Truly healthy chocolate

I think there are two schools of thought where healthy chocolate is concerned and it seems that the issue is only going to become more prominent as companies and entrepreneurs develop their capabilities and inventiveness.

In the “No” camp are those that believe a little bit of what you fancy is good for you and that if chocolate were indeed healthy, it would not be quite the treat that we have craved and adored for so many generations. Indeed many purists believe there is no possible way that any so called “healthy chocolate” could taste as good as the real thing; and we are not going to give up such a taste that easily! So unhealthy it has to remain, for the good of the nation and our spirits. Sweet Retailing has no end of examples of new chocolate bars fitting this need for the nation.

The “Yes” camp however is gaining ground. It is starting to get interesting now and develop much further than any previous research demonstrating that dark 70%+ chocolate has certain health benefits when eaten in moderation.

Aneesh Popat is a 25 year old, self taught chocolatier in London. Having set up his business, The Chocolatier, two years ago, he claims that he can make chocolate bars that contain less than 20 calories. That’s quite a claim!

Aneesh has created “water ganache” and uses no butter, cream, gelatine or eggs in his chocolate; just his special ganache and high quality cocoa. The result is a remarkably “pure” chocolate that can then be infused with all manner of flavours.

Is this really chocolate? Well if the interest he is receiving demonstrates anything, it certainly is. Having exhibited at a number of food shows, Aneesh is hoping to supply a number of fine restaurants with his healthy chocolate in addition to opening his first chocolate shop in St Pancras station later on this year.

Warwick University would certainly support Aneesh’s work having undertaken some interesting research earlier in the year. They managed to create a half fat chocolate by replacing fat with fruit juice in the form of micro bubbles so that the texture remained firm. The University project also claimed that vitamin C water could be used and that there was no detriment to the taste.

So is the future of chocolate going to be healthy chocolate? Great news for weight watchers I guess but will it still provide the same level of satisfaction? I mean, I love eating fresh blueberries but it’s not the same as a piece of rich chocolate of an evening is it?

We’d be interested to hear what you think on the issue of healthy chocolate and we will watch developments with great interest as I am sure many will; not least the larger chocolate manufacturers to see if such a trend is to become niche or mass market.

www.sweetretailing.co.uk

Guest bloggers welcome!

We generally have a lot to say, but I expect that you do too? We would love to hear from you if you work within the UK confectionery industry (supplier, retailer or otherwise) or associated industries and have an interesting point to cover in our blog. Now's your chance!

Please don't contact us if you simply want to promote your company for free as that is not the point at all. You are welcome to promote your company on our website for a small fee and we will happily discuss the options with you.

What we want to hear about is any business that has some thoughts of interest to UK confectionery retailers. Perhaps you are a retailer and you've done something a bit different that you want to brag about? Perhaps you are a supplier wanting to shout about a really good way retailers could develop their confectionery sales? Perhaps you just have a strong opinion about a relevant issue?

We will consider any well written piece that fits this sort of criteria if we think it would be of benefit to our readers. Simple really. So we look forward to hearing from you if you'd like to contribute something to our confectionery retailing blog.

Please email us: mail@sweetretailing.co.uk

www.sweetretailing.co.uk

Should we rant and rave?

Well this is very interesting. You can now phone or text 66099 for free and tell them what you love or hate about any retailer or brand. Always plenty to say, I tried it myself. I “ranted” about the poor service I had received in a well known high street retailer recently. Within a couple of minutes my “rant” was there for all to see on the website, (www.66099.co.uk) which also assured me that I had been entered into a draw to win £50 of vouchers for my efforts.

Rant and Rave has been set up by a company called Rapide and it is free to both shoppers and retailers; 300 retailers have already signed up. The system collects all feedback, good and bad, allowing retailers to sign up and create an account so that they can regularly monitor any “noise” about themselves.

On scanning through recent entries I can see that the likes of Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Costa, B&Q and Pret a Manger are all there to name a few. The service clearly needs to build its awareness further to develop real momentum and I think this is entirely possible.

So just how is this relevant to you? Well, I think it just might be for many retailers, small and large. You want to know what your customers think of you but perhaps they don’t always tell you honestly to your face. Many would prefer not to tell the company directly at all. To have a simple and anonymous system that allows comments to be collated could be really useful indeed. It struck me that any retailer (even the smallest of sweet shops) could advertise Rant and Rave in their shop, “Tell us what you think of us, text or call 66099 for free!” On creating a free account, the retailer can then monitor all of the comments that come in. How useful!

