Year: 52 weeks ended June 13, 2021
Market size: $112.13 million
What does one do with a bunch of leftover caramel candies and apples from Halloween? Make caramel apples of course! Today’s market size shows total sales for caramel/taffy apples, kits, and dips for the 52 weeks ended June 13, 2021.
In the 1950s, a Kraft Foods employee, Dan Walter, had some caramel candies left over from Halloween and a few apples. In order to use up these leftovers, he decided to melt the caramels and coat the apples with the gooey result. Voilà! The caramel apple was born! Since then, these sweet, sticky treats have become a classic autumn snack. In the 1970s, Kraft Foods introduced “Wrappies”, sheets of caramel that could be wrapped over apples, creating a quick and easy way to make caramel apples at home.
As the chart below shows, by 2021 Kraft Foods, the inventor of the caramel apple, wasn’t even in the top 5 companies by brand sales. All of these brands saw their sales increase from pre-pandemic levels, which turned out to be a boon for Marzetti and Happy Apples. Both of these brands saw sales decline from 2018 to 2019. Overall, sales increased from $88.34 million (52 weeks ended September 8, 2019) to $112.13 million (52 weeks ended June 13, 2021), a 26.9% jump.
| Leading Caramel/Taffy Apple/Kit/Dip Brands, 2021 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand (Co.) | Sales ($ mil.) | Share (%) | Growth (%) |
| Marzetti (T. Marzetti Co.) | 44.63 | 39.80 | +19.56 |
| Affy Tapple (Affy Tapple LLC) | 15.29 | 13.64 | +21.64 |
| Litehouse (Litehouse Inc.) | 10.98 | 9.79 | +97.13 |
| Tastee (Tastee Apple Inc.) | 9.02 | 8.04 | +13.03 |
| Happy Apples (Happy Apples Inc.) | 6.71 | 5.98 | +20.47 |
| Other | 25.50 | 22.74 | +31.99 |
| Sales are shown for the 52 weeks ended June 13, 2021. Sales growth is shown from the 52 weeks ended September 8, 2019. Of the brands shown, Litehouse experienced the highest growth, 97.13%. Sales grew from $5.57 million during the 52 weeks ended Septebmer 8, 2019 to $10.98 million during the 52 weeks ended June 13, 2021. | |||
Sources: Crystal Lindell, “State of the Candy Industry 2021: Novelty Sector Navigates Licensing, Changing Consumer Trends Amid COVID-19,” Candy Industry, July 30, 2021 available online here; “National Caramel Apple Day — October 31, 2021,” National Today, October 31, 2021 available online here.
Image source: Henry Becerra, “candy apples, caramel, sweet on a stick, with pecans,” Unsplash, July 7, 2020 available online here.