Key takeaways
- Candy is expected to account for about a third of the $13 billion Americans will spend on Halloween this year.
- While chocolate remains the staple of Halloween, experts say tastes are shifting toward fruit flavors, sour candies and the combination of sweet and spicy.
- Viral sensations like “Dubai chocolate” are proving to be more than just a blip, according to industry experts.
October is here, which means prime-time baseball and Halloween, the “Super Bowl” of candy sales.
Americans are expected to spend more than $13 billion to celebrate Halloween this year, according to the National Retail Federation, with nearly $4 billion of that going on candy. That makes it vitally important to bakers like Mars Wrigley, one of the world’s largest candy, chocolate and chewing gum makers, which spent more than two years developing its 2025 line.
Timothy LeBel, president of sales for Mars Wrigley North America (he also holds the title “Director of Halloween”), said investopedia The company will offer more than 90 products this fall as it looks to capitalize on a busy season for an industry estimated to be worth more than $50 billion.
As the company, known for products such as Snickers, 3 Musketeers and Milky Way bars, develops its menu, it considers changing trends in consumer tastes and preferences, generational differences in how people enjoy candy and emerging influences such as the effect of GLP-1 medications on purchases of candy and other snacks.
Why does this matter to you?
Changes in tastes can occur slowly over years as people’s preferences update and people seek new sensations. One of the most obvious places is sweets, where industry experts say they see people looking for new textures and flavors, but also a taste for the classics.
Sometimes trends that lead to setbacks in one direction create opportunities in another. GLP-1s, for example, can suppress appetite, but some users may also experience dry mouth or unpleasant breath, experts say. “Our gum business has benefited from that,” LeBel said.
These are some of the trends Mars Wrigley and others are seeing in the candy business right now.
Chocolate still dominates, but fruit-flavored sweets are on the rise
Four-fifths of Halloween candy buyers plan to buy chocolate, LeBel said, but not just chocolate.
“Chocolate is still the foundation of Halloween,” he said. “But what I would say is that whether it’s Millennials, Generation Z or Generation Alpha, you’re also seeing a shift in preference for fruit-flavored sweets.”
Younger consumers are adventurous with their taste buds and fruity sweets lend themselves easily to experimentation, according to Miriam Aniel Oved, director of integrated marketing at consumer research firm Tastewise.
Dubai’s chocolate mania persists
The so-called “Dubai chocolate”, chocolate bars with a creamy pistachio filling, which has become a rapidly growing niche in the American candy market, remains.
Interest in Middle Eastern flavors like saffron, rosewater and cardamom over the past 12 months is one of the reasons keeping interest in them, Oved said. That means the pistachio has moved from bars to lattes and other uses. Mars Wrigley offers Dubai-style products through its Galaxy brand.
Pistachio, Oved said, “is having a great moment.”
Chewy textures and tart flavors are a winning combination
Chewy, sticky, soft, and sour candies are a hit with teens, tweens, and young adults who want fun candy experiences. There are “a lot of rumors around ‘contrasting sweets’ or a mix of different textures and flavors,” Oved said.
Multi-textured candies are in high demand, LeBel said. “When the palate bites into a gummy, there may be a crunchy texture waiting inside, or a liquid center, or it may be a ‘popped’ experience,” he said.
Sour, according to LeBel, is the fastest growing flavor in the fruity chews category, LeBel said. Shapes can also affect texture; Mars Wrigley has introduced “Life Savers Gummies
Sweet and spicy are still strong
“Swicy,” the sweet and spicy flavor trend, hit snack and beverage aisles across the country last year. It’s not going to disappear.
Consumer interest in “swicy” is growing, Oved said, adding that swicy is making its way into both non-chocolate sweets and chocolate products. Lately, food brands are experimenting with specific swicy flavors, such as chili mango or gochujang, he said.
“You’re about to see [swicy] “Everywhere,” said LeBel, who said some of the company’s retail partners, when presented with a version of “Skittles Fuego,” asked to make them even spicier. “We kept playing with the flavor for about a year before releasing it to give it the right balance of spicy and sweet,” he said.
