Sweets & Snacks Expo Candy Slideshow

Wrigley had a broad number of new products, including a rejuvenation of the Juicy Fruit brand with two new extensions: a sugar-free soft-chew format and a bubble gum. Extra Cinnamon Roll, Starburst Superfruit, Skittles Orchards and Altoids Arctic mints were among the other new products on display.

The line was long at the Tic Tac booth, where showgoers were able to customize their own box using a “factory” of Tic Tac flavors. The company’s latest flavor is the limited-edition Summer Ice Pop.

The Hershey Co. had a number of products to spotlight at this year’s show, including Brookside Crunchy Clusters, Hershey’s Spreads Snacksters, the newly relaunched full-size Krackel bar, and Ice Breakers Cool Blasts, which starts as a gum before dissolving into a breath-mint-like blast. 

It was a big show for Just Born Quality Confections, which highlighted its new Peeps Minis, the first Peeps variety available year-round. It also showed off Mike and Ike Zours and a new extension to the Hot Tamales brand: Tropical Heat, featuring Limon Fever, Mango Tango and Pineapple Picante.

One of the most unique products found on the floor, the Firecracker dark chocolate bar from chuao chocolatier features sea salt, chipotle and popping candy crackle—which truly pops in your mouth. Other varieties in the line include Pretzel Toffee Twirl and Potato Chip with kettle-cooked chips and sea salt in milk chocolate.

Leaf Brands LLC won the Most Innovative Product Award at the show for its Sour Farts Flow Packs. CEO Ellia Kassoff accepted the award in the Novelty category after a panel vetting of more than 250 different new products.

Mars Chocolate North America debuted its new chocolate-covered whole blueberries, cranberries and cherries under the Dove brand. In test now, the product will be available January 2015 in a 6-ounce standup pouch and 3-ounce sharing size.

One booth that was hard to miss was Sugarpova, the candy line from tennis star Maria Sharapova. It includes gummies, soft chews and gumballs, all in sharp packaging targeted to females.

Young brand Lovely Candy Co. has entered the market with a line of regular and seasonal chewy caramels. The company was created when founder Mike Nakamura sought to develop a line of gluten-free licorice. Its Lovely Licorice is considered by the company to be the first extruded licorice in North America that is gluten-free.