The Portfolio Build
The Hershey Company is bringing its largest Halloween candy and snack set to retail shelves this season, counting more than 20 new and returning SKUs across chocolate, gummies, sour candy and — for the first time in the seasonal set — a full salty-snacks lineup. Products are rolling to stores now under the company's internal "Hersheyween" platform, which frames Halloween as a selling season that starts in summer and runs through early November.
The company backs three of the top five chocolate brands in the Halloween category by Circana data, with Reese's ranked No. 1, KIT KAT at No. 3 and Reese's Shapes at No. 5. Reese's Pumpkins alone are the single favorite Halloween product for 22% of consumers, and 37% name Reese's as their preferred Halloween brand. KIT KAT draws a Halloween-favorite designation from 38% of shoppers. For c-store operators managing a constrained seasonal candy section, those brand-equity numbers matter when deciding which SKUs to pull forward.
What's New on Shelf
On the confection side, headline additions include Jolly Rancher Gummies Trickies Minis Snack Size — color-misleading gummies designed for trick-or-treat bowls — and the return of Hershey's Cookies 'N' Creme Fangs in snack size, absent from shelves since 2024. A Sweets Assortment Stand-Up Bag introduces Sour Strips to the Hershey seasonal portfolio for the first time, alongside Jolly Rancher Gummies Minis and Twizzlers Twists in Strawberry. The Hershey Halloween All-Stars box bundles 18 full-size limited-edition shapes and flavors into one shippable unit — a format well suited to c-store endcap and counter displays.
Hershey's own research, drawn from a Morning Consult survey of 3,026 U.S. adults fielded July 8–10, 2026, shows that 72% of parents are likely to buy gummy candy before September, 68% are likely to buy fruit chews early in the season, and 74% intend to buy gummy candy in October. Chocolate purchase intent is even higher: 77% of parents are likely to buy chocolate before September, rising to 82% in October. For forecourt retailers, those numbers argue for stocking seasonal candy varieties well before the traditional October reset.
The Salty Expansion
The more consequential channel development for c-store buyers may be the salty snack push. Hershey is entering the Halloween salty segment with Pirate's Booty Trick-or-Treat individual snack packs and Pirate's Booty Boos & Bites ghost- and monster-shaped cheddar puffs in seasonal packaging. Reese's Sweet & Salty brings snack-size packs of Reese's Dipped Pretzels, Reese's Filled Pretzels and Reese's Dipped Animal Crackers into a single cross-category assortment. SkinnyPop Halloween Packs round out the better-for-you option.
LesserEvil is joining the seasonal lineup for the first time with Pumpkin Spice Popcorn, Spooky Popcorn and Spooky Spaceballs cheese puffs in Halloween-themed packaging. Hershey's survey found that 52% of adults and 67% of parents are already seeking fall flavors by late September, a behavioral shift that justifies earlier salty-snack resets. With 30% of parents planning to attend trunk-or-treat events — formats that skew toward variety packs and non-candy options — the salty additions address an occasion that the traditional candy-only seasonal set misses.
For operators building a seasonal candy and snack category, the expanded Hershey set offers a cleaner one-vendor solution across the confection-to-salty spectrum, which can simplify ordering and reduce the number of DSD relationships needed to cover the Halloween fixture. Those managing tight backroom space should weigh the All-Stars variety box and stand-up assortment bags, both of which consolidate multiple brands into single units — a practical advantage for single-store operators with limited cooler and shelf real estate.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
