How Unreal Candy Went From 34,000 Stores to 38 and Back Again

Kevin McCarthy is the CEO of Unreal Candy, which makes him the most popular house on the block every Halloween (and, according to his neighbors, the other 364 days too). Kevin joined Unreal fresh out of college, when the company had just three employees and had relaunched in a humble 38 stores. Today it’s the largest better-for-you chocolate brand in America, sold in 35,000 stores.Dan, meanwhile, eats roughly 20 pieces of candy in the name of journalism. Chapters: 0:00 Intro 0:42 Meet Unreal Candy CEO Kevin McCarthy 1:39 What’s “unreal” about Unreal Candy 3:02 The origin story: confiscated Halloween candy 4:37 Scaling too fast: from 34,000 stores to 38 5:43 Joining at 22 with no food background 6:57 Why shoppers started reading the label 8:05 Why taste comes first 9:33 The unlimited chocolate perk 11:42 Inside a chocolate debate: the peanut butter drops 12:56 What landing Costco means for a brand 13:51 Advice for entrepreneurs cooking in their kitchens 14:54 Packaging that makes your mouth water 16:41 Why chocolate makes people so happy 17:39 Keeping millions of bars consistent 19:13 Pulling an all-nighter to fix a production line 20:54 How to stay level-headed as a leader 22:04 Is Halloween the candy Super Bowl? 23:21 Halloween at the candy CEO’s house 24:09 Spotting Unreal in the wild 24:54 Blind rankings: the most divisive candy 27:10 Wrap-up Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices