Meanwhile, Canada’s taste in chocolate is changing, as more Canadians are willing to either put to one side or complement our traditional preference for milk chocolate in favour of darker varieties.
John Lebel, an assistant professor of marketing at Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business, attributes this first change in twenty years to Michel Montignac, a French physician who, like his seventeenth-century predecessor, is trying to promote the healthier aspects of dark chocolate—at least where comparisons are concerned. (Of course, Dr. Montignac has his own line of dark chocolate, so his motives can be questioned, even if the success of his message cannot.)
Preferences in chocolate, as well as in candy, were once strongly defined by regional tastes. In Quebec, the sweeter the better. Smiles and Chuckles’ Turkish Delight would fly off the shelves in Newfoundland, though not in other parts of Canada. Today, 80 percent of candy is universal within the Canadian market.
But regional differences in taste still remain. French Canadians are more adventurous and have created a vibrant new market for traditional recipes like dark chocolate mixed with green peppercorns. Chocolate lovers from Quebec are also more interested in matching chocolate with wine.
Even with such regional exceptions, variations in taste now travel along age and gender rather than geographic lines. How so? Males account for no more than 35 percent of chocolate consumption. At least we’ve moved male consumption out of the closet. Take, for example, an article about The Demon Candy that appeared in the September 1910 issue of The Atlantic Monthly, describing men as secretive chocolate consumers:
It was probably true that children and females consumed the bulk of [chocolate], although secret candy-eating may even at that time have been in its incipiency among the fathers of a generation that still consumes its confectionery with a certain unpleasant reticence.
It was Jean Harlow, not John Barrymore, who bit into a piece of chocolate in the 1933 comedy classic Dinner at Eight, thus showcasing the simple indulgence on the silver screen for the first time. Harlow was probably enjoying a piece of milk chocolate. “Women tend to prefer milk chocolate,” says Leber. “However, as they age, they begin to acquire a taste for darker chocolate.”
Boxed chocolates continue to be popular, although the market has altered significantly. Young men no longer feel the pressure to impress (some would say bribe) the mother by arriving at the door with a fancy selection when taking out the daughter for the first time.
Today, the biggest boxed chocolate occasions are Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Mother’s Day. These three account for 80 percent of boxed chocolate sales (though the major grocery store down the street sells a whopping 70 percent of its chocolate boxes just at Christmas). The rest of the year, manufacturers “eat their profits,” says Lebel.
One part of the chocolate industry unlikely to change remains our resistance to low-fat varieties, as evidenced by the short-lived Crispy Crunch Light. It would appear that once we have decided upon a treat, we have already crossed the calorie threshold. A chocolate bar with 33 percent less fat is not going to make a difference. Why should it? Although with recent obesity red flags and the noticeable switch to dark chocolate, the day may come when it does.
What is certain on both sides of the candy counter is that while our appetite for confections continues to grow, the number of companies feeding that hunger will continue to shrink. In 1961, Canada had 194 plants in production. Today, we have fewer than 94. The major cause has been consolidation and the phasing out of smaller, obsolete production facilities. Some of those that have melted away were once located in the heart of major Canadian cities, housing operations in magnificent turn-of-the-twentieth-century brick factories.
The convergence of chocolate and non-chocolate brands has also contributed to the sunset. Sugar is popular again, and this time chocolate manufacturers are refusing to sit on the sidelines as Canadians flock to candy counters and recently opened candy stores to fill up on their favourite chocolates, sweets, and bags of nostalgic treats.
Canada’s confectionery industry is anxious to cash in on the fastest growing segment of the confections business, changing the complexion of what was once a market dominated by faceless, independent suppliers of bubble gum, sours, and jellies (categories that the over thirty-five demographic may refer to as penny candy).
“It still is penny candy, but these days it’s a penny a gram instead of a piece,” jokes Jack Green, president of Toronto-based Retail Entertainment Inc., which owns Suckers, an interactive candy store that blends a wall of bulk confectionery bins with packaged brands and candy-related toys, music, and videos.
In an average week, Canadians drop as much as 600 million pennies (
Whether consumers go for high energy or stark wooden floors—or the candy counter at the corner store—it is the shelves that tell the story. And more shelf space is being handed over to branded sugar products.
“The competitive set is changing in the market,” explains Paul Sullivan, vice-president of marketing for Cadbury Trebor Allan, a recent merger between Britain’s Cadbury chocolate maker with Burlington, Ontario’s Allan, Canada’s largest supplier of five- to twenty-five-cent candy pieces (the so-called chunk or count goods segment). “Major branded players from chocolate are moving into the sugar side of the business and are bringing some of their branding techniques over.”
Cadbury, which bought William Neilson Ltd., maker of domestic favourites such as Jersey Milk, Crispy Crunch, and Sweet Marie, is not alone. Other chocolate makers have moved into the sugar candy business, including American-based behemoths Mars (Skittles) and Hershey (hard-boiled candies and caramels), as well as Nestlé Canada, the Canadian subsidiary of Nestlé S.A., the global food giant based in Vevey, Switzerland, which also produces Kit Kat, Smarties, and Canada’s own Coffee Crisp.
Nestlé purchased London, Ontario-based O’Pee Chee in 1997, rolling several licensed favourites like Sweet Tarts, Nerds, and purple Thrills chewing gum under its American Wonka brand.
“There is an increase in strong branding in the business,” says a spokesperson for the Nestlé Wonka brand. “We’re branding fun, and we’re relying on established brands such as Nerds to capitalize on new trends.” This includes a new line of Wonka gumballs with Nerds tucked inside.
It is a matter of growth potential, according to Cadbury Trebor Allan’s Paul Sullivan. The sugar segment is exploding like Pop Rocks (a popular kid’s confection that bursts inside the mouth). “Categories are harder to define in Canada, but you look at trends in the U.S. over the last five years and sugar has been growing at between eight and nine percent a year, while chocolate sales are flat.”
Plus using sugar offers more to work with in terms of colours and shapes that appeal to the fickle core market of six- to nine-year-olds. Paul Cherrie, vice-president of Concord Confections agrees. “The price of entry used to be that the candy had to taste good. Now the candy has to actually do something.”
Named after the southern Ontario region where it is based, Concord Confections bills itself as the world’s largest manufacturer of gumballs. The company made North American headlines in 1990 when it purchased New York-based Fleer Confections from the financially troubled Marvel Entertainment Group, publisher of Spiderman comics. Fleer accidentally stumbled on the recipe for Dubble Bubble, the world’s first bubble gum, in 1928.
“Until Dubble Bubble we didn’t have a recognizable brand,” admits Cherrie. “We had to scratch and claw our way into the market. We now have a trademark that took generations to build. Dubble Bubble is to bubble gum what Coca Cola is to soft drinks.”
And is that important