While growth in the healthy snacking sector has been exponential over the past few years, competition has also been incredibly fierce and companies have had to think far out of the box in order to stand out.
In this sense, Thai-based brand Bitessense has taken a leap to stand out by purposefully developing its snacks to have an ‘unconventional’ appearance in order to stimulate consumer curiosity.
“We initially tried to focus on marketing our snacks as a ‘guilt-free’ option, but later realised this was not enough to really stand out in the market,” Bitessense Founder Nattachan Charanwong told us at the recent ThaiFex-Anuga-Asia 2025 show in Bangkok, Thailand.
“After that, we realised that what most consumers are looking for today is really novelty and uniqueness, and this was when we realised that giving our snacks an unconventional twist would fit into this demand.
“In this case, we attempted to move as far away from traditional Thai coconut snacks as possible in our product format – the conventional snack is just coconut shavings that are processed into snacks, but we made our product much more wafer-like.
“This has worked in both attracting consumer attention and adding in a shock factor upon trying the snack, as most of them tend to be quite surprised to learn it is made of coconut.”
The firm’s snack bars range is dubbed Coco Bites, which has been launched in eight flavours so far, from the conventional Cocoa or Mixed Berries, to more interesting ones like Hojicha or Banoffee.
“Coco Bites is considered a functional snacking range due to the high fibre content in each of the bars,” she added.
“All of our products are also allergen-free, clean label, and are targeted at all consumers who like snacking – general feedback has been that the bars are particularly able to satisfy the cravings of snackers, which in turn helps to ensure they don’t overindulge and gain weight.
“We also hope that this will bring more younger consumers in to appreciate Thai ingredients such as coconut, Job’s tears and banana – there is a lot of westernisation taking place in this group, and the aim is to help them see how Asian ingredients can also be used in a modern, albeit unconventional, format.”
What is driving the healthy snacking market today?
Charanwong highlighted that despite the increasing demand for healthy and functional snacks today, the greatest challenge has been merging the dimensions of health and good taste – and consumers are well aware of this.
“Oftentimes these twin demands of health and taste will come together, but the delivery will be short on one end, almost as though these need to be parallel tracks, but consumers today are demanding that both be satisfied simultaneously,” she said.
“One thing we believe is hindering most healthy snacks from hitting the spot with consumers is the ambition to do too much – e.g. wanting to be good for the gut AND to provide energy AND to be high in protein – which then takes a toll on taste.
“For us, it is important to be very clear about the strengths of the ingredients we are using and the functional benefits it can bring as a snack, which is why Coco Bites is only marketed as a high fibre snack and not an energy bar, even though it can of course provide energy.”
Another major driver is in terms of flavours, which is an important consideration when trying to attract younger consumers.
“The younger generation is no longer satisfied with standard flavours – they want complex flavours that can surprise them,” she said.
“So chocolate alone is no longer enough – it would have to be something like chocolate hazelnut cherry or something complex in order to be interesting to them.
“They really crave that experience of novelty, which is again why we need to focus on being unconventional and surprising to meet their needs.”
Savoury snacks next
With Coco Bites having reached stability, Charanwong is now looking at developing a new range of savoury snacks dubbed Coco Chips, in order to capture the segment of consumers who don’t have a sweet tooth.
“These would again move very far away from the traditional Thai coconut shavings or slices format in order to stand out,” she said.
“The important point here is to capture as many consumers as possible in the market, and the best way to do this is to have something for everyone.
“Coco Chips is still in the new product development phase, but we will know we will be using brown rice as an ingredient together with the coconut, and there will be interesting flavours such as wasabi, paprika, salted egg and more in the range.”
