621: Unpacking Swedish Candy’s Viral Success with BonBon’s Leonard Schaltz

0:28This episode is brought to you by Resi and American Express. So it's a deeply rooted tradition, which takes the shape of a Saturday candy, or Lodas Godes. So every Saturday you get an allowance from your parents, and then you're allowed to, you know, do what you want with that money. And most kids spend it all on candy on that Saturday. And then you can eat it all, but only on the Saturday. This is Taste. I'm your host, Eliza Barbinell. Leo Schultz is a co-founder of Bon Bon, a Swedish candy store with four locations in New York City and a cult following on TikTok. The pick and mix bulk candy selection is entirely imported from Sweden, from salty licorice to sour strawberry cream skulls.

1:14Today on the show, Leo talks about growing Bon Bon's candy empire, meeting viral demand and building a candy library. Also in this episode, I share with Eliza my visit to the fancy food show. I got to walk the floor for a couple days, and I highlight some of my favorite brands. Hi, Matt. How are you? I am great, Eliza. I just returned from the Fancy Food Show. Have you ever been? I went last year with you. Oh, we went together. Did we go together? It's one of those things that it's like being in a casino. You know, there's so much happening. There's so many shiny things to look at. But I am really happy that you went and that you can give me the highlights because I don't think I have the constitution for it.

1:58I think we did go together. I remember this, that we had a lot of like little snacky bites. Yeah, there was a lot of like cheese and boxed pasta. Yeah, yeah, we did go together. This is right. Okay. Bringing something up for you. Yeah, because I've been to a few of the fancy features in New York and in other places in Expo West. And I mean, for me, it's like one of my favorite few days of the year. I really like and I really like this edition. I think they did a terrific job. I like it because, of course, you're going to go to like the big pavilions that have like France and Portugal and Saudi Arabia.

2:33And like they're presenting their country's best producers, which I love. But what I really, really like is going to the smaller producers. They made a lot of efforts to lower the cost of entry for younger founders. and startup CPG is one platform that hosts a whole area at a lot of these trade shows. And I went there first and I got to meet with a bunch of founders. And I have some discoveries to share. Okay, I'm very interested. Well, and I think what I looked at these, I wouldn't call these like the best. I didn't survey. I was there two days and I got to meet with a bunch of cool people. But I'm not gonna call this the best.

3:12I have judged in the past and this is not a judging format. So to be clear, if I don't call your name or if I met you and I don't mention you, I'm sorry. I apologize. But this doesn't mean you're not the best because I really did meet some cool founders. But to start, Maru Chocolates, which I think I may have even mentioned on the show. I discovered them at the Meadow in Portland. But I got to meet with one of the representatives. And again, this is a chocolate company from Vietnam doing single origin chocolate that has always impressed me. There's a lot of dark chocolates. It's like one of their focus groups, at least on the website and what they're tasting at the show.

3:49And this is a company from Samuel Maruta and Vincent Maru. They are the founders and the cacao levels swing between 70 and even 100 percent cacao. And I just really enjoyed the few bites that I had and this company in general. That's Maru Chocolates. Yeah, I've had Maru Chocolate before and I think it's really good. It's really good stuff and it's cool to just have a little chat there. Because, again, I'm just getting to meet the people and talk to them and hear their story. Moving on, Barris dipped raspberries. Now, there's been a trend I've noticed at, like, all grocery stores, Trader Joe's, et cetera, for chocolate-covered frozen fruit.

4:30It's like we started with bananas. That was the one that I think everyone had. But I've been seeing it everywhere, just, like, frozen fruit with either chocolate, sometimes with yogurt, just, like, dipped frozen fruit. Have you seen this since? Yeah, I can't remember the name. There's like a sour-dipped frozen fruit. Do you know what I'm talking about? I do. I absolutely don't know that. I can't remember the name. What's that one called? Oh, Fruit Riot is this sour frozen fruit that I have not tried still, but my sister says it's delicious. And I feel like it's slowly making its way over. So this is a chocolate-dipped one that you had?

5:03Yes, this is Barris-dipped raspberries. And their tagline is the perfect frozen bite. Quite a fight in words there. But I really did enjoy meeting them and trying. What they're doing is Patagonian raspberries, and they're picking them at the perfect time and flash freezing them and dipping them in very good chocolate. And it's a single bite. The raspberry and chocolate pairing is classic and really perfect here. And I just really liked it. It was at one of the smaller booth in Young Founders, and I'd love to try it again and buy it. Definitely. Next one up, and I have followed up with these folks there, Gamza Foods.

