CRISPS

• Lays has a 59.9% share of the US potato chips industry. Its sales in 2017 were $2.18 billion.  According to TheRecipe, Sour cream and Onion is the best Lay flavor followed by Barbecue.
•  Ruffles is the second leading salty snack brand in the US. Its 2017 sales were $870 million. Cheddar and Sour Cream Ruffles is the most preferred flavor followed by Sour Cream and Onion Ruffles.

TORTILLA/TOSTADA CHIPS

•  Doritos is the leading tortilla/tostada chips brand. Its 2017 sales were $2.09billions. Nacho cheese is the best Doritos flavor.
• Tostitos is the second leading tortilla brand with $635 million 2017 in sales. Tostitos Hint of Lime is the best flavor according to Ranker.

SNACK BARS

•  Rice Krispies Treats is the leading snack bar brand. Its 2016 sales were $144.9 million.
•  Nutri Grain Bars is the second leading snack bar brand with $124.7 million 2016 sales. Nutri Grain Apple Cinnamon is the best flavor according to Ranker.

CHEESE

•  Cheetos is the leading cheese brand. Its 2017 sales were $1.62 billion. According to Spoonuniversty Crunchy is the best Cheetos flavor.
•  Chesters is the second leading cheese brand. Its 2017 sales were $120 million. Chester's Cheese Flavored Puff Corn is the best-selling Chesters flavor according to Amazon Pantry ranking.

COOKIES

•  Oreo is the leading cookies brand. Its 2017 sales were $710 million. Oreo's regular is the best-selling flavor.
•  Double Stuf is the second leading cookie brand.

RESEARCH STRATEGY

CRISPS

• In 2018, the total crisps/potato chips market in the US stood at $7.57 billion, with an annual growth of 2.68%.
• According to a recent report by Research and Markets, the potato chips market in the US is expected to reach $11.31 billion by 2025 at a CAGR of 4.4%.
• As of 2018, Lay’s is the category leader in the US crisps segment and accounts for nearly 30% of the market share with a revenue of $2.21 billion. The next largest selling brand is Ruffles with sales of $1.04 billion and 13.84% market share. Pringles by Kellogg's account for 10% of the US potato chips market with annual revenue of $757 million.
• Frito Lay is the parent company for Lay's and Ruffles potato crisps; the brand controls 60% of the US potato chips market with sales nearly five times greater than the nearest competitor brand, i.e., Kellogg's.

TORTILLA CHIPS

• According to the 2018 report by IRI, the market size of tortilla chips category in the US is $5.32 billion,
• In 2017, Doritos was the top-selling tortilla chips brand in the US with a revenue of about $2.09 billion and a market share of nearly 40%. Tostitos is the second largest selling tortilla chips brand in the US with a revenue of $635 million and market share of 12.01%. The third largest tortilla chips brand in the US is Tostitos Scoops, with annual revenue of $470 million and a market share of 8.8%.
• It is noted that six out of the top 10 tortilla chips brand in the US is owned by Frito Lay and controls more than 72% of the category market share. Barcel USA and Truco Enterprises are the next two leading competitors in the segment with market shares of 5.71% and 3.66% respectively.

SNACK BARS

• According to a recent report by Research and Markets, the US snack bar market was valued at $6.82 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $8.80 billion by 2023 with a CAGR of 4.4%.
• As of 2018, the largest selling snack bar brand in the US is Rice Krispies Treats with annual revenue of $313 million and market share of 22.92%. Nutri-grain bars is the second largest selling brand in the US, with a market share of 13.36% and sales of $182 million. The third highest selling snack bar brand in the US is Larabar Snack Bars with a revenue of $176 million and a market share of 12.92%.
• According to IRI's 2018 report, the snack bars market in the US is majorly dominated by the Kellogg's Company. It features four of the top 10 highest selling brands in the market and controls a market share of nearly 43%. The next two largest snack bar manufacturing companies are Larabar and KIND Snacks with a market share of 12.92% and 3.91% respectively.

CHEESE SNACKS

• According to the 2018 report by IRI, the US cheese snacks market is valued at $2.31 billion with an annual growth of 6.72%.
• In 2017, Cheetos held the market share of nearly 75.7% with an annual sales of $1.62 billion. The second highest selling brand was Chester, with yearly revenue of $120 million and a market share of 5.6%. UTZ was the third highest selling cheese snack brand in the US with sales of about $55 million and a market share of 2.91%.
• Frito Lay owns six of the top 10 cheese snack brands in the US; the company controls nearly 87% market share, followed by UTZ Quality Foods and Herr Foods with 2.91% and 1.11% market share respectively.

COOKIES

• According to a 2018 report by IRI, the total cookies market in the US is valued at $7.8 billion with a growth of 3.3%. The report estimates the unit sales to be $2.93 billion with a growth of 1.3%. (Note, the links go to a preview of the report, but removing the word "preview" from the link in the address bar provides the full report)
• In 2017, Nabisco Oreo was the top-selling cookie brand in the US with a sales of about $674.2 million and market share of more than 8.6%. Nabisco Chips Ahoy and Nabisco BelVita are the second and third largest cookies brand in the US with revenues of $619.4 million and $271.2 million respectively.
• Nabisco owned by Mondelez is the market leader in the cookies segment. The company owns five of the top 10 cookie brands in the US and has a revenue of about $2 billion from its top 5 cookie brands. McKee Foods Corp. holds the second place with revenue of about $400 million, followed by Pepperidge Farm, Inc. with revenue of $143.8 million from its cookie brands.

HELPFULL FINDINGS

• The total US food and beverage market is valued at $563 billion. In 2018, the dollar sales value for the US salty snack category was $27 billion, with a growth of 4.95%.
• The combined unit sales for all sub-categories increased by 1.89%, with nearly 10 billion items sold at an average unit price of $2.30.