World of Sweets and Bobby’s secure distribution for Gumi Yum Surprise

World of Sweets, the UK’s largest confectionery wholesaler, and its sister company Bobby’s, have secured exclusive distribution of Gumi Yum Surprise – a combination of a sweet treat and a novelty toy.

Available from August, Gumi Yum Surprise comprises eight fruit-flavoured gummy candy strips that can be unwrapped from an egg inner to reveal a surprise toy inside. The eight flavours are cherry, strawberry, orange, pineapple, lemon, green apple, blue raspberry and grape, and the collectible toy ranges include wildlife characters and Transformers characters.

Zuru, which has created Gumi Yum Surprise, is one of the top five toy manufacturers in the world, known for brands such as XShot, Mini Brands, 5 Surprise and Rainbocorns.

The confectionery egg has already been launched in the USA, New Zealand and Australia and has delivered strong results. In the USA it was the No1 new confectionery brand in Target USA at launch and in the top 2% of all confectionery SKUs for 2024.

In New Zealand, Gumi Yum gained a 15% market share in the sugar single novelty category and outsold Kinder in 80% of the stores stocking both ranges.

Gumi Yum Surprise has also built an impressive social media following, with around 4.3 million likes on TikTok. In 2024 it had over 250 million impressions on the channel.

Helen Bradshaw, director of sales & Marketing at World of Sweets, said: “We’re delighted to be the exclusive distributor for key channels in the UK and are excited to see where we can take the brand.

“There’s already a massive buzz around this product and the brand as a whole. The interaction with customers via social media channels means consumers are eager to try – even if it’s not available in their country.

“This is great news for retailers in the UK who will be able to capitalise on this buzz and offer their customers this product.”

Bradshaw continued: “There’s a huge demand for novelty confectionery and in particular novelty confectionery with toys. Last year this sector outperformed the overall novelty category by 3% in both value and volume year on year.”

World of Sweets offers a choice of distribution solutions, from e-commerce sites serving 55,000 customers per week to Hancocks wholesale stores with over 22,000 customers. It also has field sales and a direct-to-store team covering 36,000 independent customers and a national accounts team covering all UK retail channels. In addition, Bobby’s Direct van sales business delivers to 21,000 stores nationwide.