Dang Foods: The next generation of whole food snacks belongs in the produce aisle

Speaking to FoodNavigator-USA at the Winter Fancy Food Show, where the Berkeley-based company was showcasing its new sticky rice chips and revamped packaging, co-founder and CEO Vincent Kitirattragarn said:  

“At Dang Foods we specialize in taking whole-food-based snacks ​[coconut, onion, rice chips] that we find in Asia that aren’t yet fit for the US market, and transforming them so they’re fit for the US market, so we’re cleaning up the ingredients deck, changing up the packaging.”​

As for store placement, he said: “The more conventional the store, actually the more we want to be in produce. 80% of people go through produce, so you’ve got coconuts next to our coconut chips, onions next to onion chips. People ​[shopping the produce category] are already in the mindset of fresh and healthy, so healthy snacks do really well in produce.”​

Dang Foods is also working with other brands in the healthy snacking space to explore new merchandising options, he added.

“We actually have a little cohort with Rhythm Superfoods, Peeled Snacks and Barnana, and we all work together to figure out how we can approach retailers as a group and say we can be a healthy snacking solution for you in produce.”​

Want to hear more from Vincent Kitirattragarn? Tune into our FREE-​to-attend online Snacking Innovation Summit​​ on Feb 15, where you can also hear from Peeled Snacks, Field Trip Jerky, Protes and board advisor and guru Brad Barnhorn.