Dive Brief:
- Power in the candy industry has become so concentrated that it's nearly impossible for a new candy manufacturer to emerge.
- Three companies -- Hershey, Mars, and Nestle -- dominate the market. Their sheer size, their ability to buy or crush new competitors, and their ability to buy shelf space through slotting fees have turned one of America's most innovative and diverse industries into one of its most boring ones.
- The market is so skewed toward the three oligarchs that launching a new candy company is "virtually impossible," and the few remaining independent companies can't expand product lines.
Dive Insight:
When the kids returned from Trick or Treating this year, they dumped their catch on the kitchen table and started sorting. The result was shocking and disappointing. The same candies had been poured into the bags over and over again by neighbor after neighbor.
The author of the essay in Time bemoaning the rise of the candy oligarchs and the loss of the regional candy makers is a writer for something called the Markets, Enterprise and Resiliency Initiative of the New America Foundation. That group aims to document the dangers of consolidation in business. As a general rule we're a little wary of think tanks with strongly held opinions about American business. But in this case we make an exception. Any group that might help bring dark chocolate Valomilks to market has our support.
If you'd like to see a more diverse candy industry, and you have your doubts about policy wonks, then you may want to throw your support behind Unreal candy -- the all-natural brand backed by Matt Damon, Giselle and Tom Brady. Because the only force more powerful than the chocolate oligarchy is America's obsession with celebrities.