CPG Week: Sweet Treat Trends

[00:00:05] Monica Watrous: Welcome to the CPG Week podcast by BevNET and Nosh, your source for the latest food and beverage industry news. I'm Monica Watrous, Managing Editor of Nosh, here with my co-hosts, Lukas Southard and Shauna Golden. If you're enjoying the show, please subscribe on your listening platform of choice. On the podcast today, we are discussing sweet treat trends. And let's start with, uh, we all have a little sample in front of us. The latest. Offering from rotten, which is a lower sugar candy brand. We all have our rotten gummy crunchies. Well, I just happen to have my own stash here in Kansas city, but I would like to say I bought these myself. Yeah, I bought my own too.

[00:00:50] Lukas Southard: Wow. Well, thanks for sharing Shana. I know that it's hard for you to part ways with your sugary treats. I'm I'm excited about these. I haven't tried them yet.

[00:00:57] Monica Watrous: Yeah. Well, and the beauty of it is you're getting a lot of fiber when you eat this whole bag and it's, there's actually some protein in it too, but it's 60% less sugar than probably the comparison would be Nerds Gummy clusters, right?

[00:01:13] Lukas Southard: And it smells like a, you open the bag and I'm like, oh, it smells like nerds. It smells like me at 14 years old getting, I don't know if they still make them, but there was a box of nerds before they started doing the clusters.

[00:01:26] Monica Watrous: Like a movie theater.

[00:01:27] Lukas Southard: Yeah, yeah. And you'd crack the thing and you just like, and I could eat a whole one of those in a sitting. And I don't know how I did that as a kid. One?

[00:01:36] Monica Watrous: That's it? I mean... A whole box? Sean is like, amateur?

[00:01:40] Lukas Southard: I think of it now and it makes my stomach hurt thinking about it, but...

[00:01:45] Monica Watrous: It makes my taste buds feel like they're going to fall off. Yeah, you can't taste anything after that. Yeah. Okay, but these are... So this is a healthier take on Nerds gummy clusters, and they're colored with fruits, vegetables, and superfoods, sweetened with allulose and some other lower calorie sweeteners. And well, Sean and I were already fans, but Lucas is going to try it for the first time. We're going to also.

[00:02:12] Lukas Southard: Yeah, I would F with that. These are good. Especially because I noticed they do have monk fruit. And I'm someone who can like, when I taste monk fruit just a little bit in anything, I'm like, there's the monk fruit. This, I can tell it's in there, but maybe because I read the ingredients, but it doesn't taste monk fruity. It tastes like candy.

[00:02:34] Shauna Golden: I'm into it. And the texture is perfect. The gummy interior is great. And it has a little crunch. And that's the ring shape.

[00:02:41] Lukas Southard: I will also point out that I haven't eaten anything all day because it's 9.30 in the morning. This is the first thing I'm eating to break my fast, which is an interesting experiment for me as well.

[00:02:57] Brad Avery: This is what I call the breakfast of champions.

[00:03:02] Monica Watrous: I concur.

[00:03:03] Lukas Southard: I'm also going to try something I haven't tried yet, which is Issei's mochi gummies. Heard a lot about these, but for some reason I don't think I've ever tried it. This is the sour watermelon. I know you're a fan, so you can jump in there if you want.

[00:03:15] Monica Watrous: I'll polish off the back. What is this, Taste Radio?

[00:03:18] Lukas Southard: I mean, as long as we're doing it, as long as I'm breaking my fast, I might as well eat the gummies now.

[00:03:23] Monica Watrous: And Lucas is making a rare visit to the Newton headquarters. So he's in the studio. He gets to try all the samples that he normally doesn't get access to.

[00:03:30] Lukas Southard: Yeah, I'm just raiding all the fridges here. Yeah. These are good, too. These are a lot less candy-y and more of an adult sweet treat. There's a little bit of sugar sweetness to it, but not like it's going to blow your taste buds out like the Rotten will probably do when I eat the whole thing. I like them. I like them both.

