Conagra Brands (NYSE: CAG) is positioning its $3.3 billion snacks portfolio as a centrepiece of the National Confectioners Association's 2026 Sweets & Snacks Expo, which runs May 19–21 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The company, one of North America's largest branded food groups, is showcasing products across three segments: meat snacks, seeds, and sweet-and-salty offerings.
The $3.3 billion figure underscores the scale of Conagra's bet on the snacking category, which has become a key growth engine across the packaged-food sector as consumers shift away from traditional meal occasions. Conagra has not broken out snacks as a standalone reporting segment, but the disclosed portfolio value places it among the more substantial snack businesses in North American branded food.
The Sweets & Snacks Expo is the confectionery and snack industry's primary annual trade showcase, drawing buyers, distributors, and category managers from major retail and convenience channels. Conagra's presence signals continued investment in trade visibility for brands that compete directly with offerings from Hershey, Mondelez, and privately held players such as Jack Link's in the meat-snacks aisle. For context on how legacy packaged-food companies are repositioning snack assets to defend shelf space, see F&B Industry News's recent coverage of portfolio restructuring trends in centre-store categories.
Meat snacks remain among the fastest-growing sub-categories in convenience retail, a dynamic Conagra has sought to capitalise on through brands including Slim Jim, which holds a leading position in the dollar-sales rankings tracked by syndicated data providers. Seeds and salty snacks round out the portfolio with brands that compete across grocery and mass channels. Investors and analysts tracking snack-category dynamics can find additional data in our consumer-trends coverage of salty snack growth.
Conagra has not issued updated guidance in connection with the expo appearance. The company's next scheduled financial disclosure is its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report, where analysts will assess whether snacks volume trends have stabilised following a period of elasticity pressure tied to elevated retail price points across the packaged-food sector. The expo appearance is consistent with the company's broader strategy of maintaining high brand visibility at key trade events as it competes for incremental distribution and feature placement heading into the back half of the calendar year.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
