3.1.2. South Korean Snacks

A total of sixty-six pre-packed snacks were sorted between the texture (hard to soft) and flavor dimensions (savory to sweet). Nine main groups were formed (Figure 2). Group-6 had eleven moderately hard texture snacks with a mild sweet flavor, group-3 had ten moderate hard texture snacks with a bland flavor, group-4 had seven sweet snacks with slightly harder texture than groups-6 and -3. Group-1 had four extremely hard texture snacks with an extremely strong savory flavor, and group-5 snacks had a similar texture but strong sweet flavor. Group-2 snack texture was similar to that of group-3. Group-7 snacks had bland flavors with a slightly softer texture compared to group-3. The other two groups representing soft texture snacks were groups-8 and -9. Both groups were similar in the texture dimensions, with group-8 snacks being savory and group-9 being sweet. A complete description of the groups, texture, flavor, and snack names are provided in Table 4.

**Table 4.** Group identified in the projective mapping of the SK snacks. Group number, number of snacks in each group, snack type, texture, flavor, and snack names.



**Table 4.** *Cont.*

Group-3 snacks were bland or seasoned with plain salt. Group-7 snacks were seaweed flavored with a slightly soft texture. Overall, 12 snacks, mainly from groups-1 and -2 were seaweed flavored. Group-8 snacks were savory chewy meat/seafood snacks. Group-9 snacks were savory with a soft texture. Thirty-nine (59%) snacks were sweet-flavored or lingered with a sweet taste. Among sweet-flavored snacks, thirty-one (47%) had a slight to moderate hard texture and only eight snacks were soft textured. The PM results obtained from the pooled products showed that the SK market had more sweet snacks over savory.

PM results showed that fifty (75.8%) snacks were in the hard-textured space, varying from slightly hard to moderately hard. Only nine snacks were of extremely hard texture. PM results indicate that the SK snack market space is mainly constituted of slightly to moderately hard texture snacks. The texture dimensions of the SK snacks market were similar to the JP snacks market but with slightly less hard textures. The white space in soft texture products either with savory or sweet flavor is due to the small number of snacks available in that segment. Overall, slight to moderate hard texture with low-intensity sweet flavor can be said to be the best description of the SK snack market. The texture dimension of SK snacks mainly varied from moderately hard to slightly hard with most being sweet flavored. On the other hand, the texture dimension of JP snacks varied from moderately hard to extremely hard and seasoned with savory flavors.

The PM results helped to identify the existing snack food positioning in the market space. This enabled researchers to do a product segmentation and explore white spaces for new opportunities. The developers can look at PM plots as a whole, or as individual quadrants, or half plots to find new product opportunities.

#### *3.2. Descriptive Profiling*

#### 3.2.1. Japanese Snacks

Thirty-three texture descriptors were used to profile thirty-five snacks. The PCA plot obtained from the descriptive data is presented in Figure 3. The product variability explained by the first two principal components (PCs) was 44.07% of the total variability. The main differentiating texture attributes were PC1 (initial crispness, fracturability, roughness of mass, sustained fracturability, sustained crispness, cohesiveness, dissolvability, puffiness and firmness) and PC2 (dissolvability, surface shine, porous, cohesiveness, surface roughness, roughness of surface, and puffiness). One set of snacks featured high-intensity scores of PC1 attributes, the other set of products highlighted strong intensities of dissolvability, powdery, porous, and chalky mouthfeel. Another large set of snacks close to the center of the PCA plot represented low intensities of attributes such as adhesive, cohesive of mass, waxy mouthfeel, gritty, mealy, uniformity of bite, and uniformity of surface.

**Figure 3.** Principal Componensts Analysis (PCA) plot representing the descriptive texture profiling results of JP snacks. The numbers (including dots) highlighted in blue color represent the snack type as listed in Table 1, and the text (including dots) in red color denotes texture attributes. Three US snacks—Stacy's pita original, Lay's classic potato chips, and Tostitos original corn chips (highlighted in yellow color)—were used to compare texture dimensions with JP snacks.

The PCA plot provided a space where new products of certain textures could be developed. For example, there is a scarcity of snacks that are fibrous, cohesive, mealy, moist, having waxy mouthfeel, etc. Similarly, a large white space can be seen around descriptors such as firmness, chew count, gritty, etc. The developer can utilize descriptive data to incubate new texture profiles to fulfill empty texture spaces by introducing new prototypes. The analytical descriptive profiling data can be used as a reference guide to shape new prototypes for further development [24,56]. Of course, white spaces such as the one mentioned in the firm, chewy, gritty area may be undeveloped because that product "concept" may not be appetizing for consumers. However, some products, such as meat jerky, may fit with some aspects of that concept. We also imagine that some high protein products made from plants might fall into that category and whether they are successful or not may depend on accentuating characteristics that might be desirable (firm, chewy) in certain contexts, while reducing characteristics that usually are less desirable (e.g., gritty). Overall, the descriptive sensory profiling can help to design the prototype, determine prototype requirements, and define the key sensory specifications [18].
