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A comprehensive list of discontinued candy brands. For the chewier, fruitier end of the aisle, see the fruit snacks that disappeared; if your nostalgia is decade-specific, the 90s candy graveyard has a list of its own.
WONKA BAR
Discontinued: 2014
Fictional beginnings: The Wonka Bar was introduced in 1971 by the Quaker Oats Company. It was based on the film and book “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.” Original bars were quickly pulled from the shelves due to production issues.
Revival & Downfall: Nestlé acquired the Wonka brand in 1988. They brought the Wonka Bar back into the market in the early 2000s. To support the release of the new 2005 film “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” They even promoted golden tickets as promotional prizes.
Declining sales led Nestlé to discontinue the Wonka Bar and other Wonka candies. The rights were sold to Ferrero in 2018.
NESTLÉ MAGIC BALL
Discontinued: 1997 (the toy version)
Introduction & initial popularity: The Nestlé Magic Ball was introduced in the mid-1990s as a chocolate sphere containing small toys, often featuring popular characters from Disney or Pokémon. It quickly gained popularity among children and nostalgic adults.
Safety concerns & withdrawal: In 1997, twelve state attorneys general forced the product off the market over the small toys inside the chocolate shell, invoking a 1938 federal rule against inedible objects embedded in food. Nestlé complied after barely three months of sales. The CPSC’s own testing found the toys broke no federal safety rule, a detail that got lost in the panic.
Nestlé tried again in 2000 with candy inside the shell instead of toys, renaming it the Wonder Ball, then sold the brand to Frankford in 2004. It is the rare entry on this list that came back for good: Frankford has kept Wonder Ball in production since 2016. Only the toy-filled original is gone.
CREME SAVERS
Discontinued: 2011
Creamy beginnings: Creme Savers were launched in 1998 by Nabisco (later acquired by Kraft Foods). They quickly gained a cult following due to their unique creamy texture and fruit flavors—a softer spin on the fruit hard candy that Jolly Rancher built its name on.
Declining sales & a nostalgic return: The candy saw declining sales in the mid-2000s and was discontinued in 2011. Iconic Candy brought it back in 2021 using the original recipe, and this was no limited run—Creme Savers now sell nationwide through Walmart, Kroger and Amazon.
BUTTERFINGER BBS
Discontinued: 2006
A bite-sized start: Butterfinger BB’s were introduced by Nestlé in 1992. It was a bite-sized version of the classic Butterfinger bar. They had a crispy peanut butter core coated in chocolate—a combination that has defeated plenty of candy makers, including the Reese’s spin-offs Hershey has retired.
Dirty fingers: Nestlé never gave a reason for pulling them in 2006. The theory fans settled on is the low melting point, which left the coating soft in shipping and messy in warm hands—the exact problem the M&M’s candy shell was built around. The company has never confirmed it.
ALTOID SOURS
Discontinued: 2010
A sour spin-off: Altoids Sours, was introduced in 2004 as a spin-off of classic Altoids mints—the same mint aisle where Tic Tac has quietly dropped flavor after flavor.
They came in five intense flavors:
- Raspberry
- Lime
- Apple
- Tangerine
- mango
Popular to slow decline: The sour candy was popular for a few years but was discontinued in February 2010 as national demand started to decline.
HERSHEY’S S’MORES BAR
Discontinued: 2014
Campfire beginnings: Hershey’s S’mores Bar was introduced by The Hershey Company on January 1, 2003. They invented it to mimic the flavors of the classic campfire treat.
The candy bar combined graham cracker pieces, marshmallow filling, and milk chocolate coating.
An inauthentic experience: Though the Hershey’s S’mores Bar lasted for 11 years, it just couldn’t replicate the classic S’mores campfire experience. By 2014, it was gone, one more name in Hershey’s graveyard of retired candies.
MILK SHAKE CANDY BAR
Discontinued: 1980s
Malty start: The Milk Shake Candy Bar was introduced in 1927 by the Hollywood Candy Company. It was popular for its malt-flavored nougat center coated in milk chocolate.
Ownership change: Because of ownership changes, the brand was discontinued in the early 1980s.
COCONUT GROVE
Discontinued: 1960s
Tropical sensation: The Coconut Grove candy bar was launched in 1949 by the Curtiss Candy Company. The company positioned it as a tropical treat featuring a combination of coconut and chocolate.
Shelf life problems: Curtiss Candy Company was acquired in 1964 by Standard Brands. Standard discontinued Coconut Grove shortly after because of its short shelf life due to its natural coconut filling.
REGGIE! BAR
Discontinued: 1980s
A home run: The Reggie! Bar was launched in the late 1970s by the Mars Company, one of many Mars candies that didn’t survive. The company capitalized on the popularity of baseball star Reggie Jackson.
Struck out: The Reggie! Bar was gone by the early 1980s because nobody knew who Riggie Jackson was anymore. However, it did make a limited reappearance in stores in 2023 driven by nostalgia.
SEVEN UP CANDY BAR
Discontinued: 1979
Not that 7 Up: The Seven Up Candy Bar was introduced by the Pearson Candy Company in the 1930s.
It featured seven individual squares filled with different flavors. Most notably:
- Coconut
- Caramel
- Cherry cream
- Butterscotch
Trademark issues: The Seven Up Candy Bar lasted many decades but was pulled 1979 due to trademark disputes with the American Bottling Company—the then owner of the 7 Up soda brand.
MARY JANE
Discontinued: 2018
Not what you are thinking: Despite the name Mary Jane, the candy bar was not named after an infamous drug. It was created in 1914 by Charles N. Miller, who named it after his favorite aunt. The candy bar had a chewy combination of peanut butter and molasses.
People remember it for its yellow wax paper with a red stripe.
An ending in bankruptcy: Mary Jane had a wild rice, being produced by various companies over the years, including NECCO, it faced discontinuation when NECCO went bankrupt in 2018.
BONKERS
Discontinued: 1990s
Bonkers was kind of like Airheads or Starburst but was a rectangular fruit chew candy with a liquid center—a trick Maynards later repeated in gummy form—that Nabisco launched in 1985, becoming famous for absurdist television commercials featuring giant fruit falling from the sky and the tagline “Bonkers! Bonks you out!”
The candy was discontinued in the late 1990s, and despite Leaf Brands acquiring the trademark in 2012 with plans to revive it, technical challenges have prevented its return to market as of 2025.
SUMMIT COOKIE BARS
Discontinued: 1991
Summit Cookie Bars were Mars’ ambitious 1978 candy-cookie hybrid that combined crispy wafers, peanuts, and chocolate. But suffered from a fatal flaw: they melted too easily in normal temperatures.
Despite generating $40 million in revenue and innovative marketing campaigns, Mars discontinued the product in 1991.