[00:03:50] Monica Watrous: Yeah. Both winners. Both great brands in different ways. And are they both going to be at Sweets and Snacks next month, Shawna?

[00:03:58] Brad Avery: They will both be at Sweets and Snacks.

[00:04:00] Monica Watrous: I'm excited for that. You get to go see them and get more samples.

[00:04:06] Brad Avery: I need a separate suitcase.

[00:04:08] Monica Watrous: Yes. Yeah. I've heard of people sending boxes home.

[00:04:12] Lukas Southard: Don't give her any bad ideas.

[00:04:15] Monica Watrous: Hello. That's a good idea. So we're talking about snacks and sweet treats today. And Lucas, you just wrote about a brand that is taking on Big Jello. The name of the brand is Oddball. Can you tell us more?

[00:04:30] Lukas Southard: Yeah, so it pairs really nicely with the gummies we're having, because this is in the same family as gummies. This is a fruit-based jiggly treat, I think is how she described it, or a jiggly fruit-based snack. But yes, it's the plant-based version of Jell-O. And so it was founded by a A former Estee Lauder strategy director, whose name is Sophia Chang, she grew up in Singapore and Hong Kong. And as she told me in our interview, she always had a soft spot for junk food. But as she got older, realized that at a certain point, you can't just eat junk food all the time as an adult and feel good. And so she, going back to her roots, wanted to develop something that was similar to what she would have when she was growing up as a kid, which is kind of like a fruit as a dessert, but in a form that might be better for you, but recognizable to the American consumer. Hence Oddball was formed. So what's interesting to me about Oddball is that it is carrying on a trend that we've kind of seen building in the last couple of years of this alt gelatin kind of category. What oddball uses for its jelly making ingredients is agar and locust bean gum. Locust bean gum. For some reason I can't say that. Which makes it vegan friendly because gelatin often comes from animal sources. But you're also seeing that in konjac coming out, a lot of different kind of seaweeds that are being used as binders. And so what this is doing is bringing a kind of clean label version using these ingredients that are pretty well known in Asia and bringing it to the American consumer to make something that is very recognizable in the Kraft Heinz brand Jell-O, which we all grew up. with and kind of trying to position itself as the better for you version of Jell-O.

[00:06:34] Monica Watrous: I thought it was interesting how she used the term catfishing to describe how certain foods are masquerading as healthy. And we've been talking about permissible indulgence as a trend for years. But I was having a conversation yesterday with the senior leadership team at Matson, and the term healthier-ish has been kind of used around there as a way to describe a lot of new products that are coming to market. They may not be healthy, but they're just slightly better for you. Maybe they include a functional ingredient, maybe they have a little bit less sugar, or maybe they have some more protein. And I know these are all trends that Shana, you're expecting to see at Sweets and Snacks.

[00:07:16] Lukas Southard: Yeah, the catfishing comment was interesting. It was something she said when she was talking about trying to find an alternative to a chip or a candy bar. And she said, you know, you have protein bars pretending to be cookies, and you have protein shakes pretending to be milkshakes, which I think is very true. A lot of times you get these products and you're like, oh, it's got 15 grams of protein in it, but it's basically trying to be a Snickers bar. That blurring the lines can be hard to do well, but I think Oddball has a nice little lane they've carved out for themselves.

[00:07:50] Brad Avery: Protein is definitely a huge trend right now, obviously. We're also seeing that in candy, sweets and snacks. The exhibitor list I've looked at certainly has a lot. There's Choc-O-Teen, protein chocolate. Humbles Churnables, which officially launched last week, that has 10 grams of protein per bar. And then there is a brand called straight up protein candy. It's a protein infused, from what I can tell, it is like a protein infused Starburst, which I thought was kind of an interesting.

[00:08:23] Monica Watrous: I actually tried protein candy at either Expo West or Winter Fancy Food earlier this year. And yeah, it was, um, It's a different texture. It's not exactly like a Starburst, but it's one way to get your protein. I don't know. Some of us just like to eat chicken.

