Interview Topic: Snack Bar Consumer Preference/Behavior
Interviewer: Desmond Penn
Interviewee: Denzel Barnes, Male, 22

My best friend, Denzel Barnes, determines what snack bar to consume based on the health benefits. Since he is very health conscious and works out at the gym daily, he wants to eat bars filled with protein and that will give him energy to get him through his workouts. He only purchases Clif Bars because this is the bar he's been eating since he started working out and he doesn't have an urge to try any different brands. He also likes the taste of it and it's convenient since there's a store selling them near his gym.

He started working out a few years back when he first started attending college and he's always been aware of the quality of products/brands. He tends to purchase them before and after his workouts typically as a source of protein instead of taking supplement protein shakes. Denzel occasionally will also eat them when he isn't working out just as a casual snack if he's waiting to eat dinner and is hungry. However, he will rarely go out of his way to purchase a snack. It's often when he's already near a convenience store shopping for another product, and he will purchase one.

Denzel not only loves the Clif brand, but he also encourages his friends to stop eating snack bar brands like Chewy that contain more sugar than most. He wants all of his friends to be more health conscious and eat the Clif brand. He emphasizes that he wouldn't purchase another brand because it has become part of his daily routine to purchase it. He mentions that will consider purchasing them in bulk to save money as opposed to singly since he has a Costco membership. This will be interesting to see if it affects his preference of the brand due to a change in routine.

Interview 3:

Interviewer: Jiahao Zhu

Interviewee: Nick Tao

My roommate, Nick, is a 21- year- old male undergrad student at UIC, major in electrical engineering. I decided to interview him because I know him very well. He was my roommate since the first year I was at UIC. Hence, I know his daily routine, snack and beverage preference, and even his type of girls. During the interview, I questioned about his snacking habits which including snack buying habits, and snack preference. The 10 minutes interview was informal like a small talk among friends. This scenario allows me and him to implement our conversation better.

In the beginning, I questioned him about his snack preference. Nick said:" Frankly, I only choose Cheetos, Flamin Hot flavor. I didn't like any other snacks or other flavors of Cheetos." and absolutely, his answer arouse my curiosity. He explained that he didn't like the taste of cheese. Instead, he prefers the strong taste and hot feelings. And also, he said he always had the snack in the midnight when he was doing his homework or playing PC games.

As the small talk carry on, I ask him when and why he has this kind of habit and snacking preference. He said:" I started to have this kind of habits when I was a senior high school student. Once I bought it from the vending machine with only one flavor of Cheetos left there, I quickly started to love it. However, something weird for my- self as well, it was I would only like this type of one snack. If there was no flamin hot flavor of Cheetos, I would not choose any other snacks instead.

During our entire conversation, he just kept enjoying his flamin hot flavor Cheetos with a 20oz bottle of Pepsi. He said to me that when he was a senior high school student, he only bought his snacks from the vending machine on campus. Right now, he would prefer purchasing this from the vending machine on campus and seven-eleven. He just loved this one type of snack, and it would not cost him so much money on it; therefore, he would only buy it from the closest location nearby. I figured it our my friend Nick; he had a kind of customer loyalty. His customer loyalty is stable enough and unchangeable which comes from his daily life.

Interview 4:

Interviewer: Rongtai Lu

Interviewee: Christina Z, Female, 23.

My best friend and I have been friends for a couple of years now. And in all those years I have known her, she has been eating a lot of potato chips. Christina says she cannot think of any place in her mind where she would not carry her bag of chips and demonstrates this behavior by pulling out some chips from her bag. We have this interview with her over these amazingly sweet snacks as she sheds light on why her day cannot be complete without a bag of chips.

Christina works at an IT center for more than seven hours a day. She stares at her computer all day, and the job can be quite repetitive. At first, she could get chips for fun once in a while, but gradually, she realized that it helped her through the working hours and could not miss a bag or two every day at work. Since then, whether it's a picnic or a movie, field work or just work, potato chips are her ‘ride or die' as she repeatedly refers to them.

As we dive into the specifics, she admits that there is a flavor she enjoys more than others. She says that Cheese and Onions are her favorite and on an average week, she can have several packets. She continues to say that since these snacks form a very crucial part of her routine, she buys them beforehand and keeps them at home so that she can slip a bag or two in her bag on her way to work every day. Some of the flavors she has at home are among others, salt and vinegar, cheese and onions, and salt and pepper.

When I asked her about brands, she was quick to mention that she is not quite brand-specific and focuses mostly on the price, she does not earn much, and she has to keep up with her habits. She, however, insists she never bargains on her favorite flavor, cheese and onion, and smilingly adds that she is glad they are found in most stores near her. Her love for these snacks has her thirsty most of the times, and so she pays the ultimate price by having to drink a lot of water to avoid dehydration.