If you think of the mass of a Blue Whale, and then times that by another 4.5, that is the amount of confectionery that is expected for Kiwis in ingest over the Easter holiday period. Countdown, reviewing sales from that year, showed that our last-minute way of living doesn’t waver during the holiday periods – with a significant amount of Easter items bought after 10pm.
In 2017, Countdown anticipated customers would munch their way through 12.5 million individual hot cross buns, this year the number has been raised to 13 million. Or just 2.8 buns each.
Last year, Countdown sold over 89,000 kg of the famous chocolate bunny which is the equivalent weight of approximately 65,000 real rabbits.
This year, the numbers have continued to rise, with Kiwis closing in on the expected 80 tonnes of chocolate bunnies sold.
By the numbers:
- Kiwis’ favourite chocolate Easter treat continues to be marshmallow eggs, with five out of the top ten Easter products being marshmallow varieties.
- Cadbury Creme Eggs are next most popular, with Countdown expecting to sell more than half a million eggs or Creme Egg multipacks.
- Traditional hot cross buns remain Kiwis favourite flavour, followed closely by chocolate. To keep up with the demand for hot cross buns Countdown uses more than 600,000kgs of South Island grown and milled flour, 55,000kgs of sultanas, 80,000kgs of currants and 12,000kgs of Hershey’s chocolate chips.
- Last year, Countdown customers consumed the equivalent of 23,200 chilly bins full of chocolate eggs.
Looking for something a little more special for your Easter break? A designer chocolatier in the U.K. called Choccywoccydoodah is selling Faberge-style edible eggs featuring dragons and other mythical creatures for £25,000 apiece.
However, not all Kiwis are chocolate lovers.
As the adage goes, there are two kinds of people in this world – those who love chocolate, and those who are wrong. But let there be no doubt, we’re a nation of chocoholics. In fact, research suggests that chocolate is the go-to treat of choice for 49 percent of Kiwis.
Out of surveyed brands Whittaker’s has come out as the people’s choice of chocolate purchase this year.
Not into chocolate?
UK Supermarket Asda has developed Easter egg made entirely out of cheese. The creation came after a good response to the company’s cheese advent calendar.
About 120 million chocolate bars are sold in New Zealand every year; 60 million of these are made by Cadbury.
But Easter is not song a dance for everyone this year. More than a year after its closure was announced, Dunedin’s landmark Cadbury chocolate factory is shutting up shop.
Production workers at the site, which dates back 150 years, clocked off for the final time at midday on March 29, on the eve of Easter Weekend. The final production run, a batch of Pineapple Lumps, rolled off the assembly line on March 23.