Rant and Rave could just work. We all like to be heard but we don’t always want to tell the retailer directly. But this is just the sort of information that retailers want to collect – whatever you retail. If you could have a better insight into your shoppers’ thoughts (good and bad) it could really help you to steer your ship through what are quite tricky waters these days.

For further information take a look at www.rantandrave.com

More from us at www.sweetretailing.co.uk

Is "crowd funding" an option?

I was reading about a 23 year old entrepreneur in Cleethorpes that has appealed for “crowd funding” in order to help set up his new sweet shop, Sugar Rush. For a donation of £5 to £100, the generous recipient is duely rewarded with something in return. I assume in this case, something to do with sweets! Matthew hopes to raise around £1,500 towards the set up of his shop which he feels will be welcomed by the community.

It’s not the first time that a confectionery retailer has turned to its customers for financial help. In 2010, Hotel Chocolat offered its 100,000 “Tasting Club” members FSA approved chocolate bonds at £2,000 each. The result was an investment of £3.7m, with all of the investors receiving bi monthly chocolate deliveries instead of dividends! Hotel Chocolate went on to use the money to develop its manufacturing site in Cambridgeshire, creating 250 new jobs.

Maybe the idea of “crowd funding” is more viable than we think. In these challenging retail times, perhaps your most loyal customers would actually help you to develop and grow going forward by investing a modest amount of money for some element of a regular reward? We’d be interested to hear about any examples where this has worked.

Perhaps an existing confectionery retailer could set up an investment scheme whereby the investor received a special discount card for all of their future purchases? Or maybe it is as simple as a regular supply of sweets and chocolate? Consumers can certainly become emotionally attached to products and retailers within the confectionery market; such is our love of sweets and chocolate! We are quick to “like” our favourite sweet treats by way of their Facebook page so I wonder just how far some of us might go to help them survive and thrive?

I wish Matthew Greenacre all the very best with his Sugar Rush sweet shop. I hope that the good people of Cleethorpes support him and subsequently enjoy the fun of a new sweet shop on their block.

Learn more about UK confectionery retailing at www.sweetretailing.co.uk

110 new confectionery products!

It’s been a busy old year and we are not done yet! The UK confectionery market knows no limits and Sweet Retailing has reported on 110 new confectionery products since January. We’ve never counted before – that’s a lot! I am quite sure that is not the sum total of new launches within the UK as some manage to escape us. Suffice to say that from our experience, the UK confectionery market is alive and kicking with new sweets and chocolates a plenty.

Looking at the 110 new confectionery products as a whole, there are some interesting observations to note and so we thought that we would share them with you.

2012 started with lots of talk about Easter confectionery. Crème Egg, leading the market as ever, launched Crème Egg Splats whilst Galaxy Bubbles appeared in a filled egg. Ferrero joined the rush for mini egg sales, launching its very first mini egg product. Doesn’t it seem a long time ago since all that happened?

We reported on two new Vimto sweets as this popular flavour took hold good and proper during 2012. Vimto Fruit Drops and Vimto Bon Bons introduced themselves, ready to take the retail market by storm and join the foray of Vimto flavoured sweets.

Perhaps one of the busiest areas was character bagged sweets. We all seem to love them whatever our age and now there are many more to choose from. Sweet Retailing wrote about Barratt Alley Cats and Hound Dogs, Moshi Monsters £1 bags, Maynards Sour Patch Kids, Miss Penny Penguin and Horatio Hog (doesn’t he look a bit like our friend Percy Pig?).

The retro trend was also supported further, mentioning Hancocks retro lolly bags and the re-launch of the Wham brand by Tangerine as a couple of examples. Selling retro sweets will continue to be a key opportunity whilst we are all rather cash strapped I think.

The summer was of course awash with all things red, white and blue. Confectionery was no exception. Interestingly, House of Dorchester is confident that the British confectionery theme will continue well into 2013 and has launched a new range on the back of this.

Of all the 110 new confectionery products that we have written about, I thought I would bring you my three personal favourites.

Top of the list has to be the The Jelly Bean Factory’s Belgian chocolate covered jellybeans – what a delicious idea that is right up my street.

