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10 Candy Trends
Candy manufacturers continue their innovative winning streak, while offering consumers some soothing traditional choices.
By Traci Carneal
What will they come up with next? Confectioners showed no inhibition in their offerings over the past year, bombarding consumers with all the gross, sour and novelty candies they could handle. Balancing the wild and zany introductions was a return to the past, in which manufacturers went back to the basics and presented some more traditional products that have been American staples for decades.
The industry must be hitting the mark because seven billion pounds of chocolate and candy are manufactured each year in the United States. And people in the Midwest and Northeast consume more candy per region than all other regions. Even more surprising is the fact that Americans over the age of 18 eat 65 percent of the candy produced annually, according to the National Confectioners Association/Chocolate Manufacturers Association.
Here are some trends Distribution Channels has identified that provide a glimpse into the future of the candy market:
1. A Twist on the Lollipop
The lollipop maintains a strong presence in the c-store candy aisle. However, the varieties introduced this year give a whole new meaning to this long-time American favorite. From simple new flavor introductions, such as Apple by Tootsie Roll, to Wizards Magic Holopops by LightVision Confections, confectioners broke new ground with lollipop innovation.
Capitalizing on the sour trend and popularity of lollipops, some products ooze, like Fr-ooze Pop by Au’Some Candies. This delight oozes fruit-flavored candy when the thin candy coating is licked and dissolved. Amurol Confections also introduced a "squeeze and pop" liquid candy lollipop in blue raspberry and sour apple flavors.
Little Lizzie’s Candy Co. features Valentine’s Day cards with a lollipop all in one package.
Some lollipops are just plain cool, like the Holopops by LightVisions. The Holopops feature edible holograms in five fruit flavors.
Chupa Chups Whistle Pops and Impact Confections Paint Shop Doubles combine fun with taste to appeal to today’s young, fickle consumers. Chocolate lollipops hit the market, along with Cotton Candy Pops and Blow Pops Extreme by Charms and caffeinated gourmet lollipops by McJak Candy Co. The Javapop has a natural coffee flavor that comes from copper kettle cooking.
Jolly Rancher pops were introduced in new, chewy flavors, another trend that is shaping the candy business.
2. Chewy Candy
Consumers want something to chew on, and new varieties of chewier candy are filling that need. From chewy lollipops to gummies and taffy, a slew of chews are growing in size and force.
New to the market are Innovative Candy Concepts’ UFO’s, a chewy candy designed for adult candy consumers. And gummies are making a comeback, but with a novel twist. Taste of Nature came out with Spiderman Sour Gummi Mutant Spiders to take advantage of the Spiderman movie craze, and Haribo has NASCAR Stock Car Gummies featuring a photo of Rusty Wallace and his #2 Ford Taurus stock car – the shape on which the gummies are based. Dayhoff, Inc. expanded its Juicee Gummees line with Strawberry Dreams and Frogees, in the shapes of strawberries and frogs. Dayhoff also has sour Neon caterpillars and Mixed Fruit Rings.
Promotion in Motion introduced a new flavor of Creamsicle Candy Twists, Peaches ‘N Cream, which is candy twisted around a vanilla cream center. Adams & Brook introduced new display formats for it Fairtime Traditions chewy candy, which comes in chocolate caramel, peanut and molasses classic chews. Goetze’s Candy Co., Inc. offers Caramel Creams and Cow Tales, which have topped the sales charts as the best-selling 25-cent item for the 7th year, according to IRI and Nielson.
A veteran to this candy industry, Jelly Belly debuted new ways of packaging its popular jelly beans, with new assortments and pocket tins.
Mike and Ike’s also spruced up its line of candies, adding new Lemonade and Cotton Candy flavors.
3. Patriotism Prevails
Red, white and blue and the image of the American flag made a comeback following the events of September 11, 2001, primarily with more traditional products such as hard candies and chocolate. Many of the patriotic themes are partnered with manufacturers’ efforts to raise money for relief funds.
Hillside Candy is donating 10 percent of its sales of a new "Made in America" hard candy assortment. The mix of red, white and blue wrapped candies comes in a reusable jar bearing an image of the American flag. Madelaine Chocolate Novelties, Inc. expanded its line of American chocolates with milk chocolate American Hearts, which are foil-wrapped in stars and stripes, and milk chocolate flags, rectangular pieces of chocolate featuring the American flag. The line also includes chocolate stars and Stars and Stripes chocolate balls.
Energy Club, Inc. has American Spirit Starlight hard candy mints, and Gimbal’s Fine Candies launched USA Super Sour Starz, soft and chewy fruit-flavored candy. SP Enterprises has U.S. Coin Gum, a bubblegum coin in a foil wrapper minted authentically to look like the penny.
