Far from being simply considered a niche area of the fresh produce business, the snack vegetable industry is one that could potentially help drive an overall increase in fresh vegetable consumption. That is the verdict of seed specialist Rijk Zwaan, which has already launched a number of successful products in the snacking category.
“Sweet, bite-sized plum tomatoes and handy, crunchy cocktail cucumbers – snack vegetables are the perfect way to increase global vegetable consumption,” the group explains. “Rijk Zwaan is continually developing suitable varieties and exploring sales opportunities, such as in the medley/mix segment.”
Many European supermarkets now sell snack tomato ‘shakers’, generally filled with red tomatoes, but these are increasingly available in a variety of colours and shapes. Conducting recent research in Germany, Rijk Zwaan asked 700 consumers to appraise and taste a range of tomato shaker mixes. The research revealed that consumers find mixed packs more appealing than the traditional red-only versions – a finding that fits in neatly with the group’s own breeding activities.
“After all, since last year the company has added the small yellow plum tomato 72-195 RZ, orange blocky tomato 72-188 RZ and the orange pear-shaped tomato 72-187 RZ to its assortment, with other colours and shapes still a work in progress,” Rijk Zwaan explains.
As with other varieties, reliability and production are important basic requirements when developing snack varieties. Rijk Zwaan has already enjoyed a number of successful launches, such as Confetto RZ in tomatoes and Quarto RZ in cucumbers. The latter is widely sold in multipacks for extra convenience. In addition to this standard snack type, mixes are gaining ground in this segment too – such as Quarto in combination with the light-green snack cucumber Quinton RZ, the one-bite 19-720 RZ and the green-white snack cucumber Quirk RZ.
“Rijk Zwaan’s research has found that consumers are enthusiastic about snack cucumber mixes too,” the group adds. “Almost half of those surveyed chose a mixed pack immediately, and after the taste test that increased by a further 11 per cent. In other words, there is still plenty of breeding work to be done in the cucumber segment.”
Embraced by retailers
Retailer Metro C&C Hungary launched a new range of snack vegetables in 2015, including a cucumber mix consisting of fresh-green Quarto RZ with cream-white Quinton RZ.
For attractive presentation, both types are harvested when they are the same size and are flow-wrapped on a foam tray. The snack vegetable is sold as an own-label product and displays the Metro Controlled Own Grower logo.
According to Rijk Zwaan, the “unique, colourful appeal of the mix combined with the reassurance of Metro’s own brand immediately stimulated sales and also keeps consumers coming back for more”.
