Hershey's is expanding its Halloween lineup as GLP-1s affect taste and people want less sweet, more salty treats

This year, Hershey’s [NYSE:HSY] hit the shelves with a new Halloween lineup featuring salty snacks to complement top-selling chocolates. The selection includes snack-size portions of Pirate’s Booty white cheddar puffs, “lighter, better-for-you” SkinnyPop and LesserEvil popcorn, as well as corn puffs.

Good and plenty

Katie DeCapria leads the company’s $1-billion Halloween and Valentine’s portfolio as director of enterprise strategy and modernization. For her, the strategy reflects real market demand.

“It comes from spending the entire year studying shopper behaviors, tracking emerging trends and understanding what people want from the season,” she said in a company announcement.

Hershey’s isn’t the only confectioner marketing healthier Halloween options. Drizzlicious has a variety pack of its mini rice cakes, Garden Veggie Snacks has Fright Bites veggie straws and puffs, Kellogg’s has Spooky Minis Rice Krispies Treats and Utz has Halloween-themed mini cheese balls.

Does this mean Halloween candies and chocolates will disappear in a puff of … cheese puffs? Far from it.

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In a statement provided to Moneywise, Hershey’s said the new lineup is an expansion, not contraction, of its Halloween offerings.

“That expansion reflects our larger consumer-first strategy to offer more variety for different tastes,” the statement read.

Tastes may literally change for those taking GLP-1s, as research suggests the drugs affect how people’s taste buds perceive sweetness and saltiness. But that doesn’t mean they stop eating chocolate.

In fact, Dan Mohnshine, the company’s vice-president for demand creation, strategy and innovation, told Reuters that early U.S. sales of Halloween chocolate and candy jumped into double digits this year.

“When it comes to GLP-1s, we’ve seen pretty ​strong resilience in the chocolate category here in the U.S.,” he said.

So what’s going on? Moneywise spoke to Sally Lyons Wyatt about what appears to be a mixed signal: demand for healthier snacks combined with greater chocolate consumption.

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She follows snack trends as chief advisor of consumer goods and foodservice insights at Circana, a global market research and data analytics firm. Wyatt acknowledged that GLP-1s are definitely a key driver behind the healthy snacking trend.

“One of the side effects of GLP-1s is that people are not as hungry and are more mindful of what they’re eating,” she told Moneywise.

She said that means they eat candies and chocolates in a more intentional way, considering portion control and ingredients, perhaps opting for lower-sugar options.

Hershey’s research confirms this. This year, the company surveyed GLP-1 users and found that they still have sweet treats around the house but now “they’re able to indulge, feel satisfied and move on, without guilt.”

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Wyatt said Halloween isn’t about to become a “health occasion.” It’s still about fun and indulgence, she said, but most people don’t consider health and indulgence to be mutually exclusive.

“If you go and eat the entire bag of your child’s Halloween candy, that is a choice, but most people don’t do that,” she said. “It’s still OK to have a little reward.”