sweet treat o’ clock — the perpetual market for indulgence
for all my sweet treat fans, this one's for you!
So I just found out that Girl Scout Cookies are the second largest cookie business behind Oreo. That’s INSANE!! Who would’ve thought these young girls selling cookies door to door like traditional salespeople would be part of a multi-billion dollar business? This leads me into this world of sweets that I’ve dedicated to this month’s blog. I’m a huge fan of sweet treats and am excited to chat about this market. My personal sweet treat obsession right now is pistachio gelato, fresh from a patisserie.
In other news, in October, I organized a CPG taste test with a few friends in the MN VC space. We tried a bunch of snacks and shared our ratings as well as our takes on the direction of CPG in the future. A few pictures from the night!
Overall favorites from the night: Maazah Chutney, Plucky Pickle Dip, Laoban Dumplings, and Trail Magic
📰Latest Consumer News
LineLeap has now raised a total of $25M since its inception.
Tom Holland launches Bero, non-alcoholic beer
Frame, a high-end denim brand, nears $200M in sales
Salt & Straw launches an NYC location
Deep Dive into Candyland
“sweet treat” or “little treat” culture
The “sweet treat” phenomenon has captured the hearts of us Gen Zers. I am a huge proponent of the “sweet treat” culture, as it’s often paired with a comforting, memorable experience. The late night drives to the closest grocery store, scouring through aisles of desserts, sharing bites of each dessert with your best friends, of course all while in your comfiest outfit is unparalleled to what you actually purchase off the shelf.
I once went to a CPG angel investor event where a long-time angel investor said that “despite a growing trend towards “healthy” products, there will always be a market for indulgence”.
I mean, look at the latest examples:
Hershey acquires Sour Strips candy brand
Levain Bakery listed as the most TikToked bakery in America with 44 million views.
Infamous Dubai chocolate pistachio bar is from Fix Dessert, who are now recieving more than 100 orders a minute since going viral.
Candy salads becoming a group trauma-dumping session
Crumbl cookie is bringing in $1B a year
Our deep-rooted love for sweet treats lies in the comfortable routine of snacking. 77% of Gen Z consumers snack at least once a day, sometimes even replacing meals with snacks (remember girl dinners?).
Emerging candy brands have a niche in health & flavors
A 2024 Spins report outlines the three main preferential changes we’re seeing in this emerging “sweet treat” culture:
Health-oriented ingredients
Datebetter: dark chocolate-covered dates with protein packed nut butters and superfoods
Faves: climate candy made from fruits and vegetables
Mini-packs and lower sugar products
Blobs: fruit-flavored gummies with 2g of sugar
Behave: low-sugar, clean-label candy that doesn’t spike blood sugar
Global flavors
Better Sour: plant-based gummies that have fruity flavors rooted in Middle eastern and Asia-Pacific heritage, such as guava, ume and calamansi
Saturday Sweets: authentic Swedish candy named “Saturday sweets” because of lördagsgodis, a Swedish tradition where people run to stores every Saturday to buy candy
Fun fact: Swedes buy about 35 pounds of candy annually!
Dessert shops grew 50% in the last year, thanks to TikTok
Hershey’s consumer trend report validates the belief that young consumers love sweets. Almost half of surveyrespondents have a favorite restaurant just for desserts and 75% of respondents believe that every special occasion needs a special dessert.
As our society becomes increasingly driven by recommendations, social media becomes a premier channel for brick-and-mortar shops to capture their “sweet treat” customers. Dessert shops have the benefit of offering some element of affordability and discovery that attracts a younger crowd of consumers.
Some of the best brick-and-mortar examples I’ve seen:
Alexandra Lourdes, content creator with speciality donut shop in Las Vegas called Saint Honore.
Baked So Cal is a cookie shop that does weekly drops on Instagram, and get this, it’s all made and sold at someone’s house!
BonBon is New York’s Swedish confectionary shop where customers fill bags of imported candy and pay by weight.
Incumbent, more established brands like Crumbl and Salt&Straw proves that brick-and-mortar dessert shops can live long and sustainably. As long as you’re pushing the boundaries in flavors and dietary options, you can continue to build a loyal customer base.
The future of candy: fake chocolate, more mints, and an introduction to swicy
According to the 2024 Spins report, every subcategory of candy continues to experience growth, with steeper growth in non-chocolate and gums/mints. It’s hard to swallow the fact that chocolate isn’t growing at the same rate, but it makes sense. Chocolate is subject to far more supply chain issues, such as cacao shortages, relative to other candy. This is why we’re seeing far more “healthy” candy in the gummies category.
There are startups that are finding ways to produce chocolate without cacao by using lab-grown or synethetic ingredients. Voyage Foods and California Cultured have raised millions to bring this idea to market. I do think these brands will have a hard time crafting the right balance of providing a sufficient alternative and convincing consumers to try this “artificially-produced” chocolate. Honestly, I can’t see myself jumping on “cacao-free chocolate”, so I’m curious to see how consumers respond to this shift.
Candy mints will definitely continue to see growth, as it’s more common to see this type of candy spread across multiple demographics. It’s more accepted in professional settings and has adjacent health benefits embedded into the product.
Lastly, global flavor expansion. As I touched on earlier, US consumers are becoming more excited by global flavors. This is the perfect scene for “swicy” (sweet and spicy) candy flavors to hit the market, as flavors like tamarind and mango chili have cultural ties.
🛍️Products I’ve been loving
Revlon’s Dry Brush - for my friends that don’t want to drop $500 on a dyson and just need something to tame their hair before leaving the house
Lume Deoderant - deoderant that actually lasts (sorry Native)
Clio Bars - greek yogurt bars that taste just like cheesecake. the best office snack!
Oloves - mini packs of marinated olives, again another solid office snack
🎧Personal Updates
This week caps off my first month of work. What an insane transition — while it’s super nice to get back into a routine, post-grad life isn’t without its challenges. The constant existential crisis of who you are outside of work is hard to figure out — same with prioritizing hobbies like this blog. Nonetheless, work is so cool. I’m working on a climate and sustainability case with a client that I’ve known about for a long time, and now I get to work with them and develop a strategy for how they can tactically reach their sustainability goals.