Chocolate

For a vast number of chocolate makers, this year has been anything but sweet. Amidst surging cocoa prices – which are still on a wild roller coaster ride – conglomerates like The Hershey Company and Mondelēz International have resorted to passing price hikes on to consumers to reduce the impact on their balance sheets, while investors have expressed increased interest in high-tech startups producing alt-cocoa products with methods like fermentation and plant cell culture.

Mesquite may be best known for barbecue, but the plant also produces nutritious pods that can stand in for cocoa beans in chocolate recipes. Enter Mez Foods, a Chicago-based startup that is championing the ingredient in a line of premium tablet bars that are made with mesquite bean flour, plus illipe butter, chufa flour, pea and rice protein fermented by shiitake mycelium, sugar, carob powder and oat fiber.

Mondelēz International is exploring a possible acquisition of candy and snack rival Hershey, according to a Bloomberg News report citing private sources familiar with the matter. The combination would bring together such brands as Oreo, Ritz, Reese’s and SkinnyPop and generate annual sales of almost $50 billion.

Ferrero North America announced the opening of its new $214 million Kinder Bueno production facility in Bloomington, Ill., this week, marking the company’s first chocolate factory located outside of Europe. The 169,000 sq. ft. facility is part of an expansion of its existing campus, which produces Crunch, 100 Grand, Raisinets and other chocolate products, and… Read more »

Julian Rose sees an opportunity to elevate the chocolate edibles category through superior ingredients and quality.

Cocoa prices have been on a wild roller coaster ride over the past year, and there may be no end in sight.

New York startup Harken Sweets is set to showcase the latest addition to its line of date-caramel candy bars this week at Natural Products Expo West.

Raaka is looking for the right ingredients to reach its next stage. The company, known for single-origin, Fair Trade chocolate bars, this week released a line of baking chocolate, cacao powder and nibs. Looking ahead, the company is hiring a new CEO to lead the charge of growing the brand’s retail footprint.

Hershey’s announced plans to sell off once high-flying jerky brand KRAVE, along with artisan chocolate brands Scharffen Berger and Dagoba, during a quarterly earnings call that reflected a few months of dramatically-shifting consumer habits toward the confection company’s chocolate products.

When it comes to snacks, consumers want meats, sweets and salt — preferably with a better-for-you label. In a presentation last week at the Sweets and Snacks Expo in Chicago, SPINS and UNFI reviewed trends driving natural and specialty candy and snacks, segments that comprise a 19% share of dollar volume and 42.8% share of dollar gains in the overall snacking industry.