TGI Friday’s™ Sweet Potato Skins Now in Your Pocket!

Source: Inventure Foods Inc. 

 Inventure Foods, Inc. has launched a new product joining the well-known TGI Friday's^TM licensed snack line - Sweet Potato Skins. The new snack is anticipated to be an attention grabber, what with sweet potatoes suddenly being in high demand throughout the U.S., a trend that is unlikely to end anytime soon.

The new TGI Friday's^TM Sweet Potato Skins are already available in stores and vending machines nationwide in 2.75 ounce and 5 ounce bags.

TGI Friday's^TM snacks, thanks to the variety of flavors and the popularity of this restaurant chain, have caught on in a big way in the U.S. The first TGI Friday's^TM restaurant was opened in 1965 in New York City, and today more than nine hundred locations in sixty countries bring people together in a fun, laid-back atmosphere with a wide selection of American food and drink.

With manufacturing facilities in Arizona, Indiana, Washington, Oregon and Georgia, Inventure Foods, Inc. markets and manufactures specialty licensed food brands, including Boulder Canyon Foods^TM, Jamba®, Seattle's Best Coffee®, Rader Farms®, TGI Friday's^TM, Nathan's Famous®, Vidalia Brands®, Poore Brothers®, Tato Skins®, Willamette Valley Fruit Company^TM, Fresh Frozen^TM and Bob's Texas Style®.

With the soaring popularity of the sweet potato across the U.S., it is no wonder that in 2014, the U.S. was the leading destination of sweet potato imports, making up 45% of global imports.

When it comes to the global sweet potato trade, China remains the leader in sweet potato exports, with 9 thousand tonnes of sweet potato exported in 2014, totaling 46 million USD, which was 28% over the previous year. Its primary trading partner was Japan, where it supplied 8% of its total sweet potato exports in value terms, accounting for 79% of Japan's total imports.

Japan and the U.S. were among the other main global suppliers of sweet potato in 2014. However, the fastest growing exporters from 2012 to 2014 were the U.S. (+40%) and China (+85%). China, by virtue of this meteoric growth, significantly strengthened its position in the global export structure.

China's top 5 trading partners in 2014 were Japan, Singapore, the U.S., Malaysia and Canada, with a combined 21% share of China's sweet potato exports. The share of Singapore increased modestly (+4 percentage points), while the share of Malaysia illustrated negative dynamics (-8 percentage points).

Source: World: Sweet Potato - Market Report. Analysis And Forecast To 2020