Children in the US spend a total of around US$10bn on food each year, according to research firm Mintel.
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Children in the pre-teen and younger age groups are a formidable consumer market, said Mintel. Young consumers receive allowances as well as money for other chores, and tend more towards impulse purchases and items that fall into the category of instant gratification, including snack foods.
After school remains the prime snacking occasion, with half of US children claiming this as the time they are most likely to snack. Some 15% of children eat snacks after dinner, indicating that they are snacking while not particularly hungry, perhaps while doing homework or watching television.
Young boys are more likely to snack after dinner, with 18% claiming to do so as opposed to 12% of girls. Roughly 9% of children, male and female, snack when they are bored, showing that snacking is often not a by-product of hunger, but rather the desire for a particular taste sensation or for lacking of something better to do. Children who are more active are less likely to snack, simply because they have fewer snacking opportunities.
As children spend the bulk of their day in school, snacks are also often purchased there, either at the school cafeteria, with 27% indicating they buy snacks through the cafeteria, or through vending machines on school property (16%). Vending machines outside schools were more popular, however, with a full third of kids indicating they purchased snacks through them.
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By GlobalDataChildren have a wide range of options for snack purchasing, and vendors have made it as convenient as possible for them to access. Even so, an overwhelming majority of youngsters accompany their parents to the grocery store; subsequently, 75% purchase or have snacks purchased there. Gas stations and convenience stores were also popular purchasing points, with 42% and 33% respectively of respondents to Mintel’s children’s survey.
