The 100-Calorie Snack Attack

For years, Bonnie Taub-Dix carefully portioned out a handful of crackers or cookies and packed them in Baggies for her sons to snack on at school. Then, on a recent trip to the supermarket, the mother of three discovered that someone had done the work for her. Tucked among the family-size bags of chips and three-liter soda bottles, she spotted boxes of 100-calorie snack packs. "I thought, 'It's about time'," says Taub-Dix, a New York dietician who now buys the snacks for her family and recommends them to calorie-conscious clients. "They're not only great if you're watching your weight," she says, "they're really convenient."

That combination has proved appealing to consumers. In mid-2004, Kraft kicked off the trend with reformulated, waferlike versions of popular Nabisco treats, such as Oreos and Chips Ahoy cookies, in 100-calorie snack packs. They took in more than $100 million in revenue the first year, a milestone that fewer than 1 percent of new packaged-good products in the past decade have achieved, says Sheila McCusker, editor of Information Resources Inc.'s Times & Trends publication.

Since then, a growing number of food giants have been scrambling to emulate Kraft's success--from Coke's minicans to Frito-Lay's Mini Bites to Hershey's upcoming 100-calorie candy bars. In the first six months of 2006, 42 new 100-calorie products hit the market--as many as in all of last year, says Tom Vierhile, director of Datamonitor's ProductScan. "People really prefer to eat less of what they like than more of what they don't like," he says. That may be good news for consumers' waistlines and for snack companies' bottom lines.