US snack rankings reveal Americans’ growing hunger for Thai flavours
Thailand’s food manufacturers have been urged to harness Americans’ growing hunger for Thai-flavour snacks.
Thai flavours ranked 6th among international cuisines that American consumers want to taste more of in snacks, according to the 2023 Food and Beverage Flavor Report.
Mexican flavours topped the US most-wanted list, which is published by California-based flavour and fragrance producer T Hasegawa USA. Next came Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Latino and Thai.
The ranking shows strong potential for Thai food manufacturers in the US market, said Thailand’s Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP) office in New York on Monday.
The survey of 2,000 respondents found that the snacks Americans want to see in Thai flavours are baked potato chips (39%) followed by tortilla chips (36%) and fried potato chips (34%) while the most popular Thai flavours are tom yum (sour & spicy soup) and larb (spicy meat salad with toasted ground rice).
“These flavours have been made popular by Thai street foods which are booming in the US,” explained Ketsuree Vijaranakorn, head of the DITP’s New York office.
“Food manufacturers should use this popularity to penetrate the American snack market, which is craving spicy and exotic alternatives.”
The DITP reported that snacks are the fastest growing market in the US food & beverage sector, growing 11.4% to $44.9 billion (1.5 trillion baht) in the last 10 months of 2022.
Crunchy and salty snacks (chips, pretzels, and popcorns) dominated the market with a 59.3% share, followed by cookies (18.6%) and crackers (15.3%).
Ketsuree said the DITP will continue holding promotional events in the US to promote Thai foods, beverages and snacks, including at the Winter Fancy Food fair in Las Vegas from January 15-17, and the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York from June 12-14.
Manufacturers and exporters can reach the department at www.ditp.go.th or its 1169 hotline.
