As American consumers appear to become more health conscious, protein-packed snacks are in high demand.
That, coupled with the fact that Americans eat less chocolate than they used to, has led to Hershey’s (HSY) decision to start selling meat snacks. Quartz reports that Hershey will begin selling meat jerky through its Krave Pure Foods division this summer.
Fortune reported that Hershey bought Krave at the beginning of last year, after it had reported becoming the No. 2 brand of jerky in U.S. grocery stores. Flavors range from those you would expect from jerky, like barbecue, to some you might not expect, including pineapple orange, black cherry, and basil citrus. According to vice president of U.S. snacks for Hershey, Marcel Nahm, meat snacks are a small food category in the U.S., but companies are expecting the health food trend to last.
Hershey has lost some chocolate sales as consumption of retail-bought chocolate is the U.S. has steadily decreased over the past decade, dropping by a few kilograms per household. The company is likely hoping that selling healthier, protein-filled snacks will win back some customers.
There is also a lot of competition in the chocolate market. Hershey isn’t just competing with other giants in the chocolate market, like Mars, but it also has to compete against higher-end chocolatiers that producer smaller batches of fancier products. Hershey now has a smaller portion of chocolate sales than Lindt, Ghirardelli, and Lindor.