In 2025, 41% of US consumers snacked in place of a regular meal. In Australia, 44% replaced a full meal with a snack at least once a week. In Germany, 56% of Gen Z consumers reported eating multiple snacks throughout the morning instead of breakfast.
These are not emerging behaviors. They represent a change in the primary function of eating, documented across age groups, income levels, and markets.
Sustenance Moved Categories
The pattern holds across markets and meal occasions. Canada: 44% of household cooks swap a snack for a full meal at least once a week. Brazil: 43% of consumers snack between lunch and dinner every day. India: 22% of snack consumers replace breakfast, lunch, or dinner with snacks. Among US bar buyers, 69% agree a bar can replace a meal.
Gen Z adults and Millennials lead on snacking frequency in Australia and Germany. Meal substitution is documented across every age group in the survey.
A product designed as a snack is being used as a meal. The portion format, satiety performance, and nutritional architecture were not written to that standard. For most brands in the category, the brief has not caught up.
What Purchase Data Misses
Among US snack consumers, protein and fiber rank last in stated snacking motivations, at 38%. They fall below hunger (62%), treating oneself (61%), taking a break (51%), energy (50%), habit (44%), media consumption (43%), eating on the go (43%), meal replacement (41%), and eating healthier (40%).
Read alone, that suggests health positioning is marginal. Read alongside Black Swan’s social listening data, the picture changes.
High protein is a top growing theme in social media conversations about snacking in Brazil and Australia. Fiber-rich is a top growing theme in France and Germany. 46% of Brazilian snack consumers actively want snacks that increase their protein intake. 41% of US bar buyers selected their last bar for high protein content.
The gap between what consumers say motivates them and what is growing in their social conversations is the most commercially significant finding in this report. Purchase data records decisions already made. Social signal records what is shaping the next ones. Black Swan’s methodology applies predictive analytics to organic social posts and claims 89% accuracy without surveys or focus groups. Category teams reading sales data alone are working from lagging information.
One further finding: 51% of German snack consumers prefer products fortified with added nutrients over those with reduced sugar, salt, or fat. The consumer preference is not for subtraction. Innovation built around free-from claims is answering a question fewer consumers are asking.
“51% of German snack consumers prefer products fortified with added nutrients over those with reduced sugar, salt, or fat.”
Sensory Is the Primary Commercial Language
Black Swan’s social listening identifies taste and enjoyment as the leading volume themes across all seven markets measured. “Delicious” leads in the US, Mexico, Brazil, France, Germany, and UK. “Fun” leads in the US, Germany, and UK. “Tasty” leads in the US, Mexico, Brazil, France, and UK.
Texture is the emerging frontier. 70% of Thai adults say the crunch and crackle of snacks creates an enjoyable sensory experience. 67% of German snack consumers agree snacks that combine different textures appeal to them. 38% of US cracker buyers say texture influences their selection.
77% of UK adults say they try to savor the experience when they eat or drink, consistent across every age group surveyed. The snack occasion is being attended to, not passively consumed.
Social media has moved from discovery channel to validation mechanism. 46% of Canadian candy consumers aged 18-44 say they seek out products made popular on social media. 41% of UK chocolate consumers who use social media say seeing a product online prompted a purchase. 52% of German chocolate consumers aged 25-34 say social media trends increased their interest in globally-inspired chocolate. The product decision is forming before the trade is aware a decision is being made.
Three Questions for KSA
Saudi snacking is growing. The three-meal structure is under pressure among younger Saudi consumers, consistent with the generational pattern this report documents across every market surveyed.
Does your pack format assume someone has already eaten a meal, or that this snack is the meal?
Are your health claims based on what consumers say drives purchase, or on what is shaping the conversation that influences what they buy next?
Is your next product based on last year’s sales data, or what consumers are already discussing at scale?
Signal source: Mondelez International / Mintel / Black Swan Data, 2026 State of Snacking.