Cookie and Cracker Manufacturers NAICS 311821

May 20, 2026 - Younger Shoppers Bypassing Traditional Brands

• Younger consumers, especially Gen Z and Gen Alpha, are changing snack-buying habits by favoring healthier, more transparent products over traditional brands, Supermarket News reports citing new data from NielsenIQ. Research from the consumer intelligence company shows younger shoppers prefer snacks with natural ingredients, higher protein content, and fewer synthetic additives. They are also relying heavily on third-party apps, social media, and influencer recommendations instead of trusting established brand marketing. For cookie and cracker manufacturers, the shift increases pressure to reformulate products, improve ingredient transparency, reduce artificial additives, and introduce healthier snack options. Manufacturers may also need to invest more in digital marketing, smaller package sizes, and premium or functional snack products to stay relevant to younger consumers. Traditional brands that don’t adapt could lose shelf space and market share as consumer preferences evolve.
• Rising income inequality is reshaping grocery spending patterns, Grocery Dive reports citing findings by NielsenIQ. Higher-income consumers are driving overall grocery growth and tend to spend more on fresh foods, while lower-income shoppers are under financial pressure and shifting spending toward shelf-stable products. For makers of key shelf-stable categories, including cookies and crackers, this divergence creates a mixed outlook. Lower-income consumers’ reliance on shelf-stable goods supports baseline demand. But with these shoppers cutting back on spending overall, including on some pantry staples, volume growth may decline. Meanwhile, higher-income consumers are allocating more spending to fresh categories, potentially reducing demand for packaged snacks in that segment. The result is a bifurcated market, where growth depends on effectively targeting value-conscious consumers while finding ways to remain relevant to higher-income shoppers. Manufacturers may need to adjust pricing, packaging, and marketing strategies to maintain sales across diverging consumer groups.

• Consumers across all income levels are cutting back on discretionary purchases, leading to weaker snack and adult-beverage sales, the interim CEO of Kroger Ron Sargent told The Wall Street Journal in September. Sargent said the pullback on spending is most pronounced among low- and middle-income households, with those consumers using more coupons, making smaller and more frequent trips to the store, and buying more private-label products. To keep its prices low, Kroger is absorbing higher costs even as wholesale food prices, including for cookies and crackers, continue to rise, Sargent told WSJ. In related news, spending growth by Hispanic households, which account for 15% of consumer spending, has stalled, according to a new report titled The State of Hispanic Spending. The report’s verified purchase data highlight growing financial caution among Hispanic consumers, driven by ongoing economic pressures and political uncertainty.
• Producer prices for cookie and cracker manufacturers rose 3.2% in April compared to a year ago, after inching up 0.8% in the previous April-versus-April annual comparison, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Retail cookie prices rose 5% year over year in April, while cracker prices rose 0.5% over the same period, according to the April 2026 Consumer Price Index report from the Labor Department. Employment by cookie and cracker manufacturers shrank 2.7% YoY in March, while the average industry wage rose 5.1% over the same period to $23.65 per hour, easing from its peak in February, BLS data show. Wages and producer prices were both near record high levels in April.