Sweets & Snacks Expo fires up with most innovative new product awards

Proceedings for this year’s Sweets & Snacks Expo in the US have gained a strong start with the annual Most Innovative New Product Awards kick-starting the event with a number of significant innovations, reports Neill Barston.

As the National Confectioners Association noted, the event highlighted the region’s most striking and creative confectionery and snack products to emerge and the stories of those behind them,

These products have been developed over the last year and are now available on store shelves or will be made available to shoppers in the coming months.

“Innovation puts the candy and snack categories in the driver’s seat when it come  to flavour and product trends, and the 2022 Most Innovative New Product Awards continue to highlight those that accelerate us into the future,” John Downs, president and CEO of the National Confectioners Association, said. “Consumers have been making life at home a little more enjoyable over the past two years by incorporating their favourite treat or snack into their lives in a way that has brought a variety of new flavours and fun to their daily routines.”

Retail leaders representing 85% of the confectionery and snack categories’ buying power served as judges across the 13 categories that comprise the Most Innovative New Product Awards, including Small Business Innovator and the highly coveted Best in Show designation, and ultimately evaluated more than 300 candy and snacks.

The winners of the Most Innovative New Products Awards are as follows:

Best in Show: Trü Frü, LLC. Natures Strawberries Hyper-Chilled Fresh in Ruby Cacao
Small Business Innovator: Carrot Bacon – Carolina Smoke
Chocolate: Lindt & Sprüngli (USA), Inc. Lindt CLASSIC RECIPE OatMilk
Non-Chocolate: Ferrara Nerds Gummy Clusters Very Berry 8oz
Gum & Mints: Mars Wrigley US EXTRA Refreshers Fruity Mix Sugar-Free Chewing Gum
Salty Snacks: KrackCorn, LLC KrackCorn Original Family Size
Sweet Snacks: The Hershey Company Reese’s Snack Bar
Meat Snacks: 4505 Meats Chile Limon Chicharrones
Savory Snacks: Pecan Nation Cinnamon Healthy Snacking Pecans
Novelty/Licensed: Jelly Belly Candy Company Jelly Belly Harry Potter™ Butterbeer™ Barrel Tin
Seasonal: Ferrero NA Kinder Holiday Mix Countdown Calendar
Gourmet/Premium | Candy: Ferrero North America Nutella B-Ready
Gourmet/Premium | Snack: Trü Frü, LLC Natures Strawberries Hyper-Dried Fresh and Immersed in Crème

Additionally, the 2022 Sweets & Snacks Expo announced the winners of the Golden and Silver Candy Dish Awards and the Woman of Influence Award during Monday’s presentation:

2022 Golden Candy Dish Award: Kathy Corcoran, vice president at Premier Specialty
2022 Silver Candy Dish Award: Lois Anthony, director of sales at PEZ
2022 Woman of Influence Award: Emily Edmondson, sales director at Galerie

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