I just saw an ad for the “Take 5” candy bar. Chocolate, peanut butter, caramel, and peanuts. Big deal. Same old stuff!
Do you think that all the candy bar inovations have already been discovered? Is there anything left to do with this snack format?
I think we’re yet to see a mass-marketed spicy chocolate candy bar, at least in the States. But, I think it’s coming in our lifetime.
I think the time has come for a bacon candy bar.
what?
Hey! You got bacon in my chocolate!
No, you got chocolate in my bacon!
It’s brilliant Antigen! When will you start production and where can I buy it?
Hm. There is a serious lack of chocolate covered fruit. I’m thinking dried mangoes covered in chocolate. Hmm…
Are you kidding? We’re in the midst of a vertable candy-bar explosion!
First of all, the Take Five has pretzles. That’s new!
And Hershey’s Smores bars? Food of the gods, I tell you!
There’s a new line of Nestle cookie-style candy bars. There’s M&M’s M-azing bars. Hershey’s had a limited edition double chocolate fudge something or other recently. Plus lots of new variations on old favorites: Triple Chocolate Kit Kats, Inside-Out Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (big mistake, IMO), white chocolate variations of each.
Go visit a convenience store, dude! There are more different varieties of mass-market candy available to the average consumer today than at any point in history and new ones are being developed at what I’d guess is a record pace. We live in a snack-food Golden Age!
Wow, with all these delicious new treats, I’d be like a kid in a candy store!
Oh, wait. 
The only meaningful candy bar contribution I can come up with right now is to take some of your standard varieties (3 Musketeers, Reese’s PB Cups, etc) and make them absurdly huge. I’m talking 2 foot wide PB Cups here. Hoo-ah!
Which are why I have no hope for candy in this country (as if the omnipresence of that icon of chocolate mediocrity, Hershey’s, wasn’t enough.) Can anyone imagine something more banal than the M-azing bar? “Aggressively banal” seems contradictory to me but this candy bar is that indeed. It’s like neon beige wallpaper. It’s like Kenny G turned way up loud. It’s like a retrospective of the highlights of Barbara Walter’s journalistic career. It’s so bland and uninspired that a single bite leaves one with the distinct feeling he has just been mugged by a gang of accountants.
I’ve tried Hershey chocolate and I can’t say I was overawed by it. Maybe it was the decades of buildup which led to my inevitable disappointment. Those peanut butter cup thingies - oh my! Luv 'em. I’m just glad they’re not readily available here; otherwise I’d end up looking like the side of a bus.
I want something new though… some on the level of caramel, nouget, or cookie crunch. Something that revolutionary and valuable to the candy bar market.
Pretzils are okay, but not revolutionary. M-amazing? Nothing new there. White chocolate has def seen a new interest… not bad.
Have you tried the Take 5 bar? We have thought about calling Hershey and complaining that they have created the ultimate candy bar that has us horribly addicted to its sweet goodness. It should be a crime for your mouth to feel that good!
I am envisioning things like the soft, chewy center of a 3 Musketeers bar (is that nougat?), but strawberry-flavored and pink and covered with white chocolate rather than milk chocolate. I’ve already seen white chocolate, orange, and mint-flavored Kit Kats (strangely enough, from dollar stores).
Some brave mainstream candy company will also try something involving chocolate and hot peppers, the way the Aztecs did (and several smaller chocolatiers are finding success with).
Also, I must agree with Alan Smithee that Hershey’s Smores are the best new candy bar in many years. I try to avoid all that stuff, but those are the best of what’s around.
Oh, yes, jalapenos and chocolate, or other peppers and chocolate, preferably as dark as you can… that’s a good chocolate bar. But is it really a candy bar? The proper way to enjoy fine chocolate is to eat a small bit at a time, and let it melt in your mouth. Candy bars, to me at least, are made to be eaten in one go, filling your immediate need for something sweet.
Lou, you need to find the nearest Godiva stand and look for their strawberry white chocolate truffles. To die for!
Myself, I’d like a soft, chewy MALT flavored center covered in silky, dark chocolate. But it can’t be Hershey’s. It’s gotta be Cadbury or Godiva.
They do make “king-size” versions of some candy bars. There’s a giant size PB cup out there. I just saw it at Wal-Greens this morning. You just get one, but it’s about the size of three of them. I think it’s about 4-5 inches across and 2 inches deep. Comes with an insulin shot as a chaser. 
You know what? I’ve never actually had Godiva chocolate. I’ve never considered myself a big chocolate fan, but 99% of my chocolate has been Hershey’s, Nestle, M&Ms, everyday candy bars and so on. I’m not awestruck by them, and I can even refuse chocolate cake (although I do love nice moist brownies and fresh-baked chewy cookies, but who doesn’t?). But I’ve never had any “high-roller” chocolates besides the occasional bite of something like a Toblerone. Is it really that much of a world of difference, considering the price?
(I really like white chocolate, though.)
You might be on to something there… the malt seems neglected, apearing only in Whoppers.
This reminds me of a kid I knew from the dorms in college, who had a family member who worked for Kellogs. He used to get these pre-made giant Rice Krispies Treats, wrapped in the shiny blue foil like the little snacky-size ones, but these things were probably 16" by 12" (or perhaps even a bit bigger). Immense, perfect Rice Krispies Treats, and so impressively packaged. Once I showed up to a party with one that he had given me, and nobody had ever seen anything like it. The ice-cold keg in the corner seemed like a lot less of a novelty in the presence of that monster Rice Krispies Treat.
To my taste buds, there is a big difference between Hershey’s and Cadbury/Godiva. Hershey’s has an almost grainy texture, and doesn’t have the depth of flavor that top end chocolate has. Nestle is ok, but only by a small margin. And since I don’t eat much straight chocolate, I’d much rather spend the extra money for something better.
But that’s just straight chocolate… I can get into some choco cake or fudgey brownies without being a snob. However, if you put a regular mix choco cake with frosting from a can, and a dense, dark choco cake enrobed in ganache in front of me… Guess which one I’ll be snarfing?
That’s it, Flippy! Let’s start our own Mad Doper Chocolate Lab! <grabs white lab coat and gallon of milk>