During the pandemic, family-sized snack bags and club-store packaging rose in sales as households bulked up on groceries.

Matt Colford, executive director of marketing and strategic selling, Old Dutch Foods, Roseville, Minn., continues to focus on those behaviors and preferences seen over the last year as a result of the pandemic. The company’s strategy is aimed at providing comfort and value in order to maximize market penetration in the snack producer’s core markets while expanding new brands and flavors as a lead into new markets where consumers are less familiar to the Old Dutch product portfolio.

“The No. 1 snack item in our core market here in the Twin Cities continues to be our triple-pack boxed Rip-L potato chip,” Mr. Colford told SNAC World, for the upcoming state-of-the-industry report by SNAC International and published by Sosland Publishing. “It’s not a new cut or item, but it’s a signature item for us and for our amazingly loyal consumers.”

However, small bags, especially part of variety packs, also provide portion control and can make the home pantry seem almost like a convenience store with so many different options.

“The demand for our multipack snacks saw a huge spike with the onset of the pandemic, as families were spending more time at home together and looking for a variety of snack options that met the needs of the whole family,” said Leslie Vesper, vice president of marketing, innovation, Frito-Lay. “Interestingly, we’ve seen the demand for multipack continue today.”

Expect small packs to expand in a big way as today’s consumer becomes increasingly mobile and more on the go.