Biena Snacks on Simplicity, Flavor and Why…

In a sea of fortified claims and functional buzz, the real question is what actually sticks. That’s why this conversation with Biena Snacks offers a valuable lens into how brands are thinking beyond the trend of the moment.

Interestingly, some of Director of Brand Marketing Samantha Sieloff’s thinking traces back to earlier education, like the Honey Up Close* session from last year that dove into honey’s origins, varietals and flavor nuances. It reinforced how much honey can do beyond sweetness, especially when it comes to making emerging flavors like Honey Roasted and Honey Barbecue Chickpea Snacks more approachable.

For Biena, that insight shows up in real ways. Honey isn’t just clean label friendly. It’s a tool for improving flavor, broadening appeal and meeting consumer demand for simplicity. And in a market where not every product survives, that kind of functionality is what gives an ingredient staying power.

We had a great chat at Natural Products Expo West! It’s interesting to see what products have staying power on store shelves once the dust settles.

That’s true. I love seeing what up-and-coming trends are in the North Halls, especially.

You mentioned at Expo West that last year’s Honey Up Close with the National Honey Board influenced a name change on the Honey Barbecue SKU. What else did you learn from that meeting?

There was a lot of foundational information about bees and how they pollinate and how the nectar from different flowers impacts the flavor of the honey. Then as it shifted more into the business side, there was a lot of amazing trend information that’s been gathered about how honey makes a flavor more accessible. If something’s early on in the ‘emerging trends’ curve in terms of flavor, if you put the word honey in there it makes it more likely to be adopted because honey is so ubiquitous and well loved by everyone.

We love to hear that! In the world of swicy, swalty, swavory, honey is certainly having more than a moment.

There was some other information about hot honey and how that was skyrocketing, and at the time it was becoming something that was really popular on menus. It pushed us to develop some hot honey prototypes and use statistics from that presentation. And also it impacted us to update an existing flavor that we had that had been kind of flat in sales. We turned it from a barbecue flavor to a honey barbecue flavor, again, trying to broaden its appeal.

How do you think consumers perceive honey mentioned on packaging versus other sweeteners?

I think that consumers these days are looking for simplified ingredient lists. And honey is such a natural substance that people value it. I feel like it has the most positive equity of any sweetener.

You currently use dehydrated honey. How is that technically different from liquid honey?

That just comes down to what works the most successfully in the production of our snacks. We had a more liquefied honey approach on one of our roasted chickpea snacks before, but we changed it to this powderized honey because it’s easier on the production runs. It just works better for us.

Honey is often associated with permissible indulgence. Is this important in your world when using another all-natural ingredient, chickpeas, in creating a better-for-you snack?

I think honey really contributes to that side of things, yes. People may hesitate at honey on a chickpea or honey on edamame because they seem like they’re more savory, but when you get people to try it, they really do taste good.

Want to see and taste honey in a new way? Bring Honey Up Close to your product developing and marketing teams! Honey Up Close is a hands-on experience designed to showcase honey’s unique benefits in the food and beverage industry personalized for your company. From enhancing flavor and texture to improving shelf life and clean label appeal, honey is more than just a sweetener—it’s a functional powerhouse! As part of a Honey Up Close, participants will receive a Honey Box in the mail with honey samples and product innovations, which will be sampled during the meeting. Reach out to [email protected] to schedule.