With consumer spending recovering, Thailand's snack market is expected to thrive again after two years in the doldrums caused by the domestic economic slowdown.
Itthipat Peeradechapan, chief executive of Taokaenoi Food and Marketing Plc, said consumer spending increased in the first quarter this year.
Sales of Taokaenoi snacks grew by 10% in that period.
"We've seen active momentum in the country's 37.2-billion-baht snack market in the first quarter after two years of stagnation because of the domestic economic slowdown," he said. "The long-awaited election and better farm product prices have also given a boost to consumer sentiment."
Mr Itthipat expects the overall snack market to grow by 7% in 2019.
Of last year's 37.2 billion baht, 12 billion was for potato chips, 10.2 billion extruded snacks, 4.56 billion peanuts, 3.03 billion seaweed, 2.86 billion fish snacks, 1.69 billion cuttlefish snacks, with prawn crackers, rice crackers and popcorn accounting for the remainder.
With better consumer sentiment, the company recently launched "Tinten", a sister brand to Taokaenoi. It hired six members of the band BNK48 to be presenters of Tinten, a salted egg cuttlefish snack product, and create brand recognition among students and young adults.
He said the brand also set a new vision, aiming to become a food innovation company.
"Our management will become more flexible. We may also seek collaboration or buy formulas from specialists to produce new products to make us move faster," Mr Itthipat said.
Taokaenoi bought the salted egg formula from a Singaporean partner to produce Tinten. The salted egg platform will be used to collaborate with other brands in the third quarter of this year.
The company expects sales to grow by 10% to 62.7 billion baht in 2019 and increase to 10 billion over the next five years.
In related news, Khanitha Taweepon, marketing manager of Lay's brand for Pepsi-Cola (Thai) Trading Company Ltd, said it also recently launched a breakthrough product called Lay's Cooling, aiming to strengthen its leadership position in the 38-billion-baht salty snack market.
"Consumers not only want a good taste but also new experiences when consuming snacks. Lay's Cooling was created for Thai consumers during the summer season," she said.
Ms Khanitha said the company has recorded sales growth in the first two months this year, and expects the market to expand 8.1% in 2019 year-on-year.
The company launched Lay's Shock and Lay's Salted Egg in the first two months of this year. Lay's Cooling is expected to experience a similarly positive response from consumers, she said.
The company allocated 80 million baht for its campaign to promote the new product, hiring actress Davika "Mai" Hoorne as brand ambassador.