Companies that make seasoning and coating systems for snack and bakery applications—which mostly focus on salty snacks like chips, cheese puffs, pretzels, and popcorn—report a number of trends in requests regarding features and benefits from customers of such machines during the COVID-19 pandemic of the past couple years.
These have included greater flexibility to provide more varieties of flavorings as well as new lines of business, the ability to handle spicier mixes for certain markets and more modest coatings for healthier formulations, greater levels of consistency to ensure end-purchaser satisfaction, and the automated systems that help to provide consistency, efficiency and productivity, as well as labor savings.