Category Analysis Gourmet Crackers

The gourmet crackers category kicked off the year with a strong start. Suppliers are confident the momentum is sustainable and will continue to propel the category throughout the upcoming months. If the first few months of 2023 are an indicator of what's to come, then these suppliers have a lot to look forward to and share with the industry.

2023 started on a positive note for Savory Pie Company. Exhibiting at the Winter Fancy Food Show in January was a highlight for the company and didn’t disappoint in terms of the connections and information tradeshows of this caliber provide exhibitors. “Exhibiting at the Winter Fancy Food Show in January connected us with many great new opportunities,” said Pam Pollack, Owner of Savory Pie Company. “We’ve started partnerships with a few new regional distributors, especially where we’ve felt underrepresented (including the Bay Area and the Midwest).”

This year, Effie’s Homemade is devoted to ensuring its products make it into consumers’ carts and baskets whether through attractive merchandising in the aisles or through product samples. “In 2022 we were focused on being proactive with supply chain disruptions and forecasting and projections,” said Effie’s Homemade’s Irene Costello. “Towards the end of the year, and the beginning of Q1 we really focused on working on specific account plans with our key retailers. In 2023, we’re focusing on getting the product into people’s hands and mouths. We have seen the return of sampling programs at many of our retailers, so we are focusing on ramping up our custom demo kits and engaging in retailer sampling programs. [There is] an emphasis on evaluating trade and promotional spend, to ensure we are maximizing our investments. [We] invested in team growth—bringing on our first National sales director. Focus on snacking throughout the day, morning—evening, night, before bed, not to mention of course wonderful pairings with cheeses.”

At Venus Wafers, company officials don’t stray from their objectives and are playing to their strengths. “For us it’s sticking to the basics,” said James An- derko, Vice President Sales and Marketing. “Our water cracker business continues to be strong. Our flatbreads are strong and we’ve had a surge in stone wheat crackers because of the Nabisco decision to discontinue [Nabisco Red Oval Farms Stoned Wheat Thins Wheat Crackers] so there’s no stoned wheat cracker on the market. That’s been a big opportunity on our branded and our private label side of the business.”

“It’s keeping focus on what we do best and those are three areas because we had a fabulous year last year,” he continued. “It was beyond good from a sales standpoint. But everything that goes up must come down. Not per se down, but it’s going to flip. We saw the effect of people getting back out, we weren’t out of stock, we’re keeping things going and we were anticipating a slowdown in the latter part of the first quarter like we experienced compared to last year. The first quarter last year we were so busy it was ridiculous. It was unseen. Is this going to continue? You can see it in the grocery stores; they worry everybody on TV every other day it’s about inflation, inflation, inflation. It's so negative. We maintained our pricing for the most part on most of our items but some things have gone up. You go to the grocery store now and you have to shop for things that are on sale.”

Earlier this year the timing was finally right for 34 Degrees to expand into the deli section at retail. “2022 was actually our first full year selling in our new innovation in the deli,” said Craig Lieberman with 34 Degrees. “Snaps, our gluten-free, chickpea-based snacking line was originally slated to launch at Expo 2020. We all know how that turned out, so we had to push back the launch. In Q1 2023 we received exciting news on new distribution of our snacking line. You can now find Snaps in the deli at Sprouts with more conventional distribution rolling out soon.”

“Q1 has been a promising start to 2023 for Partners, a tasteful choice company,” said Cara Figgins, President and Owner. “We partnered up with Source Atlantique, a leading specialty gourmet and natural food distributor, and we’re already seeing the pay off.

According to Source, Q1 2023 sales of our Partners brand are up 59.3 percent since Q1 2022, and Q1 2023 sales of our All-American brand are up a whopping 134.9 percent . This year, we are focusing on the growth of our Wisecrackers brand. This will involve some revamped packaging and new flavors like our Avocado Oil & Sea Salt for our snack and flatbread crackers, as well as a whole new line of grain-free, gluten-free, plant-based crackers.”

“We were fortunate to achieve a very strong Q1 for our gourmet crackers, building upon the momentum established in Q4,” said John Reaves, CEO of Milton’s Craft Bakers. “Coming out of the holiday entertaining season, we were pleased to see Milton’s Gourmet Crackers continue to resonate with consumers, which has propelled the brand to become the No. 1 growth driver in the gourmet crackers segment. We credit that growth to our brand’s commitment to providing Non-GMO Project Verified products that deliver superior taste from high quality, clean ingredients in a range of appealing flavors. In fact, we just launched a Salt & Pepper Gourmet Cracker that we believe is best-in-class.”

One of the leadership qualities Savory Pie Company possesses is being a good listener and turning that feedback into actionable items. “Over the years we have listened to industry leaders, consumers, and peers,” Pollack with Savory Pie Company said. “These conversations have informed our growth in many ways, including more sustainable packaging, Non-GMO Certification, and solidifying our unique, bold Z Crackers branding. We attribute our success to having a small, hardworking team that loves the brand, has great communication, and is ultimately focused on what’s best for Z Crackers and the community that has embraced us.”

The Effie's Homemade leadership team is committed to sustaining a sound company culture which has involved building strong team infrastrucure, Costello with Effie’s Homemade said. “Joan and I are making sure we have a high performing team in place every r Cont'd on the next page r From the previous page day," she said. "We’ve invested in developing our company culture in a way that every one of us knows what is expected at any point in time. The team is continually evolving and this is something we are proud of.”

Venus Wafers has remained a category leader thanks to its commitment to regularly introducing new flavor profiles to the gourmet crackers category, in addition to adding ingredients to make its offering nutritious and omitting ingredients when needed to make the category inclusive to consumers regardless of their dietary needs.

“Sticking on we’ve come out with, we’ve introduced a couple of new items,” Anderko with Venus Wafers said. “From a standpoint of being innovative, we have an ancient grain water cracker now to keep up with the trends; ancient grain is a big trend right now. We developed a bridge type cracker without any of the byproducts. You can’t copy a Ritz, it’s a great cracker, but our forte is non-GMO, vegan, clean using the ingredients that we have. We’ve successfully put that into the market. It's ready to go on our branded side, but it’s already in the market with our private label side.”

“34 Degrees has been a category leader for more than 15 years because there was—and still is—nothing like it on the market,” Lieberman said. “Our crisps are thin, light, crunchy and the perfect cheese pairing cracker. When I started this business in 2003, I was importing cheese and other items from Australia. 34 Degrees is named for the rough latitude of Sydney. My customers loved the things that I was importing, but they really loved the crisps. It was then I realized I had a viable product on my hands. So, without knowing anything about manufacturing, I decided to make these crisps in Colorado and build the 34 Degrees brand.”

“I have always believed in the importance of a customer-centric approach,” he continued. “I developed 34 Degrees because I saw an opportunity in the market and consumers loved the taste and texture! This focus has attributed to our success and customer loyalty. I also recognized my own limitations when it came to manufacturing and have built