Snacks for adults, not children?

A 36-year-old housewife buys one or two bags of snacks at a large retailer every week. She buys them to eat them with beer or wine with her husband at home. Another reason is that she cannot have “cold turkey” because she grew up eating lots of snacks. She has an elementary school child and a kindergartener. For health reasons, she barely buys snacks for her children. She says, “I think I eat more snacks than my kids do.”

As the snack market for adults grows, the perception that snacks are for kids is changing. The food industry is targeting snacks for adults, as the children’s snack market shrinks due to low birth rates.

The food industry said on Monday that Daesang’s Chungjungone launched a new brand for adults “Sabujak” and plans to achieve 10 billion won (8.9 million US dollars) in revenue by 2018. The company released two kinds of “Sabujak Chewy Beef Jerky Bite” and plans to release a new product. Choi Seong-sil, manager in charge of the Sabujak brand, said, “The children’s snack market has become a red ocean, but the adult snack market has high growth potential.”

Sempio sold 100,000th “Ziller” beef jerky in May. The product is Singapore’s Bee Cheng Hiang, and sweet and chewy. The company claims that it does not add chemical additives such as sodium nitrite (color fixing agent) and sodium carbonate (acidity regulator) to the product.

Lotte Confectionery launched “Ju (meaning alcohol in Korea) Chef,” a premium brand of snacks that go well with alcohol in June to target the snack market. It is based on the recipe of Sohn Ji-yeong, a chef at Hattori Kitchen in Itaewon, Seoul. Ju Chef’s Almond Combo is based on high-protein cheese, fiber-rich oats, and almonds that protect the stomach wall.

Bundled nuts are popular. Ottogi released “Nuts Valley,” which people can enjoy as snacks or snacks for alcohol, and Dongwon F&B launched the “Dongwon this year’s one-week project” which is packaged in small bags so that people can eat one bag per day.

Advertisements are changing as snacks for adults are getting popular. Orion uses Kim Soo-hyun, an actor, for an advertising model of Pocachip, while Nongshim hires Lee Jong-seok, an actor, as a model for Saewookkang. Snacks used to be advertised in animations during children’s programs. Now, they are using likable models among adults. Snack tasting events are held in places where many office workers or college students pass.

“We plan to attract consumers using nice male models who many adult women like,” a food industry source said, adding, “More snacks for adults will be released going forward.”