Wake Up, Snacks! Stop Sleeping on the Morning Occasion

Reach more consumers with snacks built for every kind of morning, from rushed get-out-the-door bites to leisurely brunches

Today’s hectic lifestyles are shrinking the time people have for breakfast. In Germany, 36% of breakfast consumers tend to eat multiple little snacks throughout the morning instead of having one big breakfast. Yet most snack brands are not treating morning as an occasion with unique needs and growth potential.

Convenient morning snacks will reach existing breakfast snackers but also will increase penetration by providing mini meal options to the consumers who skip breakfast completely. Looking again at Germany, 55% of breakfast eaters aren’t eating breakfast every day.
More snacks can be designed to fuel consumers who are seeking to start their days with easy to prepare servings of energy, nutrition or enjoyment. Consumer behaviour already reflects these needs. Mintel’s research reveals that a third of French consumers eat snacks throughout the morning instead of a traditional breakfast to create small moments of joy, while around a third of Italian, German and Spanish consumers turn to breakfast snacks to help maintain consistent energy levels (client-access only).

This creates opportunities for morning snacks that are portion-controlled, nutritious and fun. Importantly, brands can design morning snacks to fit the spectrum of early-in-the-day schedules that fluctuate between restorative, productive or borderline chaotic.

First and foremost, snacks are well-suited to solve the common morning problem of a lack of time. In the UK, almost a third of breakfast consumers who do not eat breakfast everyday skip the morning meal because they don’t have time. On-the-go breakfast with protein, fiber and other nutritional benefits will help to ensure people start their day with something healthy.

Nutrition is particularly important for consumers who don’t waste time and start being productive right away. In France, social media conversations about morning beverages highlight how drinks accompany various productive morning activities such as early runs, cycling, creative writing or getting a jumpstart on the workday early, according to Black Swan Data Trendscope (client-access only).

Even on the busiest mornings, consumers may not eat breakfast, but they rarely will skip their coffee or tea. The dedication to morning drinks makes coffee- and tea-flavored snacks a natural way to meet people within their existing morning rituals. The dedication to coffee and tea is massive. In the US, for example, nearly 87% of consumers bought coffee of any type and 73% bought any type of tea in the three months to June 2026 (client-access only).

Snack innovation can borrow from trending drink flavors and formats that consumers are already excited about. Meant as an inspiration for innovation, Mini White Peach & Hojicha Tea Cream Sandwiches are a grab-and-go snack concept that was generated using Mintel Spark, an AI-powered concept generator. The format capitalizes on the international viral sensation Strawberries & Cream Sandos tracked by Mintel, with a miniature twist that adds the fancy feeling of tea party treats.

Linking with other viral fads, the Mini White Peach & Hojicha Tea Cream Sandwiches concept feature whipped cream that emulates the burgeoning trend of cold foam in coffee and tea drinks. The cream is infused with hojicha – an emerging type of tea. Hojicha has a roasted, earthy and nutty flavor that is complemented by the floral sweetness of the peaches.

Beyond coffee and tea flavors, more snack brands can create nutritious snacks that complement morning beverage routines. For example, 24% of Indian adults would be open to high-protein breakfast snacks that pair well with tea or coffee. Available in China, Huangji / HongJee Jian Tang Earl Grey Tea Flavor Oat Coconut Cookie (client-access only) features tea flavor as well as contains nearly 6g of dietary fiber per biscuit.

Not all mornings are filled with multitasking and urgency. Black Swan Data Trendscope (client-access only) data show that Australian social media users call tranquil morning tea (or coffee, juice or other beverage of choice) times a moment of peace, simple pleasure or an energy boost.

Snack brands can create simple pleasures on calmer mornings by introducing breakfast boards or portable breakfast bento boxes made with a range of snacks. These formats already have familiarity and cultural momentum because they are an evolution of the early 2020s charcuterie board boom and 2023’s “girl dinner” snack platter fad (client-access only)

Snack companies can share recommendations for how to combine their products with other snacks for homemade breakfast boards that offer variety, nutrition and playfulness. These formats can replicate a charcuterie board with crackers, dairy-based dips, other spreads, dried fruit and nuts. Breakfast boards also can go global with baked goods, preserved eggs and other international breakfast staples that make consumers feel like they are waking up to a breakfast buffet in another country.

Our AI-powered concept generator Mintel Spark brings an internationally inspired snack platter to life with a Mediterranean Morning Bento Box. The concept provides sought-after nutrients like protein and fiber with a wholegrain roll, hard-boiled eggs with spinach, and yogurt with fruit. Each layer is individually sealed, which would allow users to snack on it at different times throughout the morning or throughout the day.

Breakfast is becoming less structured, and that opens the door for snacks to move into the morning. As time-pressed lifestyles shrink traditional meal-times, snack brands can offer portion-controlled, nutritious and fun options for mornings that range from restorative to productive to chaotic.

Brands can capitalize on people’s love for coffee and tea in the morning. Coffee- and tea-flavored snacks are a starting point, but innovation can go further with snacks that complement coffee and tea and provide a nutritious start to the day.

For calmer mornings, snack brands can add variety and inspire consumers to be creative with breakfast boards or bento boxes. Build-your-own breakfast boards or pre-packaged breakfast bento boxes bring the snack platter trend into a new daypart. Brands can partner across snack categories to encourage consumers to adopt grazing habits at the start of their day.

Mintel clients can access the full Morning Snacking Growth Potential report behind this article for deeper analysis, category data and strategic recommendations.

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