5 Blogs Before Lunch

Godiva Sold To The Largest Consumer-Goods Company in Turkey

Campbell Soup Company has approved the sale of its Godiva Chocolatier business to Turkish company Yildiz Holding for $850 million, after considering several other proposals from companies, including Starbucks, Hershey and Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. over the past several months. Godiva will become part of Yildiz-owned Ulker Group, the largest consumer-goods company in Turkey.

Source: The Washington Post

Wispa To Return, Thanks To A Consumer-Generated Campaign on MySpace, Facebook, and Bebo

Wispa, the iconic UK chocolate bar of the 80's and 90's is set to return, thanks to a consumer-generated campaign on social networking sites.

Cadbury, the maker of Wispa, discontinued it in 2003, but is now set to re-introduce the brand after thousands of consumers lobbied Cadbury on MySpace and Facebook, spawning a 14,000-strong Bring Back Wispa group.

The UK's Daily Telegraph reports that:

The project to bring back the aerated chocolate bar has seen people broadcast short films on YouTube. Social networking sites such as MySpace and YouTube have various groups, with thousands of members, dedicated to the veneration of he Wispa bar.

Cadbury said Wispa would be reintroduced for an unspecified limited period, but it could make an indefinite return if it proves to be a hit with chocolate lovers.

From Brand Republic:

Among the more curious user-generated campaigns set up to bring about Wispa's return is a Bebo group called We Like Wispa, and a YouTube video of the brand's TV ads, featuring Victoria Wood, Julie Walters and Windsor Davies, under its strapline, "bite it and believe it".

Wispa was withdrawn from UK sale in 2003, following declining sales and production problems. However, the brand spawned a number of spin-off and limited edition flavours in its 22-year existence, including the caramel-filled Wispa Gold, cappuccino-flavoured Wispaccino, caramel and biscuit Wispa Bite, and the popular Wispa Mint.

Campbell Soup Is Putting Godiva Up For Sale

The Campbell Soup Company is putting Godiva Chocolatier up for sale. After owning the Belgium chocolate company for over 40 years, the "Soup is good food" company has apparently decided that chocolate does not fit with the company's focus on healthy foods.

Recently,Campbell has been trying to boost its brand perception as the maker of healthy foods. From a product perspective, the company has reduced the sodium in many of its soups and other products and rolled out a whole-grain versions of its goldfish crackers. Campbell has also been ramping up marketing and distribution of its V8 vegetable juice as a healthy alternative to sodas and juices.

Hershey Partners To Create Starbucks-Branded Coffee-Chocolate Products

The marriage of premium coffee with premium chocolate is upon us.

Starbucks and Hershey have announced a partnership where Starbucks will offer coffee-flavored chocolate products.

From The Los Angeles Times:

"We've found that today consumers are looking, especially in the premium area, for different kinds of indulgences," said Tom Hernquist, a senior vice president and global chief growth officer at Hershey, the nation's largest candy maker. He noted that coffee-flavored chocolate treats had proved particularly popular.

First up, a premium hot chocolate, followed by chocolate bars, truffles and chocolate-covered coffee beans. The companies said "expert chocolatiers" with Hershey and Artisan Confections, a Hershey subsidiary, were working with Starbucks to develop the new line of coffee-flavored chocolate products, which could also include fruit, