CHICAGO -- New products are the lifeblood of the convenience-store industry, renewing the vitality of a retailer’s merchandise mix, giving consumers fresh reasons to choose the channel to make their purchases. This is especially true for snacks and candy—new flavors, new sizes, licensed characters, unexpected mashups and seasonal offerings keep the category exciting.
CSP Daily News' companion publication Convenience Store Products E-Newsletter offers up four slideshows highlighting the category innovation that was on display at the recent Sweets & Snacks Expo in Chicago.
Click through to feast your eyes on these treats.
The Hershey Co.’s Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Cups took best in show this year as the National Confectioners Association (NCA) named the 2016 Most Innovative New Product Award winners in the confection and snack industries at the annual Sweets & Snacks Expo.
A panel of experts narrowed the field of 300 entries to the top five most innovative products in each category. Industry representatives from retail and wholesale, as well as other food industry icons and trend experts, handed out the golden tickets for each of the winning categories.
“With more competition than ever before, each of the Most Innovative Product Award finalists and winners represent the upper echelon of candy and snack innovation,” said Barry Rosenbaum, chairman of the Sweets & Snacks Expo and president of Nassau Candy Distributors Inc., Hicksville, N.Y.
Click through to see a slideshow of this year’s winners in each category. And click here for a list of all of the nominees.
There were meat snacks everywhere at this year’s Sweets & Snacks Expo. Some didn’t even have consumer packaging yet.
Here are a few new items we got to try.
Healthier snacks made their presence felt strongly at this year’s Snacks & Candy Expo.
With more and more people snacking more and more often, it makes sense that consumers in general would reach for that better-for-you bar or that natural and organic veggie chip. But one thing is for certain: Indulgent snacks and candy remain a popular choice among your c-store consumers, and manufacturers haven't neglected innovation in that area.
Click here to see some of the indulgent innovations our editors spied at the Sweets & Snacks Expo.
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