According to research from IRi, a market research company which provides clients with consumer, shopper, and retail market intelligence and analysis, the total U.S. snack bar market boasted $5.6 billion in annual sales from July 2014 – July 2015.
Data was collected from sales at Supermarkets, drug stores, mass markets, military commissaries and select club and dollar retail chains.
From this data BakeryandSnacks compiled a list of the top 10 bestselling snack bars including granola cereal and nutrition bars. Take a look at what they found and then take a look at your vending machines throughout Southern California, Inland Empire, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Bernardino and Riverside to see how many of these bars you can find for purchase. (p.s. if you don’t find ones you’re looking for let us know and we’d be happy to place them for you).
1. Nature Valley Oats & Honey Bar ($400,000,000)
2. Clif ($378,453,696)
3. Fiber One ($282,693,152)
4. NV Sweet N Salty ($256,410,000)
5. Rice Krispy Treats ($256,391,152)
6. Quaker Chewy Bars ($230,580,880)
7. Nutri-Grain Bars ($222,151,680)
8. Special K Protein($151,426,480)
9. Nature Valley Protein Bars ($130,574,664)
10. KIND Plus Bars ($110,109,128)
The largest segment of sales came from nutrition and intrinsic health value bars (making up $2.76 billion of the $5.6 billion sales). But word to the wise, be careful when deciding what’s “healthy.”
According to Kissairis Muroz in their article “The 15 Granola Bars That Are Actually Healthy” on greatist.com, “Granola bars are the Swiss Army knife of snacks: they’re small, portable, napkin-free eats that can tackle a variety of situations. But not all bars are created equal, and unfortunately these tasty bites can be loaded with more sugar than a Pumpkin Spice Latté and so low in fiber and protein that hunger will come knocking before you’ve even tossed the wrapper.”
So how do you know if your favorite bar is healthy or just disguised as healthy? Make sure you understand the ingredients listed and take a look at three things:
• Sugar – you want it to be low
• Protein – you want it to be high
• Fiber – you also want it to be high
Not sure where to start? Here are Muroz’s top 15:

king bars 800
1. Health Warrior Chia Bar
2. Annie’s Gluten Free Double Chocolate Chip Granola Bar
3. KIND Cashew & Ginger Spice
4. Ginny Bakes Karma, Love & Apricot Ginnybar
5. KIND Dark Chocolate Chili Almond
6. Annie’s Gluten-Free Oatmeal Cookie Granola Bars
7. Larabar Renola Cocoa Coconut
8. KIND Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt
9. Zing Chocolate Coconut Single Bar
10. Larabar Uber Dark Chocolate Turtle
11. Simple Squares Coffee
12. 22 Days Nutrition Nut Butter Buddha
13. Larabar ALT Lemon Pound Cake
14. 22 Days Nutrition Pumpkin Seed
15. Rise Almond Honey Protein Bar
Call your Southern California, Inland Empire, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Bernardino and Riverside vendor, Dependable Vending today at 800.785.3803 ext. 223 to find out more about your favorite granola bars as well as some healthier bars we carry that you might not know about yet.

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