Today’s snack and bakery market remains as fiercely competitive as ever. The definition of what constitutes a “snack” is tracking an evolutionary course, shifting in step with consumer trends and desires. And traditional category lines continue to blur as truly better-for-you formulation rubrics cross boundaries into historically indulgent areas. It makes for a lively atmosphere, and every aspect of product development—from establishing the target consumer base and ingredient selection to packaging and marketing—adds essential dynamics to maximize a product’s impact.
In my conversations with my friends over at Frito-Lay for this month’s cover story, I was struck with the emphasis on culinary perspective firmly entrenched within the R&D process at the snack giant. I first became acquainted with Chef Stephen Kalil, head of the Frito-Lay culinary innovation center back in the early 2000s when I was the editor of a brand-new publication called CULINOLOGY® magazine, designed to support the discipline of Culinology and the still-young Research Chefs Association (RCA), a group strongly focused on the importance of the culinary arts across every aspect of food.