United Food Brands is hoping to tap young shoppers’ appetite for freeze-dried candy with its own take on the trend.
Launching under its new Tasty Vibes brand, Sweet Mix and Sour Mix (rsp: £3/70g) were “crunchy and intensely flavourful”, it said.
They are halal-certified and packaged in resealable pouches, making them suitable for on-the-go-snacking.
United Food Brands said it had partnered with “one of the largest freeze-drying sites globally” to create the sweets, but that it handled “all repacking ourselves, giving complete control over UK manufacturing and supply chain”.
“This allows us to achieve economies of scale and deliver exceptional quality at competitive prices, ready to move this trend from boutique to the mainstream,” said United Food Brands CEO Richard Reeves.
It comes after Bebeto launched its own range of freeze-dried sweets into Spar, Co-op Scotland and Parfetts Cash & Carry in October, having purchased its own freeze-drying factory.
Bebeto’s Freeze Crunchy range launched with three variants: Peach Rings, Watermelon and Marshmallow Twist (rsp: £2/35g).
In the same month, Skittles unveiled a freeze-dried spin-off, Pop’d, which it launched DTC via TikTok shop in the US.
All three launches respond to a TikTok trend for freeze-drying sweets, which has piqued the interest of Gen Z shoppers in recent months, thanks to the crunchy texture it affords them.
The hashtag ‘freezedriedcandy’ had been attached to 208.8k posts on TikTok by the time of writing.
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