Easy answer to your question, Because Candy Club, and other...

Easy answer to your question,

Because Candy Club, and other small players, are taking a piece of the pie. Why should that $15M, $30M, $150M annual revenue for some of these small confectionary businesses stay with these small players, when the big companies can simply buy the company, continue this niche more boutique offering and capture more of the market while removing competition?

On a financial front, it is simply cheaper to buy a company of this brand awareness, growth, b2b customer base, than it is to start from scratch and compete with existing small players in the same space for the same revenue - that is indeed why M&A ever exists. Synergies.

I leave you with these words: They 100% can produce the same candy at a much cheaper cost, that is why they will acquire CLB, produce it themselves and have great margins, while capturing this revenue from high retention b2b customers in a fast growing space - more boutique-like candy.