Productos Industrializados de Saltillo S. de R.L (PISSA) was exhibiting Delicrea Yummy Sand at last month's Sweets & Snacks Expo in Chicago.
Creative product for kids
The product – which allows children to play, interact and create sand castles, before eating them - will launch in Mexico in September in 80 g bags with a mould included.
PISSA hopes to bring Yummy Sand to the US with a retail price of around $3 per pack by next year.
"It's not really different [from a regular bubble gum]. It's just sugar with a gum base," Isabel Zavala, customer service at PISSA, told ConfectioneryNews at the Expo.
"We are trying to launch it by the beginning of next year in another format - a little box that includes the sand and a shovel and two moulds. Kids can start building a sand castle and it also includes a playmat.
"We are trying to awake the social skills and creativity of kids and encourage them to share with others,” she added.
PISSA is also offering to co-manufacture the product under a private label.
PepsiCo JV
PISSA was founded in 1984 in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico.
It formed a 50/50 joint venture with PepsiCo in 1991 following strong results from its work with PepsiCo's Mexican candy brand Sonric's.
Today, it is a co-manufacturer for large companies such as Nestlé, Wrigley and Hershey.
"Our main thing is co-manufacture. We are now trying to enter [the US] with our own brand Delicrea."
Delicrea hopes to enter US market
The interactive candy line Delicrea includes Candy Bricks, a Lollipop Maker, Candy Clay and Emotipaint, which allows children to paint on to dextrose tablets with a pen filled with flavored gel.
"The clay has been sold for around four years and the interactive candies line has had around five years in the market, but only in Mexico,” said Zavala.
“We've sold around 1m unit per product in Mexico per month. But in the US we are trying to introduce it with our brand or as a private label,” she said.
The company already exports some products to the UK and Israel and sees additional international opportunities on top of the US.