SweeTarts, Laffy Taffy and Nerds; ever heard of these candy brands? Of course you have and all three are now owned by the Ferrara Candy Company. Clearly, Ferrara knows its way around the candy industry. They’ve used their candy savvy to fill in the gap left by Sweetheart’s maker Necco when they announced that their famous candy hearts will not be around this Valentine’s Day. Before we claim that Ferrara is simply being opportunistic, we must keep in mind that they’ve been trying to break into the Valentine’s Day heart candy market for years. The Oak Brook-based candy giant has been producing Conversation Hearts for a while now.
That being said, Necco is out of of business and the company which bought Sweethearts, Spangler Candy Co., wasn’t able to restart production of Sweethearts in time for Valentine’s Day this year. Ferrara itself also claims that seasonal candy cales over all are very important for the company.
In this interview with the Chicago Tribune, Hans Becher, the general manager of Brach’s and seasonal confections at Ferrara claimed that ‘In 2018, Brach’s had 55 percent market dollar share among the top four brands in the segment’ and that ‘in terms of pounds sold, we outpaced our nearest former competitor nearly three to one.’
Conversation Hearts are softer than Sweethearts and the romantic phrases on the candy are lasered-on rather than stamped. There are certainly differences between the two candies; let’s see how the Sweethearts fans take it. For more candy news, make sure to keep up with our blog!