Perfetti Van Melle shores up U.S. Chupa Chups presence

Chupa Chups have been imported to the U.S. and distributed by New Jersey-based Euro American Brands since 2010, but the latest deal with IT’SUGAR stores is intended to increase brand recognition.

Growing the Chupa Chups brand​

Jordi Turu, general manager at Perfetti Van Melle Mexico, told ConfectioneryNews: “The USA is a very competitive price driven market and despite the lollipop segment performing not so well in the last few years we feel there is room for growth of our high quality, differentiated premium product. ​

“Definitely the partnership with IT’SUGAR will help to give a boost to the Chupa Chups brand recognition in there USA and help increase our presence and sales in this important market,”​ he said.

Chupa Chups is present in over 130 countries and is the market leader globally and in Europe, Russia and Japan in the lollipop segment.

U.S. lollipop market​

Perfetti Van Melle has been in the U.S. for the past 30 years, but has focused upon domestically produced Airheads and Mentos, imported mainly from the Netherlands.

Mehmet Yuksek, president and CEO of Perfetti Van Melle USA, previously told this site​​ that U.S, consumers viewed lollipops as a cheap proposition and he said very few lollipop producers held strong brand recognition in the country.

Tootsie Roll is the U.S. market leader in lollipops but Hershey also produces lollipops through its Jolly Rancher brand.

IT’SUGAR specialty candy stores​

Chupa Chups lollipops will be stocked in over 75 IT’SUGAR stores across the U.S. as a ‘shop-in-shop’ concept alongside branded apparel and accessories from mid-June until the Christmas period.

Specialty candy and gift retailer IT’SUGAR was founded in 2006 by Jeff Rubin. The company has stores in locations such as New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami and has an international presence in destinations including Panama, Venezuela, and Grand Cayman.

“We are excited to see the response from our customers when they realize that we have the largest Chupa Chups shop in the nation,”​ said IT’SUGAR’s founder Jeff Rubin.