5:43They are a company that just launched this year in, I believe, February. The founder's name is Sarah Hwang. And what they're doing is Korean-style juk as an instant mix. And they're calling it savory instant oatmeal, but it truly is juk. And it's really good, first off. I really liked the samples they gave me and the taste at the booth. I went back and tried it at home. And I really like it. It's a blend of grains. It's quinoa, rice, and oats. And I think the macros are really something that a lot of these companies were leaning into. We're in the protein age, of course. So protein is literally on every packaged good you're going to find at the Fancy Food Show.

6:25So it's protein-rich, gluten-free, and low-calorie. And in the mix, it's a cool combination. is garlic powder, miso powder, tamari powder, coconut sugar, some seaweed, some furikake, sesame seeds. Really nice, savory breakfast if you're into that. And I am, so it was nice to see those founders. Yeah, I honestly feel like that would be really fun to bring camping. Yeah, it's great, right. It's like one of those things that if you are in a hotel room and traveling for work and you want to have like a really savory breakfast before your busy day, it's great. But camping would be awesome, yeah. Or just at home if people want to just get right to it.

7:02Yeah, definitely. It's definitely a need. I think savory oatmeal is clearly a trend. I saw a couple versions of it on the show floor and reading Andrea Hernandez and Snackshot. She writes about it a bit as well. Yeah. So it's Gamza Foods and they have a, I'll be linking to all the companies in our show notes. So you can check out their websites or Instagrams and link with them if you want to buy any of these products. My next one is a brand I'd read about on Emily Sundberg's great sub stack, Feed Me. It's called Rotten Candies. And they are firmly taking on nerds clusters. Big nerds is being taken down by this upstart brand run by Michael Fisher.

7:42And their whole promise is basically, we're going to do nerds, but it's better for you nerds. 70 % less sugar using fruit juices, fruit powders, and allulose, which is a non-artificial alternative to sugar found in figs and raisins. So the macros are quite interesting. But really what you're going to see if you go to the Instagram and you should, the branding is so on point. Yeah, I've seen the packaging before. It's this kind of like freaky punk rock-y vibe. It gives Garbage Pail Kids. Yes. Pretty much. Exactly. It's punk, it's Garbage Pail Kids. It's wild art. And actually I talked to Michael and I was like, so what's up with your artists?

8:21Like, is he on staff? Are they on staff? Are they on staff? And is it something that you are going to evolve and do merch? And he was like, yeah, we have a couple of illustrators. We're good. I didn't go anywhere with that. Because I think about like Fish Wife, for example. Like they have like one artist who does all their stuff. And it's like, wow, that's like such an important part of your brand is this artist. But it's iconic at this point on the floor seeing Rotten out there, this better for you candy that is not boring. it's anything but and i brought back a couple sample packages from my niece and nephew and i wanted to see what they thought and they're big nerds fans and they were they were like this is good so i was they're the true taste testers were they like this is good or were they like this is good well they we have a joke with where isaac my nephew will be like this is interesting yeah he gets it he totally gets it as a very interesting thing as a side note um i read a story when i was researching their company that nerds clusters are starting to be embraced by the running community because you know those goos that they give you at marathons and it's like this like you need to have a goo if you're gonna run they've like figured out that a nerds cluster is the same macros as a goo or very close to it that's so wild so like the that's an aside i found that very interesting they prep for this so yeah the nerd clusters community and i'm sure so i think rotten candies maybe we'll have a running community moving on another cool product i think would be great for a camping trip is um this freeze-dried soup brand called long weekend they launched at the show so they're very new and they're doing tomato bisque carrot ginger and minestrone um in these uh just add water uh shelf stable pouches and i loved it i thought it was really good like i'm not gonna eat a lot of freeze-dried soups typically but i may like if it's good.

10:11And I don't know how many good ones I've had. So I was excited about that brand. Yeah, I think it makes sense. Like that's a category that doesn't have a lot of innovation in it necessarily. I think for me, I really love the act of making a soup, but I don't think everyone does. And maybe they'll be especially interested in that. Yeah. Like getting a tomato bisque, like you can, of course, make it and it's wonderful when you make it. But if you are craving that and you don't have the time, you're at work, maybe Cool opportunity, great branding. Obviously, the theme, especially in these young founder booths, was just really being smart about branding.

