Potato chips are the most sought-after snacks with 70% of Super Bowl watchers – up four points from the 2019 U.S. Snack Index – expecting potato chips to be available at a Super Bowl event, followed by tortilla chips (54% vs 52% in 2019), according to Frito-Lay’s latest Snack Index.

Retail sales data shows Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest day of the year for salty snacks, generating approximately USD520m in one day. Historically, Frito-Lay produces approximately 600 million pounds of snacks in the six weeks leading up to the game – nearly 20% of its annual snack production – and more than 67 million pounds of snacks the week of Super Bowl.

Key insights from the annual U.S. Snack Index around Super Bowl snacking include:

• Super Bowl party goers are there for the food and prefer snacks. Nine in 10 (90%) say a Super Bowl spread isn’t complete without snacks and dips and nearly eight in 10 (79%) prefer snacks like chips and pretzels to be available.
• For the second year in a row, salsa was the favorite dip. The top five favorite dips to pair with Super Bowl snacks include: salsa (16%), cheese dips and spreads (13%), French onion dip (13%), guacamole (12%) and buffalo chicken dip (12%).
• Spicy and out-of-the-box flavors are hot with young consumers. While all generations are more likely to prefer the classic flavors (53%), Gen Z and Millennials prefer flavors like hot and spicy or more elevated / amplified flavors. Customers felt the same in 2019 and echoes Frito-Lay’s prediction as spicy being one of the top snack trends of the year.
• Snacking preferences across the American melting pot vary:
  • The two remaining Super Bowl LIV cities prefer different snacks, with San Francisco choosing potato chips (48%) and Kansas City favoring popcorn (32%).
  • Miami residents who plan to watch Super Bowl LIV are most likely to snack in the second quarter (27%) while those in Kansas City (39%) and San Francisco (42%) are more likely to snack in the first quarter.

Given the heightened demand and excitement around Super Bowl, Frito-Lay has increased its market investment to support its multitude of new innovations this year.