The 2026 Portfolio
The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) is pushing its broadest holiday seasonal assortment to date for 2026, anchoring the lineup in three character-licensed confection LTOs tied to Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas while extending into the salty and better-for-you snacking occasions that have reshaped impulse and gifting sets at retail. The move signals that Hershey's "ONE Hershey" portfolio strategy — bridging confection, salty snacks and functional formats under a single seasonal selling story — is fully operational heading into the company's highest-volume merchandising window.
Leading new introductions are Hershey's Kisses Cindy-Lou Who Strawberry Sugar Cookie, a limited-edition flavor in licensed foils; Hershey's Hugs Max the Dog Foils, wrapping the classic white-and-milk-chocolate candy in Who-ville character packaging; and KIT KAT Santa & Reindeer, expanding last year's Santa format to include reindeer characters across multiple pack types. On the Reese's side, the new Reindeer Mix — a resealable pouch combining milk chocolate-drizzled popcorn, Reese's baking chips, Reese's Mini Trees and Reese's Pieces — targets the snacking and gifting dayparts simultaneously, a format well suited to c-store seasonal endcaps and club-channel value packs.
Salty Snacks Push
The clearest signal of Hershey's portfolio evolution is the deliberate insertion of its salty snack brands into holiday merchandising. SkinnyPop Elf Maple Syrup Kettle Corn — licensed off the Elf film property — and LesserEvil Himalayan Sweetness Popcorn give category buyers a better-for-you hook alongside the traditional confection assortment. For foodservice and non-commercial operators running holiday catering, gifting programs or grab-and-go holiday sets, individually portioned popcorn SKUs from LesserEvil represent an easy add to seasonal snack boards and event hospitality packages. The sweet-and-salty segment has been the fastest-growing impulse lane in convenience and grocery for the past two years, and Hershey is explicitly positioning SkinnyPop and LesserEvil as seasonal occasion drivers rather than afterthoughts.
Returning fan-favorite SKUs round out the assortment: Reese's Peanut Butter Trees, Reese's Mini Trees, Hershey's Kisses Snickerdoodle Cookie, KIT KAT Peppermint Stick (standard and snack size) and the Hershey's Grinch Milk Chocolate Bar in a giftable six-pack multipack. Stocking-stuffer formats — Jolly Rancher Freeze Dried candy in cherry and green apple, Cadbury Caramello Miniatures, Hershey's Caramels, Hershey's Almond Clusters and York Minis — target the value-price gifting tier that drives unit velocity in the final two weeks before the holiday.
Operator Relevance
For operators sourcing holiday impulse and gifting merchandise — from hotel gift shops and stadium concessions to corporate cafeterias and entertainment venues — Hershey's seasonal depth matters for planogram flexibility. The mix of single-serve, resealable pouch and multipack formats allows buyers to tier price points across a single brand family without sourcing from multiple suppliers. Samantha Siegal, Senior Director of Marketing at The Hershey Company, noted that the portfolio is built around "the real ways people gather, give and celebrate today" — a consumer-insight framing that translates directly into occasion-based merchandising for non-commercial and specialty foodservice buyers. Survey data cited by Hershey shows 78% of parents prioritize replicating childhood traditions, while 62% have modified those traditions to fit current lifestyles, a split that argues for both nostalgic returning SKUs and new format experimentation in a holiday set.
All products are available for a limited time at participating retailers nationwide; pricing is at retailer discretion. A limited-edition Hershey's Kisses gift-wrapping foil kit — available in silver, red, green and a Kisses-branded custom design — goes on sale at shop.hersheys.com/holiday on Cyber Monday, November 30, adding a licensed gifting accessory to the seasonal program. For operators tracking Hershey's broader snacking category moves, see our coverage of supplier innovation trends and holiday retail merchandising strategy.
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.