10:47Well, speaking of branding, a company that I really liked was Perry. And I spoke with the founder, Elisa Batessi, and she was cool, and we caught up. And I really like this. She's doing two products now, and it's in the NA category. She's doing a modern Moscow mule and this thing she's calling a slice of spice, which is the one I like the most, which was a drink that has adaptogens, black pepper, chili extracts and horseradish. So a very spicy N.A. or a mixer. I think you can use it both ways. That was my kind of vibe with it. But kind of like a ready to drink cocktail for the beach or for entertaining.

11:30Really good branding. And I just liked catching up with her and hearing the story. That's Perry. Okay, what else do you have? Two more. And again, these aren't my favorites. These are just ones that just popped in my head when I was doing my research. This is cool. It's a Michigan company, The Pie Collective by Akits. And they are based on the east side of the state. And Akits is a familiar name for anyone in food. And yes, Grant Akits is a family member, a relative, but is not involved in this from chatting with them, at least. It's not his company, but he's a family member. It's from David and Wendy Akits.

12:04And the pies are excellent. And if you live in Detroit, you may know about Pie Collective, which is their kind of brick and mortar pie shop that there's like seven or eight locations all around the metro area of Detroit. But they are entering the grocery store aisle with these cool products that you're going to find all over the country. These are frozen pies that you can, you know, thaw out and serve. They're doing a Michigan apple, a cherry, four berry, pumpkin, and they're doing a savory chicken pot pie. And I really like them. I think frozen pies, I think we typically want to make our pies or buy them fresh from the farmer's market or from a bakery.

12:40But sometimes when you're in a pinch and you want a pie, you got to go to a good brand and Sarah Lee might not be cutting it. So this is kind of a cool. Yeah, I actually never want to make my pies. I want them to be made for me. And I have a lot of strong childhood memories of those Sarah Lee type chicken pot pies. And I always looked forward to them when my mom would decide to put one on the table. So I think out of everything you've mentioned, honestly, that might be the sleeper hit for me. I like it. I like to hear about this. The chicken pot pie, your past. I like that. Yes, exactly. Yeah.

13:11My mother as well loved a chicken pot pie for dinner. We're busy families. You have a chicken pot pie. Yeah. Even me. I'm not a busy family. I'm just a busy person. I still want a chicken pot pie. Yeah. Well, last one was kind of a cool, innovative product. And this isn't like the sexiest product, but it's called Salad Sprinkles. And these are gluten-free rice little balls. They're not croutons. They're tiny. But you sprinkle them into your salads, and they have three flavors, classic herb, chili crisp, and maple sea salt. So I guess you could use the sea salt and maple and other things in salads.

13:45But I really, really like them. They're all the gluten-free, as I mentioned, and really a cool way to jazz up a salad, get that crunch in there, and do it in a way that's really simple. So salad sprinkles. Yeah, I think that's really smart branding alone. And thank you for forging out into the Fancy Food Show and bringing back so many delicious, interesting things to talk about. I really respect the level of schmoozing and snacking that you did. It was schmoozing and snacking. I did a couple speaking things there, too. I got to hang with the Hot Ones crew, Chris from Hot Ones, his old friend, and got to hear all about the world of Hot Ones.

14:23What a crazy, crazy world there. Yeah, there's a lot going on. A lot going on. It's great. Well, I appreciate you giving me this opportunity, Eliza. Yeah, thanks for sharing all the fancy food show stuff. Hi there. It's Matt, co-host of the show. We are currently running a This Is Taste listener survey, and we'd love to hear from you. Do you have a guest request? A restaurant you wish we'd visit to talk about on Three Things? What about a lesser-known cookbook author who deserves a spot in our studio chair? You can let us know by clicking the link in our show notes to complete the survey. It will only take a couple minutes, I swear, and will help us continue to make the best show possible.

15:05That's the This Is Taste listener survey, link in our show notes. From February 20th to March 7th, dive into Canada's biggest culinary festival, Montreal en Lumière, an exclusive partnership with the McCord Stewart Museum and its exhibition, On the Menu Montreal, a restaurant story. the 2026 festival invites food lovers on a flavorful journey through time. Montreal's top restaurateurs will reimagine 65 years of the city's iconic astronomy, crafting inventive, nostalgia-inspired dishes with a modern twist. Prepare your palate. World-renowned chefs, including several Michelin-starred talents, will team up with over 80 of Montreal's finest local chefs to create unforgettable, one-of-a-kind menus.

