“We are eating more substantial snacks that are packed with protein, and we are eating them more often,” said editors of The Food Channel when listing the top 10 snack trends last August. “So, for our pick-me-ups, we grab a slider at Steak 'n Shake, or a Big Mac Wrap at McDonald’s. Come dinnertime, we may graze some more, but, by today’s definition, snacks may be all we need.”

New York-based The Joseph Baum & Michael Whiteman Company, which creates high-profile restaurants around the world for hotels, restaurant companies, major museums and other consumer destinations, backs up that claim in its food and dining predictions for 2011:

“Watch for restaurant ‘snacks’ to swell up, burritos almost as big as your head, 1-pound meatballs, whoopee pies looking like Frisbees, maybe even monster donuts, all with calorie-count labels that we predict will largely be ignored—except at the margins. People buying multiple snacks during the day will actually skip a traditional meal, knocking their nutritional intake seriously off kilter.”

Indeed, snacking is the rise. Chicago-based Technomic, in a study released last spring, revealed that half of consumers snack at least once a day. About one-fifth of consumers (21%) say they are snacking more frequently now, and more than two out of five consumers (42%) say they usually skip one meal a day or replace a meal a day with snacks. And although roughly three-quarters of snacking takes place at home, consumers ages 18 to 24 are more likely to snack outside the home than other groups (32% versus 26%). Giving momentum to the snacking craze is that about one in five consumers (19%) have broadened their definition of snacks to include more types of food.

“Growing snack consumption and the consumer’s broadening perception of what constitutes a snack are changing how operators and manufacturers should position this category,” says Technomic’s Darren Tristano, executive vice president. “The greatest opportunities likely exist for packaged snacks and prepared offerings at retail locations and limited-service restaurants, although many full-service concepts seem to have room to market snacks, as well.”

Taking that cue, full-service operations are jumping on the snack wagon, having already pulled street foods indoors. Industry analyst The NPD Group based in Port Washington, N.Y., estimates American snacking at 230 occasions per capita per year, and of those occasions, 17% of snacks are grabbed at foodservice outlets. To operators, that means each customer will order a snack 39 times this year. Add it up, and that’s a lot of snack-sale opportunities.

Last autumn, The Lobby Bar inside the historic InterContinental Chicago opted to snag as many of those opportunities as possible by unveiling a menu with global inspiration, the brainchild of Executive Chef Kurt Mittelberger thanks to his culinary travels and experiences in Spain, Austria, Kuwait, Germany and elsewhere. The new bar menu includes three distinct sections; bar snacks, for example, feature Mediterranean flatbread pizza with grilled tiger prawns and Thai-style chicken wings with lemon-cilantro chili sauce. There’s also a soup flight that updates regularly. Tapas include Manchego cheese marinated with rosemary and almonds and Iberian tomato/garlic bruschetta with Serrano ham. Even dessert snacks come into play with crème brûlée Four Ways: chai tea, coconut, chocolate/rosemary and vanilla.

From pizza to its second cousin, bruschetta; from oh-so-portable savory “cupcakes” to the real, confectionery ones; from sliders to grab-and-go wraps; and from plated grain cakes with complementary sauces to anything deep-fried with something to dip it in—whether they constitute a fourth meal or replace one of the traditional three, snacking in America is suddenly not only okay, but here to stay.

Photo caption: Fried bite-size foods like these fontina/prosciutto fritters in Panko bread crumbs are still as hot as ever, made even more alluring when accompanied by smoky tomato fondue. Credit: Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board