Hi-Chew has signed its first-ever licensing agreement, partnering with MGA Entertainment's Miniverse™ line to place a hyper-realistic miniature of its Original Mix peg bag inside the limited-edition MGA's Miniverse Real Brands Vending Machine — a $19.99 collectible set now available at Walmart, Target, Amazon, and shop.mgae.com.
The Product
The teal-colored vending machine includes three exclusive Real Brands™ minis. The Hi-Chew entry features a scaled-down replica of the brand's iconic peg bag, complete with miniature "chewlets" inside. A mini credit card accessory allows collectors to "dispense" snacks from the vending compartment and arrange items on built-in display shelves. The set is compatible with all Real Brands™ minis sold separately, positioning it as an expandable platform rather than a one-off novelty.
Brand Extension Logic
For Morinaga America, the move represents a calculated step outside conventional confectionery retail. Teruhiro Kawabe, Chief Representative for the USA and President and CEO of Morinaga America, Inc., framed the deal as a brand-depth play rather than a volume driver: "By combining our iconic brand with Miniverse's highly detailed miniatures, we're creating a new way for fans to engage with Hi-Chew — one that sparks discovery, creativity, and connection."
The licensing play tracks a broader pattern in the better-for-you and impulse-snack segment, where brands are increasingly seeking non-edible revenue streams and cultural touchpoints to sustain relevance between product launches. Collectible culture — fueled by platforms like TikTok and driven by Gen Z nostalgia mechanics — has become a legitimate retail category in its own right, with blind-box and miniature formats generating strong sell-through at mass and specialty retail. MGA's Miniverse line, which positions itself as the original DIY collectible brand, provides Hi-Chew with an established collector audience rather than requiring the brand to build one from scratch.
Retail & Category Context
Hi-Chew, distributed in the U.S. by Morinaga America, Inc. since 2008, has grown its domestic footprint across sticks, peg bags, stand-up pouches, bites, and gummies. The brand operates a U.S. manufacturing facility in North Carolina, opened in 2015. Placing its intellectual property inside a $19.99 toy-adjacent product at mass-market retail extends the brand's visual presence into aisles and shopping occasions where candy typically does not compete — a low-cost awareness mechanism that carries no inventory or food-safety overhead for the licensor.
For foodservice-adjacent confectionery buyers and snack and candy category managers, the deal is a signal that established import candy brands are willing to pursue non-traditional channel strategies to stay in front of younger consumers. The collectibles format also sidesteps the margin pressure and promotional competition endemic to the candy aisle, where LTO proliferation and promotional pricing have compressed returns for mid-tier brands. Operators tracking consumer packaged goods trends that influence menu and retail snack programming should note that brand licensing into adjacent categories is increasingly a tool for sustaining velocity between flavor innovation cycles.
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.
