M&M's Caramel
M&M’s Caramel chocolate candies are slated to hit shelves next spring.

ATLANTA — Considered the biggest launch in brand history, M&M’s Caramel chocolate candies are slated to hit shelves next spring. The candies, which feature a creamy caramel center covered in milk chocolate and a candy shell, were unveiled at the NACS Show, hosted by the National Association of Convenience Stores and held Oct. 18-21 in Atlanta.

Traditional yet trendy caramel is the fastest growing flavor segment in food, rising 15% last year, according to Nielsen. Moreover, Mars Chocolate North America found in consumer research that M&M’s Caramel had the highest purchase intent of any M&M’s brand variant ever.

So, what took so long for this 75-year-old brand to add a caramel variety?

Mars Kansas facility
Mars built its Topeka, Kas. plant partially to experiment with innovation in M&M's fillings.

Developing the proprietary technology to produce the candies was a multi-year effort. Mars recently expanded its manufacturing plant in Topeka, Kas., which has enabled production of M&M’s Caramel candies, said Tim Quinn, vice-president of trade relations at Mars Chocolate North America, in an interview with Food Business News.

Tim Quinn, Mars Chocolate
Tim Quinn, vice-president of trade relations at Mars Chocolate North America

“We built a plant in Kansas, initially for production shortfall, but we also built the plant to do innovative things (with M&M’s fillings),” he said.

The $270 million, 500,000-square-foot facility, which opened in early 2014, was the company’s first new plant to be built in North America in 35 years. Less than a year and a half later, the company invested an additional $100 million to add a 90,000 square-foot facility to the site, creating 70 new full-time jobs.

Mr. Quinn said the new plant will allow the company to develop more exciting new innovations like M&M’s Caramel in the future.

New Mars candy
Other new Mars Chocolate products premiering at the NACS Show include Snickers & Hazelnut Bar, Twix White Chocolate Cookie Bars and Maltesers Candies.

Among chocolate brands in the United States, M&M’s has the highest household penetration and the highest rate of loyalty, according to Nielsen data. The new caramel variety is expected to drive total category incremental sales by “bringing a new reason to shop chocolate,” Mars said.

Other new Mars Chocolate products premiering at the NACS Show include Snickers & Hazelnut Bar, Twix White Chocolate Cookie Bars and Maltesers Candies, the top selling bite-size chocolate brand in the United Kingdom, which feature a crispy, airy center coated in chocolate. Until recently, Mars was unable to sell Maltesers in the United States due to a trademark dispute with the Hershey Co., Mr. Quinn said.

New Mars / Wrigley gum
New items from Mars’ Wrigley business unit include Orbit White gum, Doublemint Perfectly Sweet gum and Juicy Fruit America Pop gum.
 
New items from Mars’ Wrigley business unit include Orbit White gum, a mint soft chew developed to help keep teeth white; Doublemint Perfectly Sweet gum, which is sweetened only with sugar; Juicy Fruit America Pop gum, a multi-color, multi-flavor stick gum inspired by summer ice pops; and seasonal varieties of Skittles and Starburst candies.