ISM & ProSweets: Asian street food snacking and vegan gummies in spotlight

30 Jan 2024 --- Key players in the sweet and savory snacking categories are exhibiting new product launches on the show floor of the ongoing co-hosted ISM and ProSweets trade fairs in Cologne, Germany. Reporting live from the event, Food Ingredients Firsts speaks to gummy maker Trolli on its vegan sour launch that taps into plant-based cravings and Japanese snacks brand Mitsubi about street food-inspired array.

Trolli is exhibiting new gummy products and business developments at the trade fair. Overall, the German confectionery giant reports growth of 42.3% in 2023, more than three times as fast as the entire confectionery segment (+12.7%) and 2.5 times as fast as the rest of the fruit gummy, foam gummy and licorice market (+16.6%). It highlights a 1.1% increase in value-based market share.

The company also touts its 81.1% supported brand awareness among 16 to 29-year-olds, and 86.2% among 30 to 39-year-olds.

Key product highlights at the show include Sour Strawbies, developed for plant-based diets, which are fruity, sour and flavored with the popular strawberry flavor. 

The Trolli booth at ISM & ProSweets 2024.“The veggie assortment from Trolli has had a really good development over the last few years. They are really interesting products with special flavors. Here at the ISM & ProSweets trade show this year, we introduce a new vegan product, Sour Strawbies. It tastes like real fruity strawberries with a light sugar coating,” Annette Sachs, marketing manager at Trolli, tells Food Ingredients First.

The brand has doubled the sales of its veggie range in recent years, with the Trolli Sour Strawbies carrying the official V-Label certification that identifies a vegan product. The range of four also includes other sour sugar coated products — Trolli Dino Rex, a tangy-sour Trolli Bizzl Mix and the fruity-sour Trolli Apple Garden fruit gummy rings.

In addition to Trolli Sour Strawbies, the brand highlights four vegan sour sugar coated products — Trolli Dino Rex, a tangy-sour fizzy Trolli Bizzl Mix and the fruity-sour Trolli Apple Garden fruit gummy rings. As the top seller in the range, Trolli Dino Rex increased sales by a further 52% compared to the previous year.

Preparing sweets for seasonal events in 2024
Ahead of seasonal and festive events, Trolli is planning its year ahead. Starting with summer, it has launched two limited summer editions — Watermelon Splash and Super Kick. Watermelon Splash offers a 3D watermelon experience, with a sour, watermelon-flavored filling.

Super Kick, on the other hand, celebrates soccer fever with 3D soccer ball shapes filled with an apple-flavored sour flavor.

For Halloween enthusiasts later in the year, Trolli has introduced the Trolli Tarantula to their spooky range. These detailed spider-shaped gummies come in four fruity flavors.

The scary season remains one of the company’s most active periods, with its Halloween Sweet & Sour multi-bag emerging as its bestseller in October 2023. The Trolli Halloween range boasts various options, including Trolli Pop Eye (eyeball-shaped candy), Trolli Dracula teeth, Trolli Super Brain and Trolli Sour Glowworms.

Mitsuba on Asian street food-inspired snacking
Representing the savory segment of the dual-trade fair, snack brand Mitsuba is exhibiting its most recent launch of Mitsuba Streetfood Snackmixes, containing puffed rice and crunchy coated peanuts. 

These new snack creations are inspired by the vibrant streets of Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia, offering an “authentic taste experience that transports consumers directly to the exciting world of Asian street markets.”

Mitsuba exhibiting its Streetfood Snackmixes.The three new flavors — “Thai Green Curry”, “Coconut & Peanut Satay” and “Beef Noodles” — pay homage to the traditional roadside meals served in these countries. 

“Mitsuba is a European snacking brand but Asian inspired,” Danielle Kranenburg, marketing manager brands at Mitsuba, tells Food Ingredients First.

 “We are the biggest fans of Asia and bringing in Asian-inspired flavors, ingredients and atmosphere to Europe. We are observing a lot of trends surrounding the Korean kitchen.”

“Our newest introduction for the upcoming year is our crispies — our biggest seller is the Thai chili crispies. For our extensions, we went to India and Korea, which inspired our Indian curry crispies and Korean barbecue crispies, which are a little spicy but accessible for our target group.”

Kranenburg stresses that Asian food in general is trending upward in Europe. “We always have a pipeline where we look at trends and then try to translate that into concepts. Our Streetfood Snackmixes were very well received by retailers and consumers. Instantly, it became one of our main business drivers.”

At this same time last year, the ISM Consumer Award 2023 was given to Mitsuba for its Japanese Street Food Mix. The most popular item among all of the products submitted to the New Product Showcase was determined in a consumer voting on Instagram.

“In future, we’d like to continue inspiring this range with new flavors to bring new inspiring snack mixes to the market, building upon our existing wasabi and black sesame varieties,” Kranenburg concludes.

By Benjamin Ferrer