Cheetos. Lay's. Ruffles. Doritos. These are the brands so familiar to nearly every American. They read off like a list of celebrities. They're household words. And they instantly convey a flavor profile, an aroma, a signature texture-likely even childhood memories.

We have long valued the strong partnership our staff at Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery has forged with Chicago-based market research leader IRI to provide fresh data for our category trend insights in every regular issue of the magazine. Relying on this single source of data keeps our year-over-year analysis consistent, and working with current data each month keeps our insights fresh.

Bill Gates once said, “Bringing together the right information with the right people will dramatically improve a company’s ability to develop and act on strategic business opportunities.”

Over time, select trends across food emerge, rise to prominence and then grow fully intertwined into the fabric of the industry itself. Such is the case with “better-for-you,” a term that has grown to encompass any product that has some level of nutritional improvement over a “traditional” version of the very same product.

While a wide range of ongoing trends are at play within the baking industry today, one in particular is worth highlighting: fresh.

A wide variety of variables can help snack producers and bakers gain an edge on the competition.