With a market size estimated at more than $35 billion annually, the North American snack food industry attracts thousands of new players and products every year.
Keith Murphy of Oak Bluff, Man., has no intention of pushing aside Frito-Lay, but he hopes to capture a tiny fraction of the massive market with a roasted buckwheat snack called Buckshots.
Murphy, who runs Stone Milled Specialty Grains on his farm, launched Buckshots a couple of years ago. The gluten-free snack comes in four flavours: natural, sweet and spicy, smokey barbecue and dill pickle.
Growth has been steady; specialty food stores in Winnipeg, rural Manitoba, British Columbia and San Francisco now sell Buckshots.
Murphy also sells product directly to consumers on a website called foodiepages.ca and plans to break into the Toronto market.
