Chex Mix Retail Sales Surge 19% as General Mills Reworks Salty Snacks

Chex Mix retail sales jumped 19% in the year since General Mills doubled the flavor coating on its top three varieties and refreshed the packaging. The gain came in a salty snacks category that Ben Irby, president of General Mills' snacks business, described as essentially flat.

The broader salty snacks portfolio tells the same story. Sales rose 5.2% over the last four quarters, Irby said, and the company's salty snacks now sit in nearly 16% of U.S. households, up from about 14% a year ago. The business is growing both dollar share and volume share for General Mills.

"All of a sudden, we can now compete with some of the big players," Irby said. "[Our team] has shown a little bit of an underdog mentality. People can underestimate us but I think the growth we've driven in the last year is one of the reasons there's a lot more to go in this business."

How small is the business today?

General Mills still holds about 1% of the $32 billion salty snacks market, far behind category leader PepsiCo at roughly 50%. Salty snacks generated $760 million of the company's $18.4 billion in sales during its fiscal 2026 year.

The push began a few years ago, after executives ran taste tests comparing General Mills brands against competitors and found the results "were not great," Irby said. Some snacks matched rivals on flavor and packaging when they should have outperformed. Others ran at parity or slightly behind in segments where the company aimed to lead.

Consumers were not requesting changes to Chex Mix, but the head-to-head tests showed the brand would not stand out without improvements, Irby said.

"The team stepped back and they brought to me this challenge of, 'This is not good enough, and it will take an investment to get this to where we need to be,'" he recalled. "Until we have a better product, winning in this space is going to be impossible."

What changed on shelf?

General Mills overhauled Chex Mix's top three offerings — original, cheesy and bold — adding "hero" pieces double-coated in flavor and interspersed throughout the bag. The company redesigned the packaging to spotlight those pieces and launched a resealable tub.

The flavor renovation has shifted consumption patterns. Chex Mix is being eaten more often in homes with children, which Irby called a key foundation for the brand's future.

Innovation continued into 2026. General Mills launched a Chex Mix version with M&Ms in convenience stores, tapping consumer interest in salty-sweet snacks; the company said it ranked as the top new salty snack item in that channel during the first half of the year. The manufacturer also introduced resealable tubs for Chex Mix and Gardetto's to meet demand for fresher, larger family sizes. Gardetto's added a honey mustard flavor to reinforce its premium positioning.

Bugles innovations are expected to reach the market in 2027.

Irby said he tracks which snacks colleagues go back for during meetings, which ones they take home and which run out in the office. He counts himself among the converted.

"I will tell you I didn't eat a ton of Chex Mix before this flavor renovation," Irby said. "I eat a lot more of it now, but you know in salty snacking, if you don't win on taste, I mean this is the ultimate discretionary category."