Craft Soda Wholesale Picks for Oktoberfest Season
| BY JOSH ROTHSTEIN
The first five-pound gummy bear I ever got my hands on didn't survive the car ride home. My brother wanted to start with the feet. I went straight for the head, on principle, and we argued about the correct way to eat a giant gummy bear for the rest of that birthday party. Neither of us won that argument, and I still think I was right.
That bear, it turns out, has German roots that go back over a century, and September is exactly the right time for candy and soda retailers to lean into that heritage. Oktoberfest runs from mid-September into the first days of October, and shoppers walking into a store during those weeks are primed for pretzels, spiced flavors, and anything that feels like a proper celebration. Here's what's worth stocking, and why the timing matters more than the theme.
Where Oktoberfest Actually Started
Oktoberfest began in Munich in 1810 as a wedding celebration for Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig, and it's been an annual tradition, with a few historical interruptions, ever since. The modern festival runs about sixteen days, from mid-September through the first Sunday in October. That places nearly the entire event inside the exact window retailers use to launch fall promotions.
The overlap is worth planning around. A retailer who opens a German-inspired display in the first week of September catches shoppers before the festival even starts in Munich, and keeps that display relevant clear through the first weekend of October. Few seasonal themes give a retailer that much runway.
The Gummy Bear's German Backstory
Haribo, the company most responsible for gummy candy as we know it, was registered in Bonn, Germany in December 1920 by a confectioner named Hans Riegel. Two years later, Riegel created a chewy, fruit-flavored bear he called the Tanzbär, or dancing bear. It was bigger and softer than the gummy bears sold today, thickened with gum arabic instead of the gelatin most modern gummies use. My brother would have had strong opinions about which end to eat first on that one too.
The dancing bear went through decades of shrinking, firming, and rebranding before it became the shelf-stable, multi-flavor bag most American shoppers recognize now. Gummy candy sells fine year-round on its own, but a German origin story gives a September display an actual reason to exist, instead of just borrowing a name from a festival a few weeks away.
Craft Soda Pairs Naturally With the Season
Craft glass bottle soda earns its keep this time of year. Cream soda and root beer carry the caramel and vanilla notes that stand up to pretzels and spiced sausage, and apple or cinnamon-forward sodas sit in the same flavor lane shoppers are already browsing for in early fall. None of that requires a German label on the bottle. It requires proximity. Placing those sodas within arm's reach of the gummy bears, pretzel-adjacent candy, and any early seasonal chocolate lets the display do the associating for the customer, without a sign explaining the connection.
The National Confectioners Association tracks candy category performance across the calendar year, and the stretch from Oktoberfest through Halloween consistently ranks among the busiest for candy and snack retailers. A soda-and-candy pairing in early September gets ahead of that stretch rather than competing inside it.
Timing the Order, Not Just the Display
Wholesale orders for this window are worth placing in early-to-mid August, not September. Distributors see the same seasonal compression every year: a rush of last-minute orders in the two weeks before Oktoberfest starts, followed by thin shelves for anyone who waited. Buyers who lock in gummy bears, pretzel-friendly candy, and craft soda restocks before Labor Day are the ones with full displays on the first weekend shoppers come looking for them.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Oktoberfest happen in 2026? Munich's Oktoberfest generally begins in mid-September and runs about sixteen days, ending on the first Sunday in October, so a September display has real shelf life ahead of it, not just a weekend.
Are gummy bears actually German? Yes. The gummy bear traces back to Haribo, a company founded in Bonn, Germany in 1920, whose founder created an early version of the candy called the Tanzbär two years later.
What craft sodas pair best with an Oktoberfest display? Cream soda, root beer, and apple or cinnamon-forward flavors sit closest to the flavor profile of the season without requiring a German label on the bottle.
When should retailers place wholesale orders for Oktoberfest candy and soda? Early-to-mid August is the safer window. Ordering after Labor Day usually means competing with every other retailer for the same seasonal stock.
A five-pound gummy bear might still start an argument at your dinner table, but there's nothing to argue about in the sales case for an Oktoberfest display. The history sells itself, the pairing is easy, and timing is the only part that actually takes planning. Browse Redstone's wholesale candy and soda catalog to get gummy bears, pretzel-friendly candy, and craft sodas on the shelf before the season starts, or call 1-800-444-3520 to set up a wholesale account. As America's favorite candy.
