7-Eleven’s Exclusive New Laffy Taffy Flavor!

CC_7-Eleven Exclusive Laffy Taffy Flavor TITLE PLATE

Sometimes a store exclusive candy offering is easy to spot – as it will be talked about in the trade press or have a large graphic on the package indicating it as special.  But with this new release of Strawberry-Banana Laffy Taffy, I very nearly missed it completely.  And if I could so easily overlook it, I figured it might be a good idea to put out the word about the release here – so others could seek it out to sample.

Part of the fun (and one of the challenges) of collecting candy is trying to keep up with new and seasonal releases because there isn’t a central news service to let you know everything that’s out there or what’s coming.  Because of that, I often find myself entering into “hunter mode” whenever I walk down a candy isle.  There are so many products that come out that I’ll routinely encounter things I didn’t expect to see.

And so it was that a few weeks ago I was surprised to find this small bit of signage in my local 7-Eleven candy isle, all the way near the floor hanging off the bottom shelf:

7-Eleven Excluisve Laffy Taffy 2013 - in-store signage

7-Eleven Excluisve Laffy Taffy 2013 – in-store signage

It was the “New & Exclusive” bit that caught my attention, even though at first glance I had overlooked it as simply a sale price sign.  But I realized it was much more and that 7-Eleven had gotten an exclusive Laffy Taffy flavor release.

Though my 7-Eleven store had the sign pointing out the Strawberry-Banana Laffy Taffy, they didn’t have the exclusive flavor in stock.  The following week I was in Staten Island and on the third 7-Eleven I visited, I found the elusive and exclusive flavor.   And here it is:

Nestle - Wonka - Laffy Taffy - Strawberry-Banana - 7-Eleven exclusive flavor - candy wrapper - August 2013

Nestle – Wonka – Laffy Taffy – Strawberry-Banana – 7-Eleven exclusive – candy wrapper – August 2013

Without any markings to indicate that it’s a 7-Eleven exclusive, it’s possible I might not have ever noticed it or picked it up, assuming that I had a “full set” of contemporary Laffy Taffy wrappers already.

Laffy Taffy fans might be scratching their heads right about now thinking that they’d seen this flavor before, and they have.  Before the last major Wonka packaging redesign, Strawberry-Banana had been a part of the standard Laffy Taffy flavor assortment.  Here’s what the 2007 version looked like:

Wonka Laffy Taffy - Hanna Strawberry-Banana - 2007

Wonka Laffy Taffy – Hanna Strawberry-Banana – 2007

So this was actually a discontinued flavor that is now making its return as a store exclusive.  If you were a fan of this one, now is your chance to seek it out and enjoy the flavor combination again… if you’ve got a 7-Eleven nearby.

I wanted to note that the flavors were also released together in boxed form earlier this year (though as individual Strawberry and Banana fun-size pieces):

Nestle - Wonka - Laffy Taffy - Strawberry and Banana - 4 ounce candy box - 2013

Nestle – Wonka – Laffy Taffy – Strawberry and Banana – 4 ounce candy box – 2013

And just to wrap up today’s post, here are the rest of the currently-available Laffy Taffy flavor wrappers.  If  you’ve seen any that are not included below – let me know!

Nestle - Wonka - Laffy Taffy - Grape - candy wrapper - 2013

Nestle – Wonka – Laffy Taffy – Grape – candy wrapper – 2013

Nestle - Wonka - Laffy Taffy - Cherry - candy wrapper - 2013

Nestle – Wonka – Laffy Taffy – Cherry – candy wrapper – 2013

Nestle - Wonka - Laffy Taffy - Sparkle Cherry - candy wrapper - 2013

Nestle – Wonka – Laffy Taffy – Sparkle Cherry – candy wrapper – 2013

Nestle - Wonka - Laffy Taffy - Strawberry - candy wrapper - 2013

Nestle – Wonka – Laffy Taffy – Strawberry – candy wrapper – 2013

Nestle - Wonka - Laffy Taffy - Banana - candy wrapper - 2013

Nestle – Wonka – Laffy Taffy – Banana – candy wrapper – 2013

Nestle - Wonka - Laffy Taffy - Watermelon - candy wrapper - 2013

Nestle – Wonka – Laffy Taffy – Watermelon – candy wrapper – 2013

And that’s everything I’ve got today on 7-Eleven’s exclusive Laffy Taffy flavor.   Eventually I plan to return to this topic when I put together a full historical retrospective on Laffy Taffy and Tangy Taffy – it’s quite a history!  Until then I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for other unexpected exclusives.

See you next time!

About Jason Liebig

A New York City based writer, editor and sometimes actor. After spending much of the 1990′s in the comic book business helping tell the stories of Marvel Comics’ X-Men as series editor, he has since split his time between developing his own entertainment properties while still consulting and working on others. Having been described as “the Indiana Jones of lost and forgotten candy”, Jason is one of the country’s premier candy collectors and historians with his discoveries appearing in countless blogs, magazines, newspaper articles, and books. Always happy to share his knowledge and unique perspectives on this colorful part of our popular culture, Jason has consulted with New York’s Museum of Food and Drink and has also been a featured guest on Food Network’s Heavyweights, France’s M6 Capital, and New York’s TheActionRoom.com. My Google Profile+
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11 Responses to 7-Eleven’s Exclusive New Laffy Taffy Flavor!

  1. Hey Jason – nice post! I’m off to look for it this afternoon. Do you know what happened to the watermelon flavor of Laffy Taffy? It was cool as it had little black seeds in it – which were essentially little seed-sized globs of sugar. Haven’t seen it in years.

    • jasonliebig says:

      I think they still make the Watermelon the same way. I have a wrapper in the article, but I don’t recall if it still featured the candy “seeds”.

    • Jeff says:

      I think that the watermelon with the seeds was a Tangy Taffy? I’m probably mistaken, but I recall that candy from 20 years ago from the corner store. Do they make Tangy Taffy anymore?

      • jasonliebig says:

        Jeff,

        They DO still make Tangy Taffy sort-of… In the 1990’s, after Nestle had acquired Beich’s and their Laffy Taffy brand, they would go on to rename Tangy Taffy as Laffy Taffy, so that all of their taffy products were under the same brand name.

        So what was Tangy Taffy is now still the same product, but named Laffy Taffy.

    • katrina says:

      I just saw on Facebook that the reason they don’t make it with seeds anymore is because seeds would break and people would think something was wrono with their taffy, and they couldn’t figure out how to fix this “issue” so they stopped making it.

  2. Dave S. says:

    That creature on the 2007 wrapper is so cool!! Thanks for the heads-up on the 7-11 exclusive!

    • jasonliebig says:

      Dave,

      That creature was designed by Bill Mayer, the same artist who created the original ball player mascots found on the first decade of Big League Chew packages.

      • Dave S. says:

        Man, you know your stuff… and I love the art on the old Big League Chew packages! Did he do comic books at all?… His (BLC) art looks familiar.

  3. Brandon says:

    Nice scoop! It would be even better had they slapped a 7-Eleven logo on it.

  4. luke says:

    I agree about the 2007 packaging being very cool! I always wonder why they feel the need to revamp the look so often?

  5. Holy cow! I may have just had a candygasm with that last bit of info

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