Marshmallow Peeps by Just Born Candy Co. came out with Peeps Stars.
4. ’Tis the Season
Seasonal candy products are seeing increased sales, so many companies are capitalizing on that trend by repackaging their existing lines or formulating new products.
Palmer Candy Co. is broadening its seasonal focus by modifying its products to have a seasonal look, and by seasonal merchandising some of its standard line items. This year it introduced white-coated and chocolate-coated caramel corn.
Spangler Candy Co., another veteran to the candy business, is offering Dum Dum’s 12-ct. assortment of cherry, lemon, and apple candy canes for Christmas, and a Jelly Belly 12-ct. assortment of very cherry, juicy pear and cotton candy. For Valentine’s parties and Easter baskets in 2003, Spangler will introduce three new flavors in its lollipop assortment.
Melville Candy Co. has a wide variety of Old Tyme Barley Pops for every season, including Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving, and St. Patrick’s Day.
Atkinson Candy Co. makes it easier for retailers by omitting verbage on the seasonal displays. That way the retailer can still sell the product after the holiday season and it won’t appear dated. This year the candy company’s Halloween bagged candies feature Chick-o-Sticks, Family Favorites, and Peanut Butter Caramels. And for Christmas is the BIG peppermint stick that weighs 3 _ lbs.
Another classic, Marshmallow Peeps by Just Born Candy Co., has grown by targeting more holidays to keep product on the shelf year-round. The Foreign Candy Co., Inc. has new Blood Suckers!™, lollipops with a gel center that colors the mouth.
The Chocolate House offers several new items for Christmas 2002, including Whipped Vanilla Santas in gold metallic foil, and Whipped Crème Chocolate Snowmen in metallic blue wraps.
5. Intense Is In
The more hair-raising, the better! Intense products remain popular, and several new introductions this year prove it. Dragon Fire Gum by Amurol Confections, Fire Antz cinnamon gummy candy by BestSweet, and Atomic Fizzzion by Squire Boone Village are rocking kids’ tastebuds. According to the company, Atomic Fizzzion is designed to explode, detonate or pop in one’s mouth.
Toxic Waste "hazardously sour candy" by Family Sweets Candy Co., Inc. continues to urge consumers to "take the toxic challenge."
Add gross to the explosion, and the result is Generation Too Foods’ Junk Mouth candy spray and Brain Drips liquid candy. The advertising for these products urges readers, "Don’t be afraid to open your mouth!"
Even traditional Charms has jumped on the bandwagon with Extreme Pops, and Ferrara Pan offers Atomic Fire Balls and Red Hots, classics that are more in style than ever.
6. Old Fashioned
Perhaps it’s the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, but there seems to be a strong market for traditional products – presenting an interesting dichotomy when analyzing candy trends.
Claeys Candy launched natural peppermint flavor for its Old Fashioned Sugared Hard Candies line. The hard candies come merchandised in wooden barrels with flavor signs. Melster Candies reintroduced traditional peppermint taffy with a candy cane twist. The taffy pieces are available in a colorful twist wrapper with a holiday theme.
Old Fashion Stick Candy by Gilliam Candy Brands, Inc. comes in 35 flavors. An Old Fashion Candy Store wood display rack is available with flavor identification labels and merchandising jars.
7. Flavor Combos
Packaging popular flavors together, or pairing traditional favorites with limited offers, is a trend in the making. This year, for example, Hershey Foods Corp. offered retailers and distributors a special Kit Kat package combining a regular Kit Kat bar with a new white chocolate Kit Kat.
According to one distributor, "We couldn’t keep them in the warehouse!" Not only were they delicious, but they were novel. Furthermore, they could only be purchased as part of a full display. "Our customers were buying the whole display just to get those bars," she noted.
Also, Concord Confections is aiming to "dubble" the fun and flavor of its Dubble Bubble brand with the debut of Dubble Bubble Dubbles. The company is pairing fruit-flavored gum with the original Dubble Bubble flavor so each piece of gum offers two flavors and two colors.
And Double Play Foods topped peanut butter chocolate cups with a chocolate chip cookie, a cream-filled chocolate cookie and colorful chocolate candy pieces.
8. Toy and Candy in One
It’s not enough to simply taste good. Now a candy product has to knock your socks off or serve a multi-functional purpose. Kids’ candy is getting funkier all the time – some products make noise, some are toys to be played with long after the candy is consumed and some are just wacky.
Ford Gum & Machine Co. introduced Write Bytes, a colorful product that looks like a personal handheld computer but is actually a candy dispenser. Ever heard of a Kicker Licker Soccer Sucker? This new product from R.L. Albert & Sons, Inc. is a plastic tube with a whistle on one end and a wobbly "soccer ball" head with a wacky face and arms on the other end. By shaking the tube, the arms bang against the head to make a clicking sound.