15:51The full program is available at MontrealOnLumiere.com, presented by Lotto Quebec in collaboration with National Bank. Leo Schultz, this is Taste. Thank you for coming on the podcast. Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to talk about candy first thing in the morning with you. It's a good way to start. I agree. I'm very fortunate. It's the first thing I think about and the last thing I think about. Yeah. Do you feel like your craving for candy has increased or decreased since starting Bon Bon? I think I have a lot of vices in my life. And candy is one of the least bad ones. Yeah. I eat a healthy amount, not too much.

16:33But there's definitely a part of the job that is quality control that I try to make the most out of. Well, you take it very seriously. You have to. Extremely seriously. I mean, we coined the term candy sommeliers, and I think we take that title very, very seriously. So I want to get into Bon Bon with you, and its growth certainly here in New York has been really interesting to watch as someone that's been, you know, eating candy and like living alongside all these locations. But before we get into that, I'm wondering if you could tell me an early food memory that you have from growing up. I don't know if you have one that involves candy or just one in general.

17:10Like a special food memory? Yeah, or one that you look back on and you're like, oh, that must have impacted me in some kind of way. It's not candy related, but when I was little, I remember the first time I had fancy food. And it was my mom. She made a lobster and gratin with cream and mushrooms and shallots and cognac and a little cheese. and I just remember that it felt very, very, very special and turned out to also be very, very delicious. And I think to this day, it's one of my favorite dishes. That sounds really good. Yeah. So Bon Bon is a Swedish candy store. You import the candy from Sweden.

17:54How would you explain the cult, cultural interest of candy in Sweden to somebody that hasn't been there before? So it's a deeply rooted tradition, which takes the shape of Saturday candy or Lodas Godis. So every Saturday you get an allowance from your parents and then you're allowed to do what you want with that money. And most kids spend it all on candy on that Saturday. And then you can eat it all, but only on the Saturday. and that tradition has its roots, dark roots from the 30s or 40s when the Swedish government, or I think sugar rather, started becoming more of a staple ingredient in the Swedish diet and then having universal health care, universal dental care.

18:43It was important for them to find out what did the least and the most amount of damage to your teeth. So they ran experiments at mental institutions, unfortunately, and then concluded that it was less bad for your teeth to only eat candy once a week as opposed to spread out. So they then started promoting the idea that, you know, start a family tradition. So if you go to Sweden, you can't walk into a grocery store without seeing sort of the dedicated pick-and-mix candy aisle. And I think it's one of the primary things that Swedes miss from back home that, you know, when your parents come to visit, it's like, what can I bring?

19:21Like, candy, candy, candy. So it's very big for us. Sweden is not a very religious country, but this is definitely one of the type of religious like weekly traditions different from church. I've never heard of the reason behind this or the one day a week thing. It's blowing my mind right now. It's the most like practical way you could do something impractical like eating a lot of candy. Yeah. So I shout out New Yorker. They wrote a piece about Bon Bon in our first year and kind of were able to pinpoint the origins of it. I feel like licorice is probably the most famous Swedish candy. Are there any other staples that you would point to?

20:03Other than the licorice, I would point to the sweets mixed with salty phenomenon. That is sort of a very classic Swedish type of candy where half of it is salty licorice and the other half is a raspberry or a strawberry. And then those two flavors blend very, very well. I think that chocolate, our milk chocolate, is beyond delicious. Sometimes we're confused for Switzerland. I think the Swiss are perhaps more famous for their chocolate, but ours is more middle-of-the-road milk chocolate. It's just incredibly rich and just round in its flavor and truly something special that I think goes second to the licorice as far as it's specific for us.

20:53But I also think the great variety of candy, like we don't want to be put into a box. Like any individual person's candy bag will have like 20 different types of candy. And I think that's the beauty of it. Yeah, I do think like going into a Bon Bon location here in New York, that is the interesting thing to me is to look at what other people are putting into their bags or even like the bin that has the least amount of stuff in it. Because I feel like it must be the good thing. Yeah, you can learn a lot about people. When me and my co-founders first started Bon Bon, we all thought, well, I have the best taste.

21:25I have the best taste. And they're wildly different. And you're like, all right, you're a psycho. How do you like that candy? And then we were all wrong because there's just too many different varieties. So what was the original idea for Bon Bon and when did it start? So my two co-founders, Robert and Salim, asked me in summer of 2017 and said, hey, we're going to open a candy store. Do you want to be a part of it? And I said, yeah. And that was because they were like the homesick Swedes in New York that wanted candy. Yeah, I think it's also other than asking your parents and family when they come to visit to bring candy.

