Doritos Crunch Nuts are packaged in a stand-up resealable pouches.
There’s cross-merchandising, then there is cross-category R.&D. As snack food companies look to provide more solutions to more of their snack-happy consumers, brands are branching out into other types of products and packaging.
One case in point is the new line of Doritos Crunch Nuts, launched by the Frito-Lay division of PepsiCo, Inc. in early 2018. The new product includes peanuts enrobed in a nacho cheese or ranch-flavored shell. A sister product, Doritos Crunch Mix, includes nuts and other salty snacks such as triangles, puffs, corn sticks and pretzel bites. Both items are packaged in a stand-up, resealable 3-oz pouch with a peg hole at the top for simple merchandising in a grab-and-go area of a c-store, supermarket or other type of retail outlet.
“We know there’s a strong passion for Nacho Cheese and Cool Ranch flavors, with fans passionately taking sides over which flavor they love best,” said Ryan Matiyow, senior director of marketing, Frito-Lay North America. “Now we’re giving them another way to enjoy our boldest and longest-standing flavors — in the form of Doritos Crunch Nuts and Crunch Mix peanut snacks perfect for on-the-go occasions.”
That peg-hole format is common in other types of products aimed at impulse-buying areas of a store or at c-stores, including jerky snacks. While Doritos is moving from chips to nuts in a new stand-up format, Jack Link's jerky brand is moving into another type of snack segment. Earlier this winter, Jack Link's delved into the chip sector for the first time with new Jack Link's Pork Rinds, packaged in a traditional chip/pork rind bag and available in Applewood BBQ and Sweet & Hot varieties.
“At Jack Link’s, we are the protein snacking company,” said Tom Dixon, chief marketing officer, Jack Link’s. “Our teams are dedicated to bringing new consumers to the category through innovative thinking across our portfolio of brands. Our rapid innovation is really a product of our powerhouse research and development team.”
