New York candy makers are gearing up for a bumper Halloween season, expected to reach $2.5 billion in confectionery sales across the US.
A survey by the National Confectioners Association, the trade group representing the $34 billion industry, found chocolate is the clear winner as favorite Halloween candy, followed closely by candy corn.
With that type of revenue numbers, it’s no wonder Dylan’s Candy Bar announced plans to open a downtown location in Union Square next spring.
It will be the sixth free-standing location, and its second in the city.
Dylan Lauren, the company’s founder and CEO, told The Post that Halloween is its third-ranking holiday after Christmas and Easter.
And candy corn is among her Halloween best-sellers, with 20 flavors sold in bulk. They sell more than 3,000 pounds, including best-selling flavors caramel apple and chocolate-covered.
And another venerable confectioner, Li-Lac — Manhattan’s oldest chocolate company, founded in 1923 — just opened a 10,000-square-foot factory and retail outlet in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, that will sell more than 50 Halloween-themed chocolate items, including witches, pumpkins, ghosts and skulls, along with its 140 other chocolate confections.
Most recipes were created by the founder in the 1920s.
Li-Lac President Anthony Cirone says the company spent several hundred thousand dollars on the build-out of the new factory space, investing about $40 a square foot.