In many ways, the tumultuous COVID-19 pandemic has catalyzed the continued growth of existing patterns across snacking. For many consumers, day-to-day snacking increased, sometimes fuelled by external pressures related to disrupted work, school, and the overall societal status quo. We seek solace in comfort, and the snack industry delivers.
The global snacks market size was valued at USD 1,450.4 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.7 percent from 2022 to 2030. The pandemic-induced lockdowns coupled with the global adoption of the work-from-home culture have led to the exponential growth of the snack market in the last two years.
This trend is expected to sustain during the forecast period, as snack manufacturers are focusing on product innovations such as healthier and organic products. COVID-19 lockdowns prompted an increase in at-home consumption of food products. COVID-19 lockdown implementations and extensions had given snack products a significant role in households all across the globe.
Because more people are working from home, the desire for “on-the-go indulgence” has intensified. Over the previous two years, demand for packaged snacks such as cookies, chips, noodles, and macaroni has increased as the pandemic has encouraged consumers to establish new in-home dining circumstances.
Starting with the sole mission to spread happiness, Wow Snacks is one of the leading snack manufacturers in Nepal and the first popcorn brand in Nepal that started popcorn culture outside of movie theatres. After successfully launching popcorn into the Nepalese market, they began to produce and distribute a variety of snacks, including extruded snacks, potato chips, and cookies.
“Since we are the first popcorn brand in Nepal that started popcorn culture outside movie theatres where everyone can enjoy anywhere at our kiosk outlets and ready-to-eat packages popcorns, we have 100+ kiosks installed around major cities of Nepal where everyone can enjoy fresh and warm popcorn. And also enjoy our packages ready to eat popcorn from general and modern trades”, says Subhakar Manandhar, Founder and Managing Director, WOW Snacks.
Snacks Made For Every Mood!
WOW Snacks is the first Commercial Popcorn (wow popcorn) Brand in Nepal that started popcorn culture from its kiosk outlets and later expanded to ready-to-eat packages with different flavours as per consumer demand. The company serves cheese, butter salt, masala, caramel, butterscotch, cheese, caramel popcorn, and more under development. WOW Snacks focus on two business models where they sell popcorn thru the Kiosk outlets where everyone can enjoy fresh and warm flavoured popcorn, the company has 100+ kiosks installed in major cities of Nepal and another one is ready-to-eat popcorn in the packaged form available at general stores and modern trades.
Subhakar adds, “A simple delicious snacking experience bringing a wow expression in each bite. WOW is a Nepali snacks company here to satisfy snack lovers of all ages from grandparents to toddlers, from Everest to Terai we are all around. From the start of our journey, we believed in doing things with a passion to turn the Nepalese snacking experience into light, tasty & easy snacks for all time. Our journey started with WOW popcorn – Nepal’s 1st Gourmet popcorn.”
An Inspiring Journey to Success
According to Subhakar, the overall journey was a rollercoaster for WOW Snacks. When they just started popcorn, as a snack consumers only related popcorn snacking at the movie theatre and it was not easy to convince every dealer, and retail shop to sell popcorn. Nearly a year after launching into the Nepalese market that the product slowly picked up and has captured over 70 percent of the Nepal market geographically.
WOW Snacks have been doing aggressive marketing and expanding on the basis of good response from consumers. During the pandemic, the company had a tough time surviving with minimum sales and access. Having braved the situation, WOW Snacks is back in the market at the same pace. “Major expectation from the clients is fast service and great facilities. Good margins are required to strategize and meet these expectations. WOW Snacks regularly follow up and does research on the market requirement and apply sales target schemes to attract clients,” adds Sudhakar.
A simple delicious snacking experience bringing a wow expression in each bite
The team of 45 members from the administration, production, sales and marketing, social media, delivery, and more, is driven by the vision to develop popcorn as a regular snack and wants to start popcorn snacking culture in Nepal anywhere. In the coming years, WOW snacks are looking to explore the export market in Asia.
Subhakar Manandhar, Founder/Managing Director
My Family is into the Printing business since 1987, where they used to print books for one of the biggest publications in Nepal. But I was never interested in my family business and I started my first venture with my friend back in 2003 in my 20s, we used to make TV commercials, animation, and post-production which we did well but I could not continue it later and quit by 2006. Later, I joined my family business but since it was not my cup of tea, I quit that too by 2008 and started my next venture of trading FMCG goods from Thailand, China, Vietnam, India in 2009. It was a roller coaster ride for me since I was not fully aware of the market at that time and after many failure attempts I continued it in any situation, by 2012 my business graph changed upwards, and later stepped into Manufacturing in 2018 and today it is WOW snacks.
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