Many of you who know the history of Astro Pops®, also know it’s a very unique sucker.  There is nothing else made like Astro Pops!  When Spangler Candy was making them, they had several custom pieces of machinery, specifically made for Astro Pops production.  One of the machines took a flat piece of film and shaped it into a cone wrapper which was then dropped it into a cone-shaped candy mold and the hot candy was poured into the wrapper (so the wrapper was the mold).  The wrapper was a special film that could withstand high temperatures as well so the hot candy would not melt the wrapper.  When we bought Astro Pops, from Spangler, we were told the machines used to make Astro Pops® were dismantled and scrapped .. yep.. scrapped..  Because of this, we had to go out and re-create Astro Pops in a different way, which included finding a better wrapper in-which we didn’t have to use special machinery.  We originally found a company that told us they could make them, but when we received the prototypes, (after many months of waiting), we found they were unacceptable and later the vendor told us they couldn’t make them to our specs.  We have now found a company that can make the wrappers for us. They will be delivering their first prototypes to us this week for a trial run, (so we’re pretty excited!).  If they work out, we hope to start making Astro Pops in a few weeks!  My guess is, we will probably not have them ready till late November.  We’re shooting to have them on store shelves before Christmas so you can surprise all your Astro Pop® fans for Christmas!

Our distribution plan for Astro Pops will start with the specialty-candy stores and smaller stores first, rather than the larger stores such as Wal-Mart or Target (they place orders about six-months in advance and we didn’t have the product available yet).  The major candy distributors across the US are all set to stock Astro Pops® and will start selling them to many of your local stores as well.  In addition, we plan on selling Astro Pops, by the case on our website, for those that can’t wait to pick them up at your local store.  If you go into your favorite ‘Big Box’ store, please ask them to stock Astro Pops so they will ask their buyers to place orders for your local stores.  This includes Costco and Sam’s Club!

Our plan is to start with three or four flavors first.  The original being the #1 (of course). 

Here is the list of all the flavors that Spangler made that we plan to bring back:

Astro Pop Original: (pineapple, passion fruit, cherry)
Astro Sour Pop: (sour grape, lemon and cherry)
Rappin Raspberry: (blue Raspberry, red raspberry, blueberry)
Banana Split Astro Pop: (banana, cherry and vanilla)
Carmel Apple: (caramel and green apple)
Astro Confetti Pop: (lemonade with confetti candy)
Halloween Astro Pop: (orange, vanilla and chocolate)
Citrus Sensation: (orange, cherry, lemon)
Easter Astro Pop: (grape, vanilla, lemon)
Astro Pop, Awesome Hot: (hot cinnamon flavor)
Astro Sundae Pop: (chocolate, vanilla and cherry)
Astro Patriot Pop: (cherry, vanilla and blueberry)

If you’re a die-hard Astro Pop Fan like I am, you’re probably scratching your head and saying, “I never saw those other flavors!”  I would agree, so, we plan on releasing different multi-packs so you can try all the different flavors!  We plan to start releasing more flavors over the next year or so.

We are planning to have different sizes of Astro Pops® for different markets, with the specialty-candy stores and smaller stores selling the larger (1.5 oz) pops and the mass merchandisers, selling the 1oz  (original size) pop.  The suggested retail for the candy and smaller stores will probably be around $1.60-$1.99 per pop since they will be 50% larger than the original (1oz) pop.  Mass Merchandisers such as Wal-Mart and Target will probably have a suggested retail of $1.30-$1.50 for the original (1oz) pop. We cannot tell any store how to price Astro Pops, and these prices are only estimations. We still do not have final production costs so pricing could change.

Yes!  We will only sell Astro Pops by the case (24 pops in a case) through our website or via phone order.  If you do not live near a store that carries Astro Pops®, we would be more than happy to ship you all the pops you want!  The best way to purchase them as distribution widens is to ask your local store to start carrying Astro Pops® or for smaller quantities, (if you don’t want to buy a full case directly from us), you can order them through many of the on-line candy stores. We are currently not taking any pre-orders.  We will send you an email when we start shipping.

We are coming out with several types of Astro Pop® items including t-shirts, stickers, lunch boxes and all kinds of fun stuff.  When we start shipping Astro Pops®, we will have a newly designed website that will include all the novelty items for purchase.  If you are a store, you will have the ability to order novelty items in bulk, at wholesales pricing.

We have so many loyal Astro Pop customers, we would love to use your ideas.  Please post them on the ‘Official Astro Pop Fan Page’ on Facebook.  If we use your flavor combination, we might just send you a free case to say thanks!  We’re also thinking of placing your name on the first run of the new flavor!  How cool would that be??  500 cases of the new flavor with your name on them, cool!!!

Leaf Brands, LLC is our US distributor for Astro Pops.  For large orders, you can place directly with them.  If you have a smaller store, they will direct you to one of their localized distributors for ordering.  Feel free to call them at: 949-424-1664.  You can also visit their website at: www.leafbrands.net

Sure!  We will have distribution in Canada as well, it will take a little longer to get them distributed though.  You might buy direct from us until you find it in your local stores.

Astro Pops will be sold internationally.  Please contact us directly and we will try and help you find them in your country.  If you can’t, we will be happy to send you cases to your door!