Harken Sweets brings viral date caramel trend to candy bar

The brand's plant-based, high-fiber bars are now available at Walmart.

Harken Sweets introduces date-caramel candy bar

courtesy of Harken Sweets

Harken Sweets, the makers of the first-ever date caramel candy bar, began disrupting the $250B chocolate confectionery market earlier this year with its plant-based, high-fiber candy bar, bringing the viral date caramel trend to life in candy bar form.

Harken Sweets introduces an entirely new product segment, innovating America's nostalgic candy bars into superfood-dense, fiber packed, and plant-based alternatives that taste like the "real thing" but with only 140 calories per bar, 13 grams of prebiotic fiber, and no added sugar, fake sugar, or animal products.

Harken bars harness the superfood power of the date fruit as a plant-based, high-fiber, and natural alternative to corn syrup, cane sugar, or artificial sweeteners. The fruit is celebrated with the date caramel center of each of the company's launch varieties: The Nutty One, The Gooey One, and The Crunchy One.

The Nutty One has two distinct layers: a date caramel paired with a creamy nougat, complemented by its crunchy, salted peanuts and then fully coated in a milk-chocolate-style, oat-chocolatey coating, with 71% less sugar and 44% fewer calories.

The Gooey One pairs its salted, date caramel with a creamy nougat layer, which are coated in Harken's signature milk-chocolate-style, oat-chocoatey coating, with 68% less sugar and 44% fewer calories.

The Crunchy One pairs its date caramel with salty pretzels, which are coated in Harken's signature milk-chocolate-style, oat-chocoatey coating, with 75% less sugar and 40% fewer calories.

“We’ve been overjoyed by the consumer and retailer response thus far, and we are thrilled to announce our partnership with Walmart to launch nationwide at the checkstand,” says Katie Lefkowitz, founder and CEO of Harken Sweets. “Their commitment to bringing healthier indulgences to baskets of shoppers everywhere speaks volumes of their unique approach within the grocery space."

Harken is available now in distribution at KeHE, UNFI, McLane, and Core-Mark, and available in retail at Walmart, ShopRite, Fairway, Gourmet Garage, PopUp Grocer, and HarkenSweets.com.

Liz Parker Kuhn is the senior editor of Candy Industry and Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery, and has worked at BNP Media since 2012. She has written for CBS Detroit as well as for her own blogs. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan. Liz can be contacted at (248) 839-7156 or at parkere@bnpmedia.com.