The average daily snack intake in the UK exceeds average meals consumed as Brits depend on snacks to help them get through the day. This has been revealed in Mondelēz first-ever State of Snacking report.
The report is a global consumer trends study examining the role snacking plays across the world in meeting consumers’ evolving needs: busy modern lifestyles, the growing desire for community connection and a more holistic sense of wellbeing. As the snacking market continues to grow globally, people are turning to these personal points of daily satisfaction as a common ground for shared experiences, connections, and identity.
The study reveals the rise of global snacking, underscored by regional parallels demonstrating how snacks are helping lead the future of food by delivering on the spectrum of needs that exists in our day-to-day lives.
The State of Snacking report, developed in partnership with consumer polling specialist, The Harris Poll, complements Mondelēz International’s global snacking knowledge with new research conducted among thousands of consumers across 12 countries.
The report sheds light on snacking as a growing behaviour worldwide. Notably six in 10 adults say they prefer to eat many small meals throughout the day, as opposed to a few larger ones (59%), with younger consumers especially leaning into snacks over meals as that number rises to seven in 10 among millennials (70%).
Key UK findings from the 2019 State of Snacking report include:
Snacking in the United Kingdom is an integral routine of daily life
- Average daily snack intake in the UK exceeds average meals consumed as Brits depend on snacks to help them get through the day (69%).
- Researcg shows that British snackers are consistent, as they tend to snack around the same time each day (73%, +7% global average).
For Brits, snacks also open doors for connection
Snacking is a key way for people around the world to connect to their culture and share their sense of identity with their communities and families, but particularly in Britain.
- British adults agree that food is our one true universal language around the world (80%).
- Snacking is an imperative connector at home, serving to reinforce bonds between family: nearly three in four Brits say, “to this day, I have traditions about how I eat certain foods that developed when I was a child” (73%)
Small indulgences are part of a balanced diet for Brits
- The vast majority of British adults agree, “a balanced diet can include a little indulgence” (86%).
- Brits also tend to agree “there is a time and place for healthy snacks, and a time and place for indulgent ones” (75%).
- More than other countries, Brits reward themselves with a quick, sweet treat – 13% higher than the global average.
“As the snacking market continues to grow globally, we’re living our purpose to empower people to snack right by constantly learning about the many different ways consumers around the world are snacking and evolving their relationship with food,” said Dirk Van de Put, chairman and CEO of Mondelēz International. “We see that the average global adult now eats more snacks than meals on a given day, driven by a number of evolving demands largely associated with how we live today, including a growing need for convenience, yearning to share nostalgic and cultural experiences, expanded wellbeing preferences and the desire for choices that range from wholesome to indulgent.
“We embrace the fact that snacking habits around the world are as diverse as the consumers who enjoy them,” continued Van de Put. “However people snack, they should not have to choose between snacking and eating right, or to worry about the impact their choices have on the world and their communities. That’s why we’re committed to empowering people to snack right.”
