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CANDY INDUSTRY chooses most memorable new products from 1998
To start the new year off, the editors at CANDY INDUSTRY are taking one last look at the old year. In this, our first ever annual review of product introductions, we chose products based on how they differentiated themselves in the marketplace through innovative combinations of flavors, shapes, and packaging graphics.
So sit back and enjoy this recap of the best of 1998. Perhaps it'll give you a few R&D ideas of your own for this year.
Works of art
Never failing to impress us with innovative and ever-changing packaging and confections is San Francisco, California's Joseph Schmidt Confections. Selecting just one of Schmidt's item was asking the impossible.
Always offering something new to customers, Schmidt's packaging changes with each season, thereby delightfully forcing fans to snatch up their favorites before they are replaced the next year. "It's very exciting to come up with new products," says Joseph Schmidt. "Getting ideas comes very easy to me."
Kudos go out to Schmidt for the entire 1998 Christmas, Valentine's Day, Autumn, Easter, Summer, Father's Day and Mother's Day seasonal lines
Also catching our eye were Schmidt's famously wonderful petit- and egg-sized truffles. Filled with a host of creams, these truffles are transformed from a piece of chocolate into a work of art, making it hard for even the chocolate lover to take a bite. From cups to sticks Hershey Chocolate U.S.A. did not gain its reputation for creating popular products for nothing. Once again, this chocolate conglomerate introduced two new products last year that demonstrated the company's creativity.
Although Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are not new to the market, ReeseSticks wafer bars are. Offering the same great peanut butter and chocolate taste, Reese Sticks demonstrate a new look and shape to an ever-popular product. "ReeseSticks provide a unique combination of sweet and salty tastes with an extra crispy texture," says Lisa Kronmuller, new products manager.
Also new from Hershey was Classic Caramels. Available in a soft and chewy form, or filled with chocolate cream, these caramels offer variety to the standard caramel product.
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