Stephen's launches a new cocoa

Indulgent Foods Inc. has launched a new product for its line of Stephen's Gourmet Hot Chocolate: Candycane Cocoa.

Candycane Cocoa has little chunks of peppermint in it for anyone who likes to stir their hot chocolate with a peppermint stick.

"It was something almost everyone in our company had tried," said Brent Strong, CEO of Indulgent Foods. "We wanted to give it a minty taste. Our main concern was to try and make sure to maintain the right ratio between milk chocolate and peppermint."

Candycane Cocoa will be sold in individual one-serve packets or in boxes of 28-32 packs at larger grocery chains. Strong says Candycane Cocoa will be available almost everywhere in Utah, including all Associated Foods stores, local Wal-Greens and Rite-Aids, Super Target, Shopko, Smith's, Wal-Mart and even some Kmart locations.

Development of the product started in July 2005, and it was shipped out in November 2005. In tests done last season, the product was very well received, Strong said.

"People love it. Everywhere we've sampled it, and we've taken it into a lot of retail buyers and headquarters people, everyone has absolutely loved it," he said.

The packaging of the Candycane Cocoa is slightly different than other Stephen's Gourmet products. Instead of the traditional maroon and black, Candycane Cocoa has more of a holiday look and feel to it with a bear on a blue background holding a mug of Stephen's hot chocolate. It looks similar to snow coming down on an iceberg, Strong said.

Test results have indicated the product will do well on the market, Strong said.

"It's probably going to become, in terms of units sold, our number one item this year," he said. "That's what's exciting to us. We have a loyal consumer base who have tried Stephen's and have it in their cupboards."

Other flavors of Stephen's Gourmet Hot Chocolate include milk chocolate, mint truffle, french vanilla, chocolate raspberry and Belgian dark chocolate, among other flavors.

For information about Stephen's Gourmet, visit www.stephensgourmet.com.

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E-mail: twalquist@desnews.com