In today’s competitive and changing sector, staying up-to-date with confectionery developments and chocolate, candy and gum trends is vital.
In our fortnightly new product development (NPD) series, we bring you the sector’s latest launches and give you a glimpse of the creative campaigns, leading trends and business strategies that support them.
Whether you’re looking to innovate, reimagine your product offerings or learn about emerging market demands, here’s a helpful snapshot of insights and information on launching, growing and scaling in this dynamic industry.
KitKat introduces its sharing bars
The renowned ‘Have a Break’ brand has launched its latest NPD, which puts sharing experiences at the centre of its new SKU and accompanying campaign.
Evolving beyond its long-standing ‘Have a Break’ motto, KitKat has unveiled its new ‘Break Better’ slogan to support the release of its all-new sharing bars. The British brand has developed a campaign that seeks to appeal to multiple generations, encouraging them to stop overstretching, take quality breaks and create moments of connection.
KitKat’s latest product comes in three new flavours: double chocolate, salted caramel, and hazelnut.
Each sharing bar contains multiple break-off pieces and comes in 99g portions. It is suitable for vegetarians and contains no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives.
Mars unveils nostalgic range
Chocolate giant Mars Wrigley wants to reimagine the chocolate wafer space by bringing back a classic favourite: the Milky Way Crispy Rolls.
Mars Wrigley is leaning into the popularity of the ‘newstalgia’ trend, which brings together new innovative launches with familiar and comforting nostalgic flavours. Alongside the brand’s iconic Milky Way Crispy Rolls, Mars is releasing two new product options: Twix crispy rolls and Bounty crispy rolls.
The Milky Way Crispy Rolls are making a welcome return, combining indulgent chocolate and creamy fillings with a crisp wafer. The two newbie products draw on the popular features of the Milky Way variety. The Bounty crispy rolls include a creamy coconut filling with a milk chocolate coating and coconut shavings. The Twix crispy rolls complete the unique and interesting trio of flavour profiles with a caramel cream variety.
What ties all three new products together is their crispy, crunchy wafer texture and recognisable roll shape. Aiming to reinvigorate the chocolate wafer category, Mars will roll out its latest products across grocery, convenience and wholesale retailer channels in a single SKU format.
As reported in The Grocer, according to Barry Callebaut’s Top Chocolate Trends 2024 report, 70% of consumers want a unique, multi-texture experience from their chocolate choices, with chocolate wafers making up 20% of the chocolate bars market. Furthermore, Nielsen’s June 2024 results show that the category has grown by 10% year over year.
Hotel Chocolat unveils Easter 2025 collection
Luxury cacao grower and chocolatier Hotel Chocolat has announced its lineup of products for this year’s Easter season – and it’s a bumper selection.
Some of the Mars-owned chocolatier’s recipes are returning favourites. The brand’s ostrich eggs, which feature over a kilo of chocolate and come in classic, patisserie and vegan varieties, will be making a comeback. Hotel Chocolat’s nibbly eggs will also return. The range includes five eggs created with a smooth finish and textured crunch made from various ingredients like granola, caramel éclat and cacao nibs. Splat eggs, a simple chocolate egg with a splat design, will also be on shelves for this Easter season.
Hotel Chocolat is reimagining its extra thick eggs range, showcasing thick-shelled eggs with filled chocolates in eight egg varieties. The products include unbelievably vegan, milk to caramel, serious dark fix, patisserie, exquisitely nutty, exuberantly fruity and everything varieties.
Meiji expands Hello Panda range
Japanese Meiji Group has unveiled its latest addition to its US-based Hello Panda universe: Panda-Monium. Hoping to shake up snack time, Meiji America, which manufactures confectioneries and snacks in the US, has launched its Panda-Monium product expansion.
Growing its famous Hello Panda brand, the range will now feature 32 panda designs.
The crunchy, bite-sized sweet treat contains a smooth and flavorful chocolate creme and aim to amp up playfulness and creativity in the snacking experience.
The brand will sit alongside Meiji Group’s existing names, Meiji Hello Panda, Yan Yan and Chocoroom, in the US and Canada. Specialising in fun and interactive snacks, Meiji Group has launched its products in grocery, convenience and specialist stores.
Cartwright & Butler launch new indulgence range
Luxury hampers and food gifts provider Cartwright & Butler has released its latest NPD, the chocolate coated indulgence range, in premium retailer Liberty London. The brand’s new indulgent release comes after multinational bank Barclays reported increased spending on small luxuries.
Launching its luxurious chocolate-coated mini treats collection, the brand sourced its chocolate and cocoa from Belgium and the UK.
The snack selection includes chocolate-coated honey almonds, dark chocolate pistachios, and dark chocolate stem ginger.
Sweet startup spotlight
McCaffrey family debuts McCaffrey Protein Bites
Alongside his family, three-time Super Bowl Champion and NFL athlete Ed McCaffrey is expanding his food business, releasing a McCaffrey Protein Bites range. The brand will launch its latest product range in three flavours: chocolate chip cookie dough, birthday cake and fudge brownie. Teaming up with his wife and three children on the new release, the sports star launched the protein-focused range on February 3, 2025, ahead of the US’s annual Super Bowl.
McCaffrey Protein Bites target the on-the-go, protein-packed snacks market and are proving popular in the functional confectionery space. Available in select US retailers, McCaffrey Protein Bites are gluten-free, plant-based and non-GM.
