IN THE NEWEST SNACK PACK, LESS IS MORE

April 13, 2006
Bruce Horovitz
USA TODAY

Tipping the scales as an early food marketing heavyweight in 2006: 100-calorie packs for snacks.

Of cookies. And crackers. And chips. And popcorn. And, most recently, yogurt. Even Coca-Cola has recently plopped 100-calorie labels on 8-oz. mini-cans of several soft drinks.

A nation of overweight and portion-challenged consumers is rewarding the big food makers at the cash register for pushing portion-controlled products. Kraft, which created the category, sold more than $100 million worth of its 100-calorie Snack Packs of Oreos, Chips Ahoy and Nabisco crackers last year, the company says. That's why the food giant is introducing Ritz Chips and Wheat Thins Multigrain Chips in 100-calorie packs.

Why does this number have marketing magic? "As people count calories, the number 100 is very easy to calculate in the mix," says Laurie Guzzinati, a Kraft spokeswoman.

The category didn't exist four years ago. But 29 such 100-calorie pre-packaged products were introduced over the past three years -- 18 last year, says Tom Vierhile, executive editor of Datamonitor's ProductScan Online.

"This is all about guilt," he says. "These individual pack sizes reduce the amount of guilt that a consumer feels for snacking."
Even a longtime food industry critic likes it. "It's a positive sign of the food industry responding to robust science that shows large portion sizes lead to overeating," says Kelly Brownell, head of Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity.

The latest 100-cal lowdown:

*Crackers. Kraft's new 100-calorie packs of Ritz Chips and Wheat Thins Multigrain Chips are being shipped this week. Also, Pepperidge Farm has just launched Goldfish 100 Calorie Pouches.

*Popcorn. Last year, General Mills was first to offer Pop-Secret 100 Calorie Pop popcorn. It evolved into 100 Calorie Pop Kettle Corn.

*Chips. Frito-Lay just launched 100-Calorie Mini Bites of Doritos and Cheetos and has 100-calorie Sunchips coming soon. "One hundred calories is a nice trade-off between a reasonable amount of calories and a satisfying snack," says Jeff Swearingen, vice president, shopper marketing at Frito-Lay.

*Yogurt. Yoplait launched 100-calorie containers of new Light Thick & Creamy Yogurt three months ago. Why 100? "Consumers consider it a unit of food," says Camille Gibson, vice president of marketing.

*Soft drinks. Even Coke is getting into the act with promotion of 100-calorie mini-cans of Coca-Cola Classic, Sprite or Cherry Coke. The 8-ounce cans are really about convenience, says spokesman Scott Williamson. After all, in some markets the retail prices for 8-ounce cans and conventional 12-ounce cans can be just about the same, he says.