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Message: [QUOTE="Bombastus, post: 93836, member: 2178"] Food brands are turning snacks into more chances to make money. Coffee with a cheap pastry, drinks after work, or a bite after the gym all count as new ways to get people to spend beyond their usual meals. Three meals per day used to be the norm. Yet people have begun to graze from morning to night, and food chains want a share of each purchase. Smaller meals and less hunger have made those extra visits more vital to sales. J.M. Smucker has seen its Hostess Donettes sell well against rival sweet baked treats. The firm sees a strong market for those small cakes at breakfast. El Pollo Loco has a similar plan with coffee, chicken tenders, and quesadillas aimed at people who want food between meals or late at night. Cornell professor Alex Susskind says the idea is quite plain. Restaurants want to make money when people would not have bought a full meal. The term is old in the food trade, but its use by top bosses has grown. AlphaSense found 51 earnings calls that used the phrase snacking occasion in 2026, against 48 in 2025. For one quarter alone, it came up on 20 calls. A decade prior, that same stretch had just four. Quite a jump for a bit of food trade jargon. Inflation has made some people more careful with cash. GLP-1 drugs have also changed how much some diners eat. Instead of large plates, they may want smaller meals with more protein. Food firms are trying to match those needs. Chipotle has $4 cups of meat for people after a small bite. McDonald's added more sides rich in protein, and its chief says GLP-1 users tend to eat less food while seeking more protein. A full meal may not fit what those guests want. Susskind sees a clear trade-off. A chain may lose a large meal sale, but a small snack sale beats no visit at all. Brands can still serve big meals to hungry diners while giving others a cheaper way to eat. Sally Lyons Wyatt, who leads food and snack research at Circana, says eating habits had begun to change well before GLP-1 drugs grew popular. Millennials helped make snacks a normal part of daily life rather than a rare treat. Her view is that the drugs are changing what shoppers pick, not wiping out demand for food. A cup of yogurt may serve as lunch for one person and a light bite for the next. Same food, different use. [/QUOTE]

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