A fishmonger's counter reimagined as a candy experience has opened inside FAO Schwarz's flagship at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, as BonBon Swedish Candy Co. deploys working actors to scoop imported Scandinavian sweets and package exclusive gift offerings by the pound.
The concept, called the Fish Counter, draws deliberately on the visual language of traditional fish markets — open displays, theater-of-service, and product sold by weight. Working actors double as candy connoisseurs, taking orders and packaging purchases in specially designed containers. The menu of exclusives includes seasonal holiday advent calendars and gift towers, while grab-and-go retail displays let browsers move at their own pace. For specialty retailers and foodservice operators watching the intersection of entertainment and food retail, the format is a live case study in experience-led merchandising.
The lördagsgodis Connection
BonBon was founded in 2018 on Manhattan's Lower East Side by Swedish co-founders Selim Adira, Robert Persson, and Leonard Schaltz, with a mission to introduce American consumers to lördagsgodis — the Swedish Saturday candy ritual in which selecting, mixing, and savoring sweets is treated as a deliberate occasion rather than an impulse purchase. That cultural framing has proven commercially durable: the brand now sells through more than 1,900 Target stores, operates eight retail locations, and runs a growing e-commerce channel. The FAO Schwarz installation represents the brand's most theatrically ambitious expression of that ritual to date.
"At BonBon, we have a saying: Growing up is a trap. And if there's one place in the world where that philosophy rings true, it's FAO Schwarz," said Leonard Schaltz, CEO and Co-Founder of BonBon Swedish Candy Co. "We wanted to create something that brings out the kid in everyone."
Retail Theater as a Strategy
The FAO Schwarz partnership is a natural fit for a brand that has long positioned itself at the junction of food and entertainment retail. David Niggli, Chief Merchandising Officer at FAO Schwarz, described the collaboration as an extension of the store's core identity: "Bringing BonBon's theatrical Fish Counter to our FAO Schwarz flagship at 30 Rock combines the playful craft of Swedish candy with the immersive, joyful experiences our guests cherish most."
For operators and buyers in the specialty food and confectionery space, the BonBon model illustrates how imported heritage products can be repositioned around cultural storytelling and theatrical service rather than price or convenience. The fish counter format — counterintuitive by design — signals a broader trend in experiential hospitality retail where the sales floor becomes a stage and staff become performers. With the holiday season now underway, the Rockefeller Center location puts BonBon at the center of one of the highest-traffic retail corridors in the country, offering the brand a high-visibility test of whether theatrical candy service can convert seasonal foot traffic into long-term brand loyalty. Industry observers tracking the food-meets-entertainment retail category, a topic also covered by our colleagues at Food & Beverage Magazine, will find the BonBon format worth watching as a scalable concept.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
