The vegetable seeds division of Bayer has launched its new Minigustos label, described by the group as the world’s first brand for 'tasty, crunchy, and attractive snack vegetables'.
The first vegetable to be released under the Minigustos label is the snack cucumber, which is now available for purchase, and this is expected to grow to include other products such as coloured snack carrots and cosberg snack lettuce in the future.
'Chocolate, chips and cookies were top sellers in the snack industry for many years,' the group noted. 'Today, fresh vegetables have reached the top 3. In Europe, the vegetable snack market has grown from €30m in 2012 to €70m in 2015, whereas the sales of existing vegetables remained stable. Consumers and retailers are more willing to spend money on healthy and tasty ready-to-go fresh produce.'
Minigustos is a new premium brand for tasty, attractive snack vegetables, the perfect ‘mini gustos’ (tasty mini’s), focusing on generation X and millennials. These generations are known to exercise more, eat smarter and smoke less compared to previous generations, also using apps to track training data and go online to find the healthiest foods – and they are willing to spend money on compelling food brands.
According to Bayer, retailers and consumers in Northern Europe, Canada and the US have been asking for a tasty and crunchy snack cucumber with a longer shelf life, and premium supermarkets have not been able to meet their customers’ demand for superior snack cucumbers.
To fill that void Bayer has been developing a crunchy snack cucumber, Minigustos, the result of years of research and cultivation by skilled breeders and growers.
“Our trial growers and category managers of different retailers around the world tell us they have never tasted such a crunchy snack cucumber,' said Anne Jancic, marketing specialist cucumbers at Bayer. 'Consumer panels confirm the good taste of our snack cucumbers: 71 per cent of the consumers preferred our variety compared to those of competitors, 76 per cent liked Minigustos appearance and 70 per cet preferred its sweetness.'
Currently, Spanish partners of Bayer are harvesting the first Minigustos snack cucumbers and they are to be offered to premium supermarkets in northern Europe.
Bayer has already received market requests from customers in Canada, Australia, and China. The first trials have been initiated and contacts to potentials partners are being set up.
