’sSmartfoodcurrently leads the segment, with sales of $424.9 million in 2020,according to IRI data reported by Bakery and Snacks。Hersheybought Amplify, owner of established brands like Skinny Pop and Pirate’s Booty, in 2017 for $1.6 billion, and in 2019, PepsiCoacquired BFY Brands, which makes popcorn crisps PopCorners. Conagraalso bought Angie's popular Boomchickapop popcorn brand。

With a foot in both indulgent snacks and healthier options,Popcornopolisopens avenues to reach shoppers with sweet and salty cravings simultaneously. The brandis primarily an indulgent popcorn maker with better-for-you attributes blended into its recipes. All of its varieties are made with American-grown, non-GMO and naturally gluten-free popcorn kernels.

Consumers are also seeking sweeter options for their popcorn-based snacks.According to data from IRI, ready-to-eat popcorn and caramel corn made up $1.5 billion of the $26.7 billion salty snacks segment, representing a 5% jump for the year ending May 17, 2020.