I commend Divine Chocolate with the launch of their Dubble Beano Easter Egg earlier in the year. This is a great partnership with a much loved brand and it has given them mileage to develop an Easter egg product with a real point of difference – this year developing a fun on-pack competition for kids of all ages.

Third spot goes to Swizzels Matlow’s Sweet Shop Tin. It might just be another tin but it’s a great way of showcasing many long-standing sweet brands within a sharing gift, with the aim of building regular sales at other times of the year too. And we all want that empty tin don’t we?

With just a few weeks left in 2012, we are thoroughly looking forward to writing about the UK confectionery market throughout 2013 and beyond. Sweet Retailing loves to hear from confectionery retailers and manufacturers alike so please do get in touch when you feel like it and maybe we can create an interesting story together.

Mr Simms unveiled

Firstly, I shall apologise for the lack of recent posts to the Sweet Retailing blog. It is with good reason as I shall explain – we have been a little busy…

After months of discussions, head scratching and a great deal of typing, we bring you a unique and most inspiring, brand new e-book. 

The subject? Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe.

So many of our readers are intrigued by the success story of Mr Simms. Who wouldn’t be? Within eight years, Martin Peet has created an iconic sweet shop brand out of nothing and now boasts in the region of 100 shops across the UK. He must surely have quite a bit to say about that and might even be able to offer some great advice? Of course! It’s all in our brand new and exclusive Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe e-book.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed spending a huge amount of time talking to Martin about his sweetie empire. I can drive to Eccleshall without the Sav Nav now and I stand a vague chance of being recognised in The Star Café! We’ve thoroughly delved into the past, looked firmly into the future and picked apart the current workings of the franchise which provides the backbone to Mr Simms. Knowing that every retailer would want to ask Martin countless questions about Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe, we’ve done that too! Martin was happy to use his immense experience and knowledge in confectionery retailing to highlight some of the key factors to success.

Is a step up a good or bad thing?

Should you sell to your customers?

What are Martin’s top “must-stocks”?

How do shoppers look around a sweet shop?

We know Martin’s answers to these and many more questions about confectionery retailing. We’ve popped them all safely into our new e-book for you to enjoy.

So where is this e-book I hear you ask?

Well, you can buy it for a mere £3.75 directly from Sweet Retailing right now. 33 pages of a riveting read. That’s 11p a page and certainly cheaper than most magazines these days. We show you the introductory page and the contents page before you buy too.

We’ve put an immense amount of effort into our beloved Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe e-book so we hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I guarantee that you will learn something of value from reading it and rest assured we’ll get back to a little bit more blogging now.

www.sweetretailing.co.uk 

click to buy the e-book (if you have not done so already!)

Chocolate - it's a man thing

It seems that our men are taking the lead where chocolate consumption is concerned. Yikes I’d better hide that bar of Divine a bit better!

Recent Kantar Worldpanel data suggests that those with the biggest increase in chocolate consumption are men aged 45 to 64, closely followed by men aged 35-44 and men aged 17-34. We are becoming out-numbered girls!

Here are the figures in full:

12 months ending May 2012 (Kantar Worldpanel)

	Share %	Change % y on y
Children	27.5	4.9
Male 17-34	13.1	10.5
Male 35-44	6.4	10.5
Male 45-64	11.2	13.1
Male 65+	4.0	-0.5
Female 17-34	12.7	1.4
Female 35-44	7.4	1.9
Female 45-64	11.3	9.3
Female 65+	6.3	0.8

It’s clear to see that the tables are turning and men are starting to be major players where eating chocolate is concerned. With 34.7% of chocolate currently eaten by men and 37.7% enjoyed by women, it would not take a particularly big percentage change to see the men take the overall lead.

Big market share areas continue to be children (27.5%) and those aged 45-64 whether male or female (22.5%).

Chocolate manufacturers are sure to be looking seriously at this trend and we might start to see more “manly” chocolate promotions appear. You could do your own too. If you sell alcohol, think about linking chocolate up with beer, both in display and by way of a promotion. Or perhaps newspapers and chocolate? Or car magazines! You could also think about how you might create a unique big boy’s chocolate display in your confectionery shop.

In the meantime, if you are female and especially if you are aged between 45 and 64, there is a very clear need to find a better hiding place for your own chocolate – don’t leave it to chance!

www.sweetretailing.co.uk