Leftovers: Hubba Bubba gum tastes the rainbow | Guinness and Tipsy Scoop feel the luck of the ice cream

Leftovers is our look at a few of the product ideas popping up everywhere. Some are intriguing, some sound amazing and some are the kinds of ideas we would never dream of. We can’t write about everything that we get pitched, so here are some leftovers pulled from our inboxes.

Hubba Bubba tastes the rainbow

Hubba Bubba bubble gum is showing its true colors.

The chewy treat is adding Hubba Bubba Mini Gum to its lineup, the first new format from the brand since 1988. The offering is more than just tiny pieces of gum, however. It features a mix of fan-favorite Skittles flavors, including lemon, strawberry, grape, orange and lime.

With the new offering, Hubba Bubba and Skittles, which are both owned by candy giant Mars Wrigley are allowing consumers to get creative and play with different flavor combinations. 

“We’ve consistently heard that our brand fans have a nostalgic connection to Hubba Bubba as well as from those [who] have been begging for a relaunch of SKITTLES gum,” Maria Urista, vice president at Mars Wrigley, said in a statement. “We created HUBBA BUBBA Mini Gum to deliver a new SKITTLES cross-over to fans that will bring more variety to the brand and surely to spark more moments of fun and play.”

Hubba Bubba Mini Gum is available at select retailers and will gradually roll out to more stores nationwide this year.

The new mini gum is symbolic of two trends popular in the food space today: mini-sized products and companies taking two of their brands and bringing them together.

Minis have cropped up in everything from cookies and crackers to candy and pizza bites. Mars Wrigley is no stranger to minis with smaller-sized Snickers, Twix, M&Ms and Skittles. Tiny offerings allow for a smaller poppable snack that consumers can share or enjoy on their own.

The decision to combine two existing brands also allows companies to tap into the equity they have built in two well-known products while generating a new and novel treat that piques the interest of consumers. Recently, J.M. Smucker created HoneyBun Donettes, and in 2022 Mondelēz International developed RitzxOreo that combined the signature cookie and its creme filling with a Ritz Peanut Butter cracker.

-Christopher Doering

Guinness and Tipsy Scoop feel the luck of the ice cream

Ahead of St. Patrick’s Day, consumers looking for a new boozy treat to try are in luck.

Diageo-owned Irish beverage giant Guinness announced a collaboration with Tipsy Scoop on a limited time ice cream product, Lucky Sundaes Guinness Draught Ice Cream with Maple Pancake Crunch.

According to Tipsy Scoop, the item is available in stores and on Goldbelly.com while supplies last. The 16-ounce ice cream pints contain 5% alcohol by volume, meaning it can only be purchased by those over 21.

While recipes for homemade Guinness-infused ice cream abound online, this is the first time the stout is appearing in an official frozen dessert product. But the item’s flavor can be found in a variety of consumer products, from chips to chocolate bars.

Blending alcohol into ice cream has grown in popularity in recent years as adult consumers seek unique indulgent offerings. In 2021, popular beer producer Dogfish Head also debuted a collaboration with Tipsy Scoop, for a dairy-free oat milk ice cream infused with its Hazy-O! brew.

-Chris Casey

Icelandic Provisions feel the summer heat early with new offering

Pennsatucky Phil primed us for an early spring this month, and Icelandic Provisions is taking advantage of its new skyr offering Strawberries and Cream.

The new flavor captures the essence of early summer, the company said, and includes ripe and juicy strawberries swirled into its sweet, rich and creamy whole milk skyr, the company said. 

This is the newest flavor offering from Icelandic Provisions, which will also carry whole milk skyr in flavors like vanilla, coconut, raspberry, cherry and black currant, and more. 

Skyr is a creamy yogurt variety that originated in Iceland, but has been gaining significant prominence in the U.S.

Icelandic Provisions touts its product as being made the “traditional Icelandic way,” by “meticulously heating milk to an exact temperature before adding our certified Skyr cultures, which transform the milk into thick and creamy Skyr,” it said. 

The company’s product also has more protein and less additives like sweeteners, flavors, colors and preservatives than its yogurt counterpart. 

Consumer demand for protein is at an all time high — and continues to grow.