PepsiCo: Frito Lay Spices Up Canadian Snack Offering

Canada’s growing Asian ethnic minority is creating a demand for stronger flavors within the savory snacks market. In response to this, PepsiCo has launched a new line of spicy curry and wasabi flavored potato snacks under the Frito Lay brand. While the range will appeal to ethnic consumers, it is also likely to attract mainstream consumers in search of more intense, authentic flavor experiences.

Frito Lay Canada says the new line of snacks is an attempt to appeal to Canada’s growing Asian population. The range, which includes spicy curry flavor and wasabi-flavored potato snacks, has been launched under PepsiCo’s subsidiary Frito Lay Canada, initially on a trial basis in Vancouver and Toronto.

The new ethnic-inspired range will be supported by a marketing campaign targeting Chinese-language newspapers and television stations. Canadian government statistics show that the bulk of immigration into the country comes from southern and eastern Asia, with Chinese being the largest minority group, accounting for 3.5% of the total national population and 26% of the visible minority population in 2001.

While both the North American and south and east Asian territories have large savory snack markets, North America (including Canada) is dominated by the potato snacks segment, whereas the Asian market tends more towards nuts and spicy snacks. This new East meets West snack range is an attempt to stimulate growth within Canada’s potato snacks market, which, according to Datamonitor research, was worth an estimated $651.4 million in 2005.

Frito Lay has targeted Asian consumers previously, with television and print ads in Mandarin for its regular and Stax chips lines, which vice president of Marketing at Frito Lay Canada, Dale Hooper, said resulted in stronger sales and better brand awareness for Stax within the Asian communities.

Mr Hooper is also optimistic about Canada’s non-ethnic consumers also buying the new snacks. Indeed, Datamonitor figures show that spending on ethnic food in North America is forecast to continue growing well above the overall food market’s growth as consumers increasingly strive for more intense, more authentic flavor experiences.

Datamonitor figures show that the Canadian savory snack market as a whole will grow from $1.16 billion in 2005 to attain a value of $1.38 billion by 2009. Innovation and adaptation by major players such as Frito Lay will certainly account for a proportion of this growth, although the company may encounter weaker demand for its ethnic inspired snacks away from the cosmopolitan inner cities.