Mondelez sues candy brand Joyride over Sour Patch Kids dupe
The West Loop-based maker of Sour Patch Kids said a rival candy brand is copying its popular kid-shaped gummy candy and signature packaging, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in the Northern District of Illinois.
Mondelēz Global, which also owns snack brands like Oreo and Ritz, described Texas-based Joyride as “a well-funded, private equity-backed candy company who wasn’t making friends on its own. So it stole SOUR PATCH KIDS’ popular look, and dared Mondelēz to do something about it.”
In April 2025, Joyride released “Sour Smacks,” brightly colored chewy candies in the shape of grinning people inside yellow-and-green packaging.
Mondelēz said in its complaint that the candy’s design and package is a copy of its iconic kid-shaped gummies and yellow-and-green packaging. It also said Joyride announced a social media campaign in January 2025 to “usurp and surpass” Sour Patch Kids’ popularity by drawing more online followers.
Joyride Chief Creative Officer and co-owner Ryan Trahan posted on Instagram that he planned to make the company the most followed candy brand on the platform — a title the official Sour Patch Kids’ Instagram acc
ount held, the suit said. Trahan, 28, is also a YouTube personality with more 24 million subscribers.
“Joyride’s strategy to associate itself with SOUR PATCH KIDS was successful: according to Joyride, its posts ‘went viral,’ supposedly gained Joyride ‘over 300,000 followers,’ and induced other major retail brands to comment on Joyride’s posts,” according to the lawsuit.
Mondelēz and Joyride didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Founded in 2008 as Project 7, the company rebranded in 2022 to Joyride and hired Trahan. Its products are sold at retailers like Target and Walmart, as well as online.
Joyride’s sour gummy candy and Sour Patch Kids are often sold at the same retailers and on the same shelf, the lawsuit said.
The company also disclosed in a May 2025 securities filing that it raised $30 million in private equity funding, valuing Joyride at about $100 million.
Mondelēz said Joyride was able to raise funds because the brand increasingly associated itself with Sour Patch Kids. The complaint cited Joyride’s 2020 and 2022 sour candy packaging, which had different names, candy shape and packaging.
The food manufacturing giant is seeking permanent injunctive relief to stop the selling of Joyride’s “Sour Smacks” and monetary damages for financial losses.