[00:08:40] Brad Avery: I guess my biggest question is, what is the use occasion for this? When are you consuming protein candy in your day?

[00:08:51] Monica Watrous: Well, we've had this conversation a lot about the prebiotic soda category on this show, because I don't know how many people are looking to get fiber from their soft drinks, but it seems unnecessary. And it goes back to that descriptor of healthier-ish. If there's some kind of attribute that makes something seem a little bit functional, if it delivers a little bit more value, then people feel more comfortable indulging in it.

[00:09:20] Lukas Southard: Yeah, I don't think people are going out of their way to be like, I am looking for a protein candy, but if they're standing in a grocery store, convenience store, and they're looking at a Hornbill's Chornbill's barring it's unfortunate name and a Snickers bar, they're probably, they're going to be like, oh, well, this has a lot of protein and it will hopefully taste the same. So I'm going to grab that because it can catfish you into believing that it's more healthy.

[00:09:47] Monica Watrous: Spoiler alert, it doesn't taste the same.

[00:09:52] Brad Avery: But also, I will say Snickers does have a high-protein Snickers.

[00:09:55] Lukas Southard: It sure does. They do. I didn't know that. Way to go, Snickers.

[00:09:58] Monica Watrous: Yeah. And they're good. It tastes just like a Snickers bar.

[00:10:01] Lukas Southard: Wow. OK. I will seek that out.

[00:10:04] Monica Watrous: I think it's reflective of general trends across the food industry. We're seeing protein being added to numerous applications from pasta sauce to pancake mixes. There is an obsession with protein in America. Americans are certainly not deficient in protein or deficient in fiber, but that's something we'll get to a little bit later in this episode. people are really drawn to these protein claims regardless of what category it's coming from and regardless if it's really high-quality, bioavailable protein with a PD-Cas score of whatever. I mean, there's just, it's not really nutritious, but people are still intrigued by it.

[00:10:48] Lukas Southard: Shauna, are there other things that you're looking forward to at Sweets and Snacks? I will like to point out that I don't like the fact that it's Sweets and Snacks because those are two very different categories, as Monica and I have argued at length. But what else have you heard or are you looking forward to seeing there?

[00:11:06] Brad Avery: Well, to that point, let me just say, yeah, it's kind of weird. You go down an aisle, and there might be a candy brand. And then right next to it is a meat stick brand. So there's certainly a variety of products.

[00:11:15] Lukas Southard: Are you listening, Monica? Are you listening right now?

[00:11:18] Brad Avery: I'm sorry, Monica. But one of the trends that I'm looking most forward to is freeze-dried candy. which sort of took off on TikTok, started off as a TikTok trend. I think in like 2022, really blew up last year, and it wasn't necessarily something I thought would continue to gain traction, but it has. We've seen bigger brands like Hershey with their freeze-dried Jolly Rancher and Mars with Skittles Popped, you know, sort of also capitalize on that trend. So that's something I'm certainly looking forward to. It's projected to reach $2.4 billion by 2030, so.

[00:11:54] Monica Watrous: the freeze-dried candy category. You wrote a really good story last year about So Good and how they pivoted from the freeze-dried, what, fruits and vegetables into freeze-dried candy, and that just took the business into the stratosphere.

[00:12:10] Brad Avery: So they had their own manufacturing plant, which really allowed them to make the pivot. And it certainly took off. That was sort of, I guess, as the movement was gaining traction is when they relaunched it. They went public last year and it seems they've been doing really well and continue to do well. So, I mean, for a TikTok trend, I feel like sometimes they don't stick around, but that is certainly one that I think has staying power.

[00:12:32] Monica Watrous: Yeah, well, I think people in general are drawn to different textures and experiences. And that freeze-dried, I know my nine and 12-year-old nieces are obsessed with freeze-dried candy. So it has a lot of appeal with younger generations.

[00:12:45] Brad Avery: For sure. And what I think is funny, I don't know if you guys, when you were younger, tried, quote unquote, astronaut food, like freeze-dried ice cream sandwiches. I was never into it. But you know, I can get behind freeze-dried candy. I think it brings out the flavor. Have you guys tried freeze-dried candy?

[00:13:01] Lukas Southard: Oh, yeah. I think I had so good at Expo last year, I wanna say. I like that there is a different texture to it. I think there's been such a, chewy has always been part of, especially the like candy candy, like the fruit flavored candies, that having that crunchy, light texture is good. Monica brought up a good point when we were talking before we started recording about the problem with freeze-dried candy though, is that, It's so light that you feel like you can eat more than you normally would, which I think would be a dangerous game for some of us who have less willpower than others.

[00:13:40] Monica Watrous: That's a good point. Sean, what other trends are you expecting to see at sweets and snacks?

[00:13:45] Brad Avery: I was sort of expecting to see cocoa alternatives, especially as we've seen with prices for cocoa surging over the past year or year and a half. And I haven't really seen any, at least on the exhibitor list. But I will say that brands like Blue Stripes will be there. And for anyone who's not familiar with Blue Stripes, they use 70% of the cacao fruit that's typically discarded during the typical chocolate making process. So what they're doing is really interesting. And I think Brands are doing what they can. It'll certainly be interesting to see sort of who's feeling the squeeze from the surging prices. I would assume it's everyone.

[00:14:23] Monica Watrous: Yeah. I mean, the packaging to ingredients, there's going to be probably a lot of tariff talk on the show floor and just all of the challenges related to supply chain shocks and rising costs of goods across the board. For sure. Well, speaking of upcycled ingredients, it's interesting you mentioned Blue Stripes, and that's a great brand that's doing some really cool things with a sustainability lens. I wrote this week about Flora, which is Jenny Britton's second act. Jenny is the founder of Jenny's Splendid Ice Creams, and her latest brand is focused on gut health. The initial offering is a line of bars called Fruit Crush Bars. They're pressed and made with fruits and seeds. But the ingredient deck is really interesting. Some of the sources of fiber in the product are overlooked plant parts like watermelon rinds and apple cores. And so the aim of the brand is to not only get more fiber in American diets as 95% of Americans are actually deficient in fiber or they're not eating enough fruits and vegetables. but also to divert millions of pounds of fresh produce waste from landfills.

[00:15:39] Brad Avery: That's definitely an interesting concept. Have you tried them?

[00:15:41] Monica Watrous: I have tried them. There's some really good flavors. It's, you know, Jenny in her ice cream line is known for some really adventurous flavors. And the Fruit Crush bar line seems to be themed around tea flavors. So are these kind of like fruit leathers? They're not fruit leathers, they're like pressed fruit bars. So almost like a Larabar, that it's like fruit based, but it also has like seeds in it and some other ingredients to add texture and, you know, fiber, like everything in there is sort of selected intentionally for fiber content. But some of the flavors are Bramble Berry Lavender, Blueberry Matcha, Mango Cardamom, Raspberry Rose, and Vanilla Rooibos. They're going to be introducing some more flavors in the coming months as well, but these products are available on the brand's website and at several independent grocers as well as Foxtrot Market and Pop-Up Grocer. That's where I was able to snag some bars. So, uh, really interesting pivot or, or departure from an indulgent category like ice cream getting into the functional snacking set, but certainly a standout among a sea of protein heavy offerings. So, uh, excited to see where that Brandt Gehrs and insiders can read more at Nosh.com. The story is called ice cream pints to Apple cores, Jenny Britain's second act. And here are some other notable bits of news from the week. Zero sugar moves in the yerba mate category, a conversation with Kodiak CEO Val Oswalt, and why modern pantry staple maker Not Just Co. shut down. For these stories and more, become an insider at BevNET and Nosh. That wraps up this edition of CPG Week by BevNET and Nosh. Thank you to our audio engineer, Joshua Pratt, our director is Mike Schneider, and our designer is Aaron Willette. If you enjoyed the podcast, please subscribe on your listening platform of choice, and we will see you next time.