Hershey's — the flagship brand of The Hershey Company — is entering the filled chocolate bar segment with two new SKUs: Hershey's Creme Bars in Salted Caramel and Affogato, available now at participating retailers in a 2.2 oz standard bar and an 8.4 oz snack-size pouch. The launch is backed by a paid partnership with KATSEYE, the multi-Grammy-nominated global girl group, and a distribution activation with Uber timed to cultural moments this fall.
The Flavor Strategy
Both varieties are built around creme-filled milk chocolate, but the flavor logic is worth noting for operators and buyers sourcing confection for hotel amenity, airline, or concession programs. The Salted Caramel bar plays directly to the decade-long dominance of sweet-salty profiles across snacking categories. Affogato is the more forward-leaning bet: a dual-layer filling combining espresso-flavored caramel and sweet vanilla creme, lifting the coffeehouse flavor vernacular — a format that has performed steadily in premium candy and snack adjacencies — into a mass-market bar. Katrina Vatter, Senior Brand Manager at The Hershey Company, described the intent as "celebrating small choices that help people express themselves," pointing to trend-forward flavors as a deliberate design decision rather than a line extension.
Campaign and Distribution Mechanics
The KATSEYE campaign centers on the group's signature "Pinky Up" gesture, reworked as a brand expression for the new bars. From an operator-intelligence standpoint, the more actionable element is the Uber partnership: Hershey's is using the ride-share platform to intercept consumers during out-of-home cultural moments this fall, which effectively turns Uber's location and behavioral data into a real-time sampling and awareness channel. That model mirrors tactics brands in beverage and better-for-you snacking have tested with delivery and mobility platforms — and it signals that legacy CPG is willing to invest in geo-targeted, moment-based distribution rather than relying solely on in-store placement. Physical sampling and pop-up experiences are also scheduled for fall, giving the launch a ground-level trial layer that digital-only campaigns can't replicate.
What This Signals for Buyers
For foodservice buyers and retail confection buyers, Hershey's Creme Bars represent a direct move into the premium-flavored bar space that specialty and better-for-you brands have occupied. Affogato, in particular, tests whether a $11.7 billion revenue company can credibly pull coffeehouse-inspired flavor into an impulse price point. The dual-format rollout — standard bar and pouch — also gives the SKU flexibility across checkout, grab-and-go, and bulk snacking environments. Operators running hotel minibars, theater concessions, or airline galleys should watch sell-through data on both formats as it becomes available, since the pouch size opens a resealable, shareable angle that standard candy bars don't offer. The KATSEYE tie-in also provides a ready-made social proof mechanism for retail merchandising and brand launch programs targeting a younger demographic.
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.
