Less trick, more treat: Halloween NPD arrives in time for the “spooktacular” holiday season

14 Oct 2019 --- Boo! Halloween is just around the corner and in line with Halloween tradition, candy producing companies are busy releasing their spooky launches. However, they are not the only ghouls in the race. Food and beverage businesses are honing in on these trends and featuring limited edition products as well as autumn-inspired recipes for fall. FoodIngredientsFirst takes a look at what is cooking in the cauldron, and how the industry is incorporating health- and eco-conscious consumer demands into Halloween-inspired innovations.

Candies
As early as the beginning of August, companies began stocking shelves with Halloween candies, this year featuring a series of limited edition NPD. From “dead chewy” gummies to “scary safari” soft jellies to Cadbury’s and Oreo’s ghostly dairy milk “oreooos” crossovers, the candies under the Mondelēz International brand umbrella are purposefully designed for trick-or-treating. 

These three Halloween launches will sit alongside Mondelēz’s Cadbury Goo Heads. The individually wrapped treats were first introduced last year and are filled with fondant. Available in skeleton, pumpkin, Frankenstein, Dracula or were-wolf variants, the chocolates come in 40g singles or packs of five. This year, Cadbury Goo Heads will also be available in a 89g mini format designed for sharing during a Halloween party or gathering.

Individually wrapped Fairtrade Belgian milk chocolate with caramel pieces and sea salt.Spearheading the fair trade trend, Tony’s Chocoloney has introduced bite-size fairtrade Belgian milk chocolate with caramel pieces and sea salt. With a minimum amount of 32 percent cocoa solids, these fully traceable chocolates offer mouth popping treats during the trick-or-treat season.

Beverages
Snacks and sweets are not the only Halloween categories to hit the scene this year. Japan-based Asahi Pop Orange Partner orange juice and rum cocktail can refresh weary trick-or-treaters with its characteristically refreshing taste. Mountain Dew brings the mystery to every first gulp with Mountain VooDEW, a devilishly limited edition flavor. 

Fall Edition Pumpkin Spice Smoothie.Outside of the sugary beverage sector, Germany-based true fruits offers its Pumpkin Spice Smoothie, chock full of pumpkin and banana purée, apple juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and pimento. Once emptied, the can can be reused as a Halloween lantern by placing a candle or a string of lights placed inside as the jack o’lantern face will then light up in the dark. The smoothies true fruits offers include natural ingredients, no concentrates, sugar additives, stabilizers or artificial colorings. 

Using these all natural ingredients and giving the can a second life after consumption is in line with Innova Market Insights “I Feel Good” trend, as food and beverage brands are tapping into this need with “feel good” language, brain health claims and “guilt free” messaging. Brands are reaching out to the “mindful consumer” with foods and beverages that tackle the appetite in creative packaging, that conjure up nostalgic images of enjoyment and decadence. 

Halloween is not just a favorite holiday among children. Online cookbook The Spruce Eats provides a long list of gimmicky yet fun shots and cocktail recipes. Its webpage notes that the best drink recipes that are perfect for Halloween are those that come with special effects, as its new cocktails feature vodka martinis with glow sticks for a bewitching effect, blood red sugar coating around the glass rim as well as puréed jello shots for a swamp water surprise.

Melting Mummy Pizza by Marks & Spencer.Food
UK high-end grocer Marks & Spencer spices up the season with its Creepy Colin & Mini Zombie Friends. The creepy critters are made out of one large sponge roll with chocolate buttercream, smothered in milk chocolate, decorated with chocolate maggots with a decorated white chocolate face, accompanied by 15 mini zombies. Its Melting Mummy Pizza, two “grave”-stone baked pizzas topped with “scarily” good tomato sauce, extra mature cheddar cheese with melting mozzarella bandages and olive eyes are the perfect reward after a long evening of trick-or-treating. Both Marks and Spencer products are ready-to-eat and available for in-store pickup upon pre-ordering.

Meanwhile, US-based cheese producing company Sargento introduces an array of Halloween-themed recipes providing a non-candy alternative for hungry trick-or-treaters. Its recipes range from jack o’lantern cheese dip to cheesy spiced meatball ghosts to cheese filled pumpkin pretzel balls. 

Bite-sized snacks are hugely popular, as Innova Market Insights identified snacking as one of its Top Ten Trends for 2019. Its data also indicates how snacking is a central focus of innovation across all food and beverage categories, with 10 percent average annual growth of global launches with a snacking claim over the past five years (CAGR, 2013-2017). Millenials are reported to have been driving this trend as they tend to focus on heightened eating experiences and are interested in unusual and novel options, often with intense flavors and extreme textures. 

By Anni Schleicher