“Sugar snap peas have enormous potential in snack food segment”

Sales of sugar snap peas grow every year. “Especially Scandinavian countries are interested, just as the Benelux and France are showing increasing interest. The fat, green legumes have enormous potential in the snack food or Ready-to-Eat segment. Many people do not exactly know how to use sugar snap peas, so that is what we will be promoting more often in coming years,” says Santiago Zapata of Special Fruit.

Sugar snap peas can be eaten both cold and hot. “In Scandinavia they eat the sugar snap peas as finger food, and the product is incredibly popular. We regularly have them on our tables as a snack at fairs. However, consumers still have to discover this, which is why communication on our packaging is very important. On it, we give consumers several tips on how the peas can be eaten.”

Sugar snap peas are in Special Fruit’s Special Vegetables segment. “These vegetables are imported from many different countries year-round. We currently get them from Zimbabwe and Peru. The product has an important place at Special Fruit. The fact that we offer our customers sugar snap peas year-round shows how important this vegetable is for us.”

Demand for sugar snap peas always increases around the holidays. “Christmas is not the only holiday when the peas are popular, it is rather a vegetable that is eaten during the Easter period. The versatility of sugar snap peas is best lent to this, as it may give salads a fresh touch, or they can be added to main courses as a crunchy, hot side dish. That is why we have much demand for promotions around Easter.”

Sugar snap peas’ price trend is fairly stable. “We sometimes have certain periods with shortages, and the legumes become more expensive. That is when we do not have boat or air freights.” Special Fruit is continuing to further develop in the field of new packaging and by focusing on the Ready-to-Eat segment. “This is happening in cooperation with supermarkets. We are also trying to inform people using our website and social media, in order to make the product better known. For example, the product is ideal for in the lunch boxes of school-going children,” Zapata concludes.