Baking & Snack - March 2018 - 146

NEW PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

bringing home the
Genesee Candy Land's new jumbo cookie provides a sweet and salty combination.
Once baked and pressed,
the 4-in. jumbo Bacon
Chocolate Chunk Cookie
weighs 3 oz.
Genesee Candy Land

Bacon makes everything better. This well-known phrase
accompanies the cultural obsession of the meat that's
no longer just for breakfast. People munch on baconflavored chips, add strips of bacon to their PB&J sandwiches and mix bacon bits into brownie batter. Genesee
Candy Land, a Golden, CO, retail store and wholesale
manufacturer of specialty snacks, is taking advantage of
the popularity of bacon by combining it with the company's acclaimed jumbo cookies for a savory, sweet flavor.
The Bacon Chocolate Chunk Cookie hit shelves a few
days before National Bacon Day on Dec. 30, 2017, and is
made with traditional, brown sugar-based cookie dough
mixed with chocolate chips, chocolate chunks and
crumbled applewood-smoked bacon. "When the cookies come out of the oven, we will press them on the top
because we want people to see right away that they don't
have to guess; they know they're getting bacon in every
bite," said Lorri Alden, owner. After the cookie is baked,
the bottom can be dipped in and drizzled with dark
chocolate to give it a decadent taste and look, Genesee
Candy Land's specialty.
Genesee Candy Land started as a retail candy and
fudge shop eight years ago in a tourist area and added a
wholesale operation five years later. Today, the retail store
acts as a type of laboratory with a creative staff brainstorming which foods might go well with chocolate.
Employees at Genesee Candy Land are the first tastetesters, and then samples are set out for customers at the
retail store. Popular demand will send the new product on

146 Baking & Snack March 2018 / www.bakingandsnack.com

to the wholesale operation to be distributed in the Denver
area, across the country and internationally.
The Bacon Chocolate Chunk Cookie is available at
Genesee Candy Land's retail store, various retail outlets
in the US, and online. With a suggested retail price of
$2.49, the individually packaged jumbo cookie is 3 oz
and 4 in. in diameter.
Cookies aren't the only product that Genesee Candy
Land has tested with bacon. The retail store has a counter called the Bacon Bar, which includes cupcakes, pretzels, fudge and other treats. The company also recently
received USDA certification to process full slices of extra
thick-cut applewood-smoked bacon enrobed in chocolate
- the only wholesale facility certified to sell full strips.
"We're constantly thinking, 'what else can we do with
bacon?' " Ms. Alden said. "My ultimate goal is to become world famous for our chocolate bacon products."
Although the enrobed bacon strips are Genesee
Candy Land's No. 1 seller, the wholesale business grew
300% in sales from 2016 to 2017, and the new cookies
were a big part of the increase. Not only are they an impulse purchase for retail customers, but Ms. Alden also
said distributors are more inclined to buy the bacon
cookies than the full strips of bacon because they have a
wider consumer appeal.
"We give out a lot of samples to our distributors because we know the minute someone tastes one of our
cookies, that's it. They're sold."
- Karlee Renkoski

http://www.bakingandsnack.com

Baking & Snack - March 2018

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