The last several years have challenged consumer definitions of “essential” and “nonessential.” As the world shut down during the worst of those early pandemic days, we took a hard look at what we see as truly required in our day-to-day lives.

Then we promptly ran to the store—or online—to stock-up on our favorite snacks and treats to sustain and comfort us through the long haul.

We understand the role treats should play in our lives as occasional indulgences at the right moments: special occasions, gatherings of family and friends, holidays, or just a little something sweet at some point during the day for no reason at all, except the joy it brings.

Over the past year, as the retail consumer market has sought its familiar patterns and performance, we’ve encountered a steady series of hurdles: persistent workforce issues, trade and ingredient challenges, packaging updates, the omnipresent supply-chain discussion, and significant broad-based pricing increases—including at the cash register.

Thanks to those sweeping price increases, industry dollar sales saw quite an uptick over the past year, but that doesn’t always equate to a better bottom line. We’re all paying more for everything, so we need to take a closer look at unit sales and overall category penetration to determine where we’re seeing strong traction.

Chocolate is still the heart of candy, and chocolate category sales, per Chicago’s Circana—our trusted retail sales data partner—rose to $18.8 billion, up 9.2%. Overall unit sales were down for the category, dropping 5.1%, but a few sales stars stepped forward:

In today’s economy, if you’re flat, you’re still winning, and non-chocolate candy was down just 0.8% in unit sales for the year, hitting sales of $10.9 billion. Some category highlights:

• Private label showed strength in the chocolate candy box, bag, and bar segment, up 11.7% in unit sales to a value of $341.3 million
• Ferrero Group’s Kinder brand, which has seen strong U.S. market performance of late, grew 21.4% in unit sales for larger-sized product (over 3.5 oz.), while Ferrero’s smaller-sized products (below 3.5 oz.) jumped a nice 33.9% and its snack size segment sales grew even more, up 39.8%

In today’s economy, if you’re flat, you’re still winning, and non-chocolate candy was down just 0.8% in unit sales for the year, hitting sales of $10.9 billion. Some category highlights:

• Novelty sales saw nice increases for the year, with novelty non-chocolate unit sales up 24.4%—a category we just covered on Candy Industry with a look at seasonal and novelty innovation at century-old stalwart Maud Borup
• Spangler—with leadership from 2023 Kettle Award recipient Kirk Vashaw—had a great year for its hard sugar candy packages and rolls, up 28.9% in unit sales to $93.9 million

Much like the namesake journeys of our elementary school days, a field trip for a trade journalist is an opportunity to stretch your legs, go someplace new, and learn. When Kemin Industries, Des Moines, IA, extended an invitation to a select group of food industry reporters to visit its Bakery Innovation Center (BIC) at their headquarters, I happily accepted—in small part for a change of scenery, but mostly because in-person learning opportunities have been in short supply since the start of the pandemic.

During the visit, the other journalists (including my BNP Media colleague Prepared Foods Chief Editor Bob Garrison) and I used all five senses in our tour of the BIC, a 2,300-square-foot facility equipped with an analytical lab, pilot-scale production equipment, and other features. We got to see the BIC staff in action, hear them explain the various services they offer tortilla and baked-good customers, get our hands on corn tortillas as we mixed and baked them in preparation for testing, smell the aroma of the cooking disks, and taste the fruits of our labor. Then, we got to put fresh-made tortillas through a number of tests. According to Marketing Director Courtney Schwartz, Kemin customers are invited to visit the BIC and share in these experiences.

Source: Circana, Total U.S. Multi Outlet w/ C-Store (Grocery, Drug, Mass Market, Convenience, Military and Select Club & Dollar Retailers), latest 52 Weeks Ending 05-21-23

Better-for-you continues to find white space in treating, and the past year saw a few bright spots along those lines in unit-sales leaders:

• Perfetti Van Melle’s Mentos brand—with leadership from 2023 Kettle Award nominee Sylvia Buxton—saw its sugarless Mentos gum brand grow 11.8% in unit sales to $311.7 million
• Sugar-free chocolate candy unit sales from Hershey Co. grew 19.6% to $38.4 million
• PIM Brands grew its carob- or yogurt-coated snack unit sales by 12.3% to $16.6 million

While some of this shopper attention to sugar-free stems from incremental better-for-you dietary shifts—with a diabetic-friendly base as its core—recent sales growth also stems from ongoing formulation improvements for sugar-free treats, delivering a more-authentic sensory perception and mainstream eating experience. This is a very active area of ingredient research, and one that will continue to factor into innovation efforts as candy companies balance their core indulgent product sets with more health-conscious options—products that often blur the line between occasional treat and anytime snack to drive incremental growth.

Regardless of a product’s relative level of indulgence, we continue to demonstrate that an occasional treat is an essential part of our lives, even during leaner and more-challenging economic times. That’s something we can all celebrate. SF&WB