22:02Another like, you know, after party drunken conversation. It's like we should open a candy store. Yeah. It's so good. But then you don't actually follow through with it. And I think we actually followed through with it. And yeah, I've been fortunate to open more stores now. Yeah, I was actually living on the Lower East Side in 2018 when the first store opened. Wow. So I remember walking by one day and seeing people and, you know, this pink. And I was like, what? What is this in the neighborhood? Like, what is this candy? I need to try it. And I know you've been kind of steadily growing over the years.

22:38But I feel like last year, 2024, is kind of when Bon Bon really, like, hit a critical mass here in the city. Would you agree with that? I would absolutely agree with that. We've been, you know, growing steadily and have been able to open more locations. but never to the point where we had like lines around the block. Like we were busy on the weekends, but nothing of the sort. Yeah, I think it was good for us that we grew at the pace we grew for the first, you know, five or six years. We definitely got caught by surprise and had to play catch up a lot during 2024 and had to airlift a lot of candy from Sweden because just the bins were empty.

23:18Yeah, and that was because of like TikTok and videos. Yeah, we have a longtime customer, Mary Grace, that one of her securing the bags late at night videos that she posted, I don't know, it kind of tickled the algorithm in the right way. And then later that night, I remember seeing on my phone just the Shopify app. I was like, something is wrong here. This is not normal. And then the way TikTok works that I've now come to learn is just that, you know, as you hit one audience, that is more likely to kind of present you to one audience. And it just like becomes this monster that kind of feeds off itself.

24:06And yeah, we had no idea what to expect. But now a year and a half in, I, you know, we kept growing and we're very fortunate. and humbled by that. Yeah, I think sometimes with food businesses, especially here in New York that go viral, like there's a ton of interest in the beginning and then sometimes it trickles off and then maybe the business has even like staffed up to meet demand and then all those people aren't going to use. But it seems at least from my side of it with Bon Bon that there is this kind of sustained interest. Yeah, I think also we are fortunate to be selling a product that, like we didn't invent candy, You know, there's people have always really liked candy.

24:48And when you eat good candy after it's done, you're going to want to get more candy. So it's more established than, you know, like a cronut or a special truffle pizza. Yeah. And also it's sugar. Like it's, you know. It's like meant to be addictive. Yeah. Also, like it's such a customizable. Like the fact that people can seek out, like I've seen videos of people looking for a specific kind of candy that they've seen online. But the fact that you can like make your own bag and that it's priced by weight. So if you only want to spend a certain amount of money, like I feel like it hits a lot on that kind of affordable luxury, like little treat kind of dynamic.

25:31Absolutely. No, and that was conscious when we started The Candy that there was room in the space for a premium offering, number one, and an experience, number two, of making your own bag. It is fun. And it is fun to come into one of our stores and talk to one of our candy sommeliers and kind of help them guide you and introduce something new to you and present different combinations of candy. And, yeah, absolutely. I think that was missing. And I also think that's, I don't want to brush too broad strokes here, but I think there is like a premiumization of, you know, food. And I think candy was ripe for that.

26:20But just like you say, it is affordable luxury. You can, you know, spend$2 or you can spend$100. So I think that is the beauty of it. It's very democratic in that way. and everybody gets the same fancy, you know, candy bag and fancy shopping bag. And that is a source of pride, I think. And we're very fortunate that people feel that way about our brand that we worked very hard for. Yeah. And even though it is Swedish candy, like the history of candy stores, bulk candy stores in New York also goes back a long ways. Economy candy is like not that far away from your first location. No, and this is a big, big country.

27:00And I mean, even with the success and the growth that we've had since last year, I think we've really just scratched the surface as far as recognizability or the size of the U.S. market. And, yeah, when we opened the first store, we were very committed to making sure that we gave people a reason to come to the store. We believe that retail, you know, retail is not dead, only bad retail. So we, you know, we train all of our staff members. Everybody wears, you know, the proper uniform and, yeah, are excited to serve our customers. Yeah. What is the kind of breakdown of sales between online versus in-store?

27:49So we have all said that we're not going to talk too specifically about numbers, but e-commerce, I say retail is our largest sort of channel. And e-commerce is, you know, between 20, 30 percent. And then we, you know, wholesale is also part of our business. We have a fairly large events side of the business. And then each retail store also has an on-demand aspect. So you can order candy on Grubhub and DoorDash and Uber Eats. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. But retail is, you know, our foundation. And it's still the thing that we are very excited about. And you have, what is it, four or five stores in New York now?