Au’some Candies offers the Nintendo Ladder Game, a candy that doubles as a game. The classic Slinky has found a new venue in the new Slinky Pal by Candyrific. It combines the fun of the Slinkly dog, a rain stick and hard candy into one product. Ralphco, Inc. has a Critter Clicker line of interactive toys in the shape of toy cars, planes and helicopters that also serve as toppers to candy-filled tubes.
Energy Club offers a variety of clear packages containing both candy and toys, including sunglasses, dolls, plastic spiders and toy cars. PEZ has a Rocket Pen candy dispenser and Chupa Chups offers a pen light.
9. Dressing Up Chocolate
While chocolate sales have remained steady, manufacturers are finding a myriad of ways to dress up their chocolate products. New displays and containers, convenient size packages, more novelties and sugar-free products are on the increase.
R.M. Palmer recently introduced Goog-ly Eyes, a bag of chocolate "eyeballs" attached to a colorful silly mask that can be used for trick-or-treating. La Delicia Felipe Fort offers the Chupelatin-Felfort, a milk chocolate lollipop decorated with white and dark chocolate.
Sunbursts from Kimmie Candy are candy-coated chocolate covered sunflower kernels. Thompson Candy Co. introduced a new line of Calcium Fortified All Natural Milk Chocolates called MOObles. Guylian USA, Inc. has new gift packaging for its boxed Belgian chocolates – a red ribbon motif that also appears in the company’s POP displays.
Chocolate is also being cross-merchandised, with candy bars being placed inside refrigerated cases or in special display barrels or containers next to cold beverages.
#10 The New "Gross" National Product
By Wendy Burt
These days, for kids and teens, when it comes to new products, the grosser the better – especially with food. The more it looks like a body fluid, bug, or something you’d find at the bottom of a garbage can, the better. Much like everything else in a teen’s life, if it’ll make Mom roll her eyes and shake her head, it’s way, WAY cool.
The Harry Potter craze is doing its share to help the gross-out trend in foods. One of the latest product spin-offs from the best selling children’s book series is the Bertie Bott’s Every Flavored Beans, which Hasbro’s Cap Candy has just released.
Retailing for around $4.99 per bag, the collection includes such gaggable flavors as vomit, sardines, cement, grass, dirt, black pepper, and boogers.
Of course, you don’t need a best-selling book to sell a disgusting candy concept.
As the fastest-growing segment of the $23 billion U.S. candy market, "extreme" or "novelty" candy – the industry’s term for products with extreme flavors, grotesque or horrific themes, or play value–is well worth its marketing costs.
Beyond color, beyond flavor, extreme candy gets into the psychological impact of product marketing as kids revel in such disgusting snacks as Seeping Toe Jam candy.
Yes, there’s really a company out there that stocks such vulgar "treats" (a true stretch for the word). Of course, the company is called Stupid.com, so what else would you expect?
In addition to the Seeping Toe Jam, a package of four candies comes with Leaking Ear Wax, Oozing Eyeball, and Dripping Nose Snot. Just twist the tube and the candy oozes out.
Stupid.com also offers something called "Slimy Slugs," gummy candies shaped like those earth-slithering invertebrates that used to leave a trail up the side of your grandmother’s house after a rainstorm. The company’s marketing tagline to teens? "Have you ever had the urge to pick up a slug from the sidewalk and pop him in your mouth?"
Granted, the concept of marketing to children’s fantasies has been around since toys – Barbie’s™ Dreamhouse and Corvette, My Pretty Pony ™, Disneyland, G.I. Joe. Still, whatever happened to marketing to the good old-fashioned fantasies of greed, power, ego, and hedonism? Eating a slug seems more like something a kid would do on a dare than a desire.
Thirty years from now we’re going to see a lot of Fortune 500 CEOs with tattoos of Tupac on their arms and holes in their eyebrows. What we may not be able to see – due to the tongue’s amazing power to regenerate itself – is the remnants of tongue-piercings long gone.
In one of the country’s most outrageous – and painful – movements of teen expression, tongue piercing has taken on an image of strength and bravery among teens. (Think frat house hazing.) In honor of the bizarre ritual, Lippy Licks has produced The Pierced Tongue Candy.
The life-like sweet comes in your choice of several different impalements – from barbells and nails to, well … we’ll spare you the details. After all, you may be trying to eat and we wouldn’t want food of all things to ruin your appetite.
Wendy Burt has published more than 450 articles, essays, stories, and greeting cards. She lives in Colorado Springs where she works as the editor of the city’s largest business newspaper and teaches "Breaking Into Freelance Writing." Burt has just signed her second book deal with McGraw-Hill.
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