Hershey's Plans Milk Candy For China

Everybody wants to get into China these days. But what is a giant chocolate company to do when it turns out chocolate doesn't sell very well over there? Hershey's has decided to just give the people what they do want, in this case: milk candy.

According to Shanghaiist, Hershey's has not launched a new product outside the U.S. in its 120-year history, but there's a first time for everything, and the milk candy business is estimated to be a billion-dollar industry in China.

Hershey's has spent two years developing a new product for China, and it's described as a premium, high-end milk candy with a creamy texture. It will be called Yo-Man in Chinese and Lancaster in English and will be available in three flavors: Original, Rich, and Strawberry-Filled.

"We actually started with a more traditional caramel and we quickly found out that that's not where the taste preferences are in China," said Hershey's senior vice president Steven Schiller. "The taste preferences and even the whole eating profile functionally of products are very different from what we know in the Western world."

Yo-Man milk candy will be produced in China from imported milk and slow-cooked to give it a smooth texture and creamy flavor.

The Yo-Man milk candy will launch in Chengdu, Wuhan, and Hangzhou next month, and is expected to get to the rest of China in 2014.