Lemonhead Ropes are among the innovative new products coming out this year from Ferrara.
Additionally, Ferrara is leveraging its seasonal favorite Brach’s brand to round out all four seasons with innovative, sometimes boundary-pushing, new candies. According to Katie Duffy, the company’s VP and general manager for seasonal, the 120-year-old Brach’s brand makes up about 50% of Ferrara’s seasonal business and is the leader in candy corn, candy canes, conversation heart and jelly beans.
Among the new seasonal releases for Ferrara are Mellowcreme Autumn Leaves in caramel apple, pumpkin spice, salted butterscotch and spiced cider flavors; Spooky Nerds Gummy Clusters; holiday soft jellies in snowman, light bulb, star, stocking tree and gingerbread man shapes; Trolli Abominable Snowmen; and more.
“How do you really push it?” Guidotti mused. “Will you make a snowman? No, let's make an abominable snowman. It really speaks to the fun factor in pushing the boundary of what you can expect in the seasonal product.”
As for Ferrara’s continued forward trajectory, Chief Customer Officer Edward Taylor explained that the confectioner is looking not only to close the approximately $1.2 billion household penetration opportunity gap between sugar confections and chocolates, but also to help retailers do the same by leveraging the right insights, the right vision for the category, and the right proof points.
“If you look at the entire confectionery category, sugar confections is outpacing general confectionery, and Ferrara is leading that growth for the category,” Taylor explained. “We think we're in a unique position as an organization to support retailers.”
Continued Taylor: “My focus is how through our innovation, through our brand support, how do we help retailers get their fair share of that household penetration opportunity? We’re 100% focused on sugar versus some of the other competitors that we’ve got. We're doing everything in that space and we're actually driving that growth.”