Hershey leans into value, flavor with Kit Kat, Reese's, Jolly Ranchers
For customers who are repeat buyers of king-size candy bars, Hershey emphasized increasing the size of its most popular brands, Kit Kat and Reese’s. In November, the company will launch its Kit Kat Super King-size bars which feature "12-fingers of the classic chocolate wafers," said Lindsay McCabe, manager, corporate communications and brand PR, The Hershey Company.
The company also welcomed Kit Kat Vanilla to its permanent portfolio in both the standard- and king-size bars available next month.
Reese’s standard- and king-size Big Cups are available in Chocolate Lava (launched in late August) and Caramel which feature a layer of creamy chocolate or caramel beneath the peanut butter — a reflection of Hershey’s focus on introducing more textures and flavor profiles using a layering technology that served as Hershey’s top innovation of the year, McCabe said.
“Reese’s not only leaned heavily into flavor technology innovation but [also] ensured that they are giving products that consumers need in terms of value or sizes, and being able to enjoy as an instant consumable versus a shareable,” McCabe explained.
Hershey’s Crunchy Waffle Cone Bars, which launched last year, is also available in standard and king sizes. The bar combines Hershey’s chocolate with the crunch of a waffle cone to deliver the growing trend of diverse textures within the confectionery category.
Jolly Ranchers enters the ropes and freeze dried segments
The classic fruit-flavored hard candy brand saw a refresh with a new tagline — “Huge fruit flavor” — that also meets younger gummy consumers looking for bold flavors and interesting textures. The brand will launch “a series of new products, which will be the biggest that Jolly Rancher has taken in a very long time,” McCabe said.
She added, “Consumers [are] looking for more textural sweets and snacks, something that touches on multiple flavor profiles."
Hershey introduced its Jolly Rancher Ropes which contain two fruit flavors on the chewy outer layer and soft inner layer in Green Apple + Watermelon and Blue Raspberry + Cherry in 10-ounce bags. The company will launch 6-ounce peg bags next month.
Also available next month, Jolly Ranchers Chewy Poppers will feature a triple-layer of texture in a candy shell, chewy core and fruity center in 6.2-ounce peg and 12-ounce pouch sizes.
In February 2025, Jolly Rancher Freeze Dried will features its traditional fruit flavors in a crunchy, airy format which will be available in 3.1-ounce bags.
“Overall we have been seeing a lot of private distributors and small, like Etsy, [sell freeze-dried candy], but no one from a grand scale has been able to do this yet. We are breaking through in a big way with freeze dried and we expect that to be our biggest innovation in the sweets category in 2025,” McCabe said.
Within its gummy business, Hershey also collaborated with NBA basketball legend, Shaquille O’Neil to launch Shaq-A-Licious XL gummies on Sept. 9. The gummies are offered in a variety of shapes and flavors. The Original flavors come in peach, berry punch and orange flavors in the shape of O’Neil’s head. The sour edition comes in pineapple, mixed berry and watermelon flavors in the shape of O’Neil’s nicknames: Diesel, The Big Cactus and the Big Shamrock.
Icebreakers focuses on layered flavor experiences
Icebreakers Flavor Shifters gum highlights consumers’ gum preferences towards a long-lasting flavor experience, McCabe said. The gum starts as one flavor and evolves into another when its chewed. Since its August launch, the brand offers two flavors in 3.24-ounce bottle packs: Wild Berry to Coolmint and Wintergreen to Coolmint in a sugar-free formula.
“Icebreakers Flavor Shifters was a way to meet that insight [of a long-lasting flavor] and combat that issue of continuously giving you something to look forward to when you are chewing your gum,” McCabe said.
The brand plans to continue expanding the Flavor Shifters line within the rest of the year and into 2025, she added.
