Balconi: Growth abroad and a new concept of a tasty and healthy snack

The workshop on January 26th entitled “Snack & Breakfast: the post-pandemic future of sweet coffee, snacks, and jams” was carried out in collaboration between GDONews and Cibus Fiere di Parma within the Cibus Lab project. It saw the participation of numerous protagonists of the industry and large-scale distribution, and among these, Balconi could not miss.

The intervention of Marco Fenili, general manager of the company, was precious and confirmed the growth of a trend that had been registered for some time: attention to health, even in the category of snacks.

Taste is certainly the key to access the consumer’s palate, which has become more attentive and demanding. Still, it is not the only aspect that Balconi works on today to create its products. The company was founded by Michele Balconi in 1953, and in fact, is meeting the needs of the public. To do so, it has adapted its recipes by reducing the intake of sugars, and therefore calories, to favor a balanced diet, in line with health and Welfare. In particular, cereals are a very popular and widely used ingredient, as they are versatile and appreciable on the palate.

WATCH THE INTERVIEW TO MARCO FENILI
(General Manager – Balconi)

For a year now, the world has been fighting the pandemic plague of Covid-19, and unfortunately, the category of snacks has also slowed down. While the category once enjoyed a stable performance, today, breakfast desserts have had to face a stockpiling effect, a direct consequence of the closure of schools.

In fact, breakfast snacks are the favorite snack of students in the breaks between lessons, but the lockdown generated a backlash in demand, which has dropped.

2015 was a year of renewal for Balconi, which became part of Valeo Food – which boasts an annual turnover of 1 billion euros – with the aim of exporting the sponge cake and Italian savoir fair around the world. The export is, as Fenili explains, a particularly strategic asset for the company, which has recorded historical growth in European countries, especially in Spain, Portugal, Germany, and France. The ultimate goal is to land in overseas markets such as China, North America, the Emirates, as well as Saudi Arabia. To achieve this goal, Balconi, which autonomously bills 150 million a year, is working hard to create targeted products with an international appeal. These include wafers, whose range has been renewed and expanded, not to mention the line of alcohol-free snacks to be offered to Arab countries.

Despite the setback due to the pandemic period, the category of snacks has found a way to reinvent itself and come back into vogue.

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WATCH THE WORKSHOP