Posted in Beverages on May 8, 2025
Brand-name snacks are a big deal. In fact, 80% of global consumers surveyed say they’ve been loyal to certain snack brands for a long time.1
The quality associated with brand-name snacks is a sweet spot when it comes to preferences, surpassing even calories in importance. Seventy-eight percent prefer quality ingredients over calorie counts.1 And even if they were to pay the same price for a smaller portion of their favorite snack, 74% of consumers would remain loyal as long as the quality remained the same.1
Beloved brand-name snacks known for their quality and gratifying flavor profiles can help make menu options more delicious and distinctive. Bear in mind that 87% of consumers agree that life is more fun with a bit of gratification, and 83% don’t want to sacrifice on flavor.1
That’s just a taste of what brand-name ingredients can bring to the table. Here are five ways they can help feed the bottom line and elevate dessert menus at your operation.
1. Gotta Love It: Brand Recognition and Trust
Given consumer loyalty to brand-name snacks and the value and quality associated with them, it makes sense that including them in desserts, drinks and dishes is a must for any recipe for success.
As the most popular cookie variety across restaurant segments,2 chocolate chip is a go-to for serving up sweet sales. And the #1 chocolate-chip cookie brand,3 CHIPS AHOY!, is a sure bet to boost business as a trusted, taste-tempting ingredient that adds credibility and crunch to dessert concepts.
Think Crumbl’s Blue Monster ft. CHIPS AHOY! Cookie — a scrumptious cookie confection that returned to the menu by popular demand.
Another Mondelēz International brand, OREO, takes the cake as America’s favorite cookie and dessert ingredient. The market research firm Datassential ranks it as the most popular brand among restaurants serving dessert varieties4 and cites this iconic cookie for its sheer ubiquity and versatility.2 Fried OREO, for example, has seen +37% four-year growth on menus.2
In addition, Datassential highlighted the OREO Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich on the menu at Sugar Factory Restaurant as an innovative use of it as an ingredient.2
Dairy Queen’s Ultimate Cookie Blizzard Treat combines three leading brands: OREO, CHIPS AHOY! and NUTTER BUTTER. The cookies are blended with DQ’s famous soft serve to create a luscious flavor-packed treat that leverages the appeal and name recognition of three major cookie brands.
Sweet Memories: Nostalgia and Emotional Connections
Brands like CHIPS AHOY! and OREO have been delighting snack-happy consumers for decades. Over the years, these brands have created strong emotional ties with them.
Seventy-nine percent of consumers surveyed agree that snacks evoke memories of their childhood home, and 76% say that some of their fondest childhood memories include sharing a snack with their parents.1
Desserts made with CHIPS AHOY! and OREO evoke feelings of comfort and nostalgia, which can increase sales, especially among customers who associate these flavors with positive memories. “Dessert is a menu part that loves to be playful, meaning that candy, cereal, and retro snacks work as inclusions and flavors in a wide variety of applications,” reports Datassential.4
Brand loyalty carries over from generation to generation as childhood traditions live on into adulthood and are passed down to new consumer cohorts. Seventy-three percent agree that certain snacks are passed down through many generations.1
For nostalgic treats with a unique twist, try our recipes for Waffles on a Stick made with Chunky CHIPS AHOY! Cookie Pieces and Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookie made with OREO Cookie Pieces.
3. Distinctively Delicious: Differentiated and Unique Menu Items
As Datassential reports, the key to strong menu items is safe experimentation.4
Trusted brand ingredients that combine broad appeal with easy versatility are a safe entry point for menu innovation. Perfect for concepts that stand out from the competition, they provide brand recognition and help chefs create signature items that elevate the menu.
For example, innovative recipes like CHIPS AHOY! Loaded Monster Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich or Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake made with Chunky CHIPS AHOY! Cookie Pieces could help attract new customers and encourage repeat business.
As a versatile and beloved flavor, chocolate lends itself well to safe experimentation and has the greatest menu penetration (66.5%, followed by chocolate chip at 52.7%).5 From Scooter’s OREO Blender to Nothing Bundt Cakes’ OREO Cookies & Cream Bundt, OREO-inspired dessert innovation appears on menus across foodservice segments, with the perfect balance of novelty and familiarity.
Branded desserts like these can serve as signature dishes that become unique selling points (USPs) for your restaurant or pastry shop. Customers might come specifically for that familiar taste combined with your innovative twist.
4. The Wow Factor: Marketing and Social Media Buzz
As a special treat that lends itself to over-the-top, colorful and interactive concepts, dessert is perfect for all forms of social media.
Big-name-brand ingredients can make dessert concepts especially social-media-worthy. Branded desserts can provide buzz-generating name recognition and serve as a hook for social media influencers or customers who want to show off their food.
As Datassential puts it: “Dessert is often one of the most beautiful parts of a meal, but especially so now with restaurants dedicated to desserts to share on Instagram or post a video of on TikTok. Social-media worthy elements come from unique carriers, bold colors, and often extreme ‘loaded’ desserts.”4
With a rising number of consumers (60%, up 9% from last year) finding inspiration to try new snacks on social media,1 foodservice operators should seize the moment and create rich, visually engaging desserts with name-brand ingredients that add to the wow factor.
Perfect for posting videos that capture its tea smoke rising from its luscious, cookie-sprinkled meringue topper, Smoked Earl Grey Cheesecake Mousse made with CHIPS AHOY! is the kind of feast for the eyes foodies eat up on social media.
5. Nice Price: Increased Perceived Value and Premium Pricing
Name-brand ingredients from snacks that inspire customer loyalty add prestige to dessert concepts and give them a higher perceived value. Premium or beloved brands allow foodservice operators to position desserts as special and unique, and justify a slightly higher price point.
A dessert that features a brand customers trust and love can encourage a higher check average. Forty-eight percent of restaurants in general upsell desserts at the end of a meal — a stat that rises to 54% for full-service restaurants.6
Over 70% of restaurants actively select menu items to deliberately upsell and cross-sell on at least a monthly basis, or more often.6 To maximize upsells and cross-sells, tempt taste buds with desserts that feature name-brand ingredients customers know and love.
A dessert featuring a brand with high name recognition like CHIPS AHOY! could whet customers’ appetite for additional branded items like a larger drink or side. Customers may be more likely to splurge on a premium experience that includes their favorite brands.
Elevated dessert drinks like Frozen Latte made with Chunky CHIPS AHOY! Cookie Pieces and Hazelnut Milkshake made with Chunky CHIPS AHOY! Cookie Pieces can give the menu a premium aspect for a higher check average.
For more dessert insights and inspiration, be sure to check out Sweet Deal: Crafting Snackable Desserts That Feed the Bottom Line. For soup-to-nuts recipe ideas and more food for thought, visit our Culinary Center and sign up for our emails.
1 Harris Poll and Mondelēz International, 2024 State of Snacking Report
2 Datassential, The World of Cookies, February 2024
3 Chips Ahoy!, America’s #1 Chocolate Chip Cookie Brand Unveils Its “Biggest Cookie Innovation Ever: CHIPS AHOY! Big Chewy Cookie, September 27, 2025
4 Datassential, Desserts, January 2024
5 Datassential, Snacks, March 2023
6 Datassential, Promotions & Upselling, January 2025
