BiteBox injects fun into Germany’s healthy snacking market

 Launch of BiteBox Survival Food

Consumers globally are increasingly looking for products with personality. BiteBox, a young crowdfunded start-up company from Hamburg, which recently launched in retail in Germany, aims to inject some fun into Germany’s healthy snacking market with the introduction of its BiteBox Survival Food range. The 10 products, which include different varieties of nuts, dried fruits and vegetables as well as snack mixes, carry strikingly flashing names such as Wassssup?!, Zündstoff (dynamite), Coffee To Go and Herr Bööörns (Mr. Buuurning).

The BiteBox Survival range is positioned as a healthy snacking alternative to junk food, and builds on the concept of balance and fun rather than complete sacrifice. The leap into Germany’s supermarket shelves is an important step for the BiteBox brand, which originally started as an exclusive online company specialising in the subscription-based delivery of “Office Survival Food”.

Healthy snacks need to become more aspirational

The co-occurrence of today’s growing snacking culture and the burgeoning obesity crisis have placed new demands on the development of snacking products, with a stronger focus on their nutritious quality. Healthy snacking is on trend, yet – with products across categories being snackified – there is a distinct need for healthy snacks to be trendier in order to capture consumers’ attention.

Corny, Germany’s number one snack bar brand, has launched Corny Flakes in a move to rejuvenate the long established brand and to increase its emotional appeal. The graphical nature of speech bubbles and emojis humanizes communication, an aspect which can elicit personal connections between brands and younger consumers in particular. The Em-Eukal confectionery brand, meanwhile, opted for the “speaking” approach in their new Em-Eukal Moments range, addressing consumers in the style of seemingly casual post-it notes.

Going forward, brands will need to re-invent themselves to make healthy snack foods trendy and aspirational, thus widening consumer appeal. Beyond the all-important taste experience, brands need to provoke consumers’ emotions by using engaging language and design.

Mintel’s Food and Drink Analyst for Germany, Julia specialises in delivering insights on issues affecting the German market, performing analysis across a range of food and drink categories. Upon joining Mintel in 2009 as a Trend and Innovation Consultant, Julia was responsible for providing tailored product innovation analysis and client support primarily to Mintel’s German speaking clients.