TikTok Made Me Buy It: Viral Candies That Drive Foot Traffic

If you’ve been in the candy business in the last five years, you’ve likely noticed that the social media app TikTok has had a profound influence on foot traffic inside candy stores lately. One single video can make products go viral, virtually overnight, making one, seemingly random product all of a sudden start flying off your shelves and making it impossible to keep in stock.

So, if you’ve ever wondered why a group of teens rushes into your candy store asking specifically for freeze dried Skittles or chamoy-soaked gummy worms, the answer is simple: TikTok made them do it!

TikTok candy trends are reshaping the way people discover, crave, and ultimately purchase their sweets. Viral candy content has the power to turn an obscure treat into an overnight sensation. For candy shop owners, this is more than just a fun phenomenon, it’s a golden opportunity to drive foot traffic and boost sales.

Today, we’re going to explore some of the most famous viral candies trending right now, plus offer our readers some tips on how to spot the next big thing before it takes over your candy shop’s shelves!

Sour Candy Challenges: The Popularity of Puckering Up!

The sour candy trend has been around for decades, but TikTok has given it a whole new life. From Warheads to Toxic Waste Slime Lickers, kids and adults alike are challenging each other to keep a straight face while eating the world’s most extreme sour treats.

The viral formula is simple:

1. Film yourself eating a super-sour candy
2. React in a dramatic fashion
3. Tag your friends to post their reactions

For candy shop owners, stocking sour candy challenges is a no-brainer. Toxic Waste in particular has become synonymous with TikTok sour challenges, and customers often walk in asking for it by name. Having a colorful, eye-catching sour display can turn casual browsers into excited buyers with a sweet tooth for competitiveness.

Iconic Candy’s Retro Sours have recently become one popular sour candy challenge on TikTok. There are a ton of viral videos on TikTok that show people making insanely funny faces while trying to survive the Retro Sours challenge. These are just like the old school Altoids Sours but the recipe was purchased by Iconic Candy and re-released in 2024. They still come in their signature tin, and the taste is just as good as we remembered from back in the day!

Cotton Candy Gushers: Gooey, Fluffy, and Trending

TikTok is a platform built for spectacle, and few candies create a more satisfying reveal than cotton candy-coated Gushers. These DIY mashups combine the gooey burst of Gushers with the melt-in-your-mouth fun of cotton candy – two favorites that almost sell themselves!

These can be made fairly simply by coating a bunch of Fruit Gushers with liquid sour candy in a bowl, ripping apart pieces of your favorite flavor of cotton candy and shaking them up until the cotton candy dust covers each piece of candy. It’s a simple hack that only takes a few minutes, and it has taken the FYP of candy lovers on TikTok by storm!

Spicy Candy Challenges: Bringing the Hot, Hot Fire

Forget the milder stuff! TikTok’s thrill-seekers are chasing a sugar rush with a side of scorching heat. From spicy gummy bears to Carolina reaper pepper-infused chocolate bars, these fiery sweets are putting taste buds to the test and generating millions of "watch me suffer" reaction videos.

Redstone Foods carries options perfect for this challenge, including a variety of hot pepper and cinnamon treats that bring the burn. The trick is to not just sell the sweets themselves but to promote them as an experience your customers won’t soon forget!

Freeze Dried Candy: Crunchy, Puffy, and Irresistible

Few viral candies have had the staying power freeze dried candy has experienced lately. TikTok creators love filming the satisfying crunch of freeze-dried Skittles, taffy, marshmallows, and even ice cream sandwiches. The unique texture takes familiar candies and makes them brand-new again.

The good news? Freeze dried candy isn’t just an online candy trend; it’s selling-out fast in physical stores, too. Stocking these items can immediately set your shop apart and capture a younger audience who are actively seeking out their own freeze-dried candy experience!

Amos Peelerz: The Peelable Gummy Craze

Remember the joy of peeling open a banana, or orange as a kid? Amos Peelerz gummies bring that same fruity, tactile fun to candy! These gummy “snacks” peel apart like layers, and TikTok users can’t get enough of them. The appeal is twofold: they’re delicious, and they make for some fantastic social media content. Encourage your customers to film themselves peeling the candy and tag your store for an engagement boost!

Giant Candy: Go Big AND Go Viral

If there’s one thing TikTok loves, it’s oversized everything. Two foot-long gummy worms, one-pound chocolate bars, and massive lollipops have become viral sensations simply because of their size.

For candy shop marketing, giant candy makes an incredible in-store display piece. Even if customers don’t buy the largest items every time, the visual draw will pull people into your store just to marvel at the sheer spectacle of it all, and chances are, they won’t be leaving your store empty-handed!

Dubai Chocolate: The Luxury Trend

We’d be remiss here if we didn’t mention the hottest trend to possibly ever come out of TikTok stardom: Dubai chocolates! These luxurious, gourmet chocolate bars stuffed with pistachio cream and crispy katafi are just as beautiful to look at as they are delicious!

Now, seemingly every chocolate maker has jumped on the Dubai bandwagon, and for good reason. These chocolate bars have been some of the hottest, best-selling items in many candy store’s inventories since they first gained notoriety on TikTok in 2023. If you haven’t tried one yet, you’re surely missing out!

Jelly Candy & Liquid Treats: A Squishy Spectacle

Another trend making waves is jelly candy and a variety of liquid-filled, drinkable candies. TikTok users love biting into colorful jelly straws or sipping from quirky wax bottle candy containers.

It’s all about the textural ASMR: the squish of a jelly straw, the snap of a wax bottle, the slurp of a gel cup. These candies are a full-sensory experience, making them perfect for the kind of mesmerizing, oddly satisfying content that dominates feeds. These sweets aren’t just fun to eat, they’re fun to film and for others to watch!

Capitalize on the trend by featuring candies built for virality. Fruix Jelly Duckies Poppin Fruit aren’t just delicious, they’re a viral video just waiting to happen! Will your customers twist them open gracefully, or take the viral challenge and chomp directly into the duck for a burst of fruity jelly?

Then there’s Mexibrands' Jelly Snack, the ultimate "squeeze-and-slurp" snack that turns eating candy into a hands-on, fun-filled ritual.

Swedish Candy: A Global Sweet Sensation

Swedish candy has long had a cult following, and TikTok has only amplified its reach. From salty licorice to unique gummies, these imported sweets stand out from American classics and give candy lovers a chance to try something new.

We offer a great selection of Sweetish signature mixes, including sweet, sour, chocolate, and licorice varieties!

Chamoy Candy: Sweet, Sour, Spicy, and Amazing

TikTok didn’t discover chamoy, but it did hoist it up on a towering pedestal! This Mexican-inspired flavor powerhouse is a perfect storm of sweet, sour, salty, and spicy, which has exploded beyond its traditional roots to become the platform's favorite way to transform any snack into a viral candy sensation.

It all started with the chamoy pickle, a trend that saw creators doing all sorts of crazy things to their unsuspecting pickles for a shocking, mouth-puckering crunch. Now, that same addictive flavor profile is conquering the candy world in chamoy-coated gummy bears, chamoy-dusted Starburst, and mango lollipops with a spicy kick.

Crystal Candy & Other Rising Trends

While the big-name viral candies grab most of the attention, newer niche items like jelly-filled crystal candy are popping up almost daily. The key for shop owners is to stay flexible and keep an eye on what’s bubbling up on the TikTok app.

Sometimes it’s the smallest or quirkiest items that blow up overnight, creating sudden demand that can send eager fans running into your store.

How Candy Shops Can Spot the Next Viral Trend

Stocking viral candies is only half the strategy. To really win with TikTok candy trends, retailers need to:

• Use TikTok yourself. Create an account and follow the top candy creators on the platform to stay in the loop.
• Act fast. Viral candy content moves quickly! If you wait too long, the trend may pass you by.
• Leverage your own social media content. Film your own videos featuring new candies, displays, and get your customers involved with their reactions.
• Highlight trends in-store. Signage like “As seen on TikTok!” makes your shop feel current and connected.

Marketing your candy shop this way isn’t just about selling sweets, it’s about creating an experience that drives foot traffic and keeps your customers coming back for more!

At the end of the day, TikTok isn’t just a platform for entertainment, it can be a candy store marketing machine. From sour candy challenges with Toxic Waste to luxury Dubai chocolate, the next big treat is only one viral video away.

By keeping an eye on online candy trends and being willing to experiment, your shop can become the go-to destination for customers with a sweet tooth chasing the latest craze. So, stock up, post often, and get ready, because the next viral candies are coming, and you don’t want to miss out!

Sign up for an account today or give us a call, Redstone Foods is America’s favorite candy distributor and we’re here to help keep your store on top of the latest online candy trends!

1-800-444-3520