The Sweet Spot: The Swedish Candy That Was Supposed to Get Him Through Chicago Marathon Training

Welcome to The Sweet Spot, our new weekly column: one place for a sweet treat around Sarasota, every week, no repeats.

A friend of the Post is training for the Chicago Marathon. Long runs, early alarms, the whole thing. Runners eat gummies on long runs for quick sugar, so he did the responsible thing and went to the mall to buy fuel.

He came home from ScandyCandy at The Mall at University Town Center with a bag of Swedish candy. The plan was to ration it, a few pieces per long run, over several weekends.

The bag never saw a run. He ate the whole thing at home. Not at mile 14. Not on a training route. On the couch, in Sarasota, in what he describes as one sitting.

So the candy was technically consumed during marathon training. Just not during any running. I've decided that counts as a carb load, and I'm the food writer, so it's binding.

What ScandyCandy is

ScandyCandy is a Swedish candy shop started by brothers Calle and Wille Olsen, per the shop's own site, built around lördagsgodis, the Swedish "Saturday candy" tradition. Their line is "Saturday All Week," which, after the story above, reads less like a slogan and more like a warning.

The shop says everything is imported from Sweden and made without high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors or fake sweeteners. You grab a bag and build your own pick-and-mix, or buy one of the ready-made mixes. Online, the lineup includes the ScandyCandy Mix, Pink and Blue mixes, a seasonal Halloween Mix, BUBS sour ovals, S-Märke Supersour and Marabou chocolate bars like Daim and sea-salt fudge.

What I'd put in the bag

Go sour-and-sweet. The BUBS ovals, a couple of the foam strawberries and something from the Supersour family, then one Marabou bar for the drive home. Then decide, honestly, whether this bag is for later. It is not for later. Nobody has ever left that store with a "for later" bag that made it to later.

Need a second opinion? Creator Mckenzie Arrington (@mckenziearrington) did a BUBS taste test, tagged ScandyCandy, and captioned it with three drooling-face emojis, which is the most honest candy review I've ever read. ScandyCandy itself showed up in the comments with heart eyes.

And for the broader Swedish-candy fan club, Melissa Vicendese (@melvici) put the feeling in one YouTube title: "hate liars me being addicted to scandy candy." Same, Melissa. Same.

Go

• Where: The Mall at UTC, ground level, 140 University Town Center Dr., Sarasota
• Hours (per the mall): Monday to Thursday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Online: scandycandy.store, Instagram @scandycandy.store
• On Gigly: ScandyCandy's Gigly card
• More sugar: every local scoop shop, doughnut counter and chocolate case is on our Sweet Treats map

If you're actually training for something, buy two bags. One for the run, one for the couch. Next week, a new stop in The Sweet Spot.

Your turn, Chicago

Now that you know the fuel, go get the race. Applications for the 2027 Chicago Marathon are open now, per the official site, and close at 2 p.m. Central on Thursday, Oct. 29. The race is Sunday, Oct. 10, 2027. Most people apply for the non-guaranteed entry drawing, and the marathon emails everyone their status on Tuesday, Dec. 8. There are also guaranteed-entry paths, plus charity and tour spots.

Sign up, start training, and buy your gummies the night before the long run, not the week before. The couch has no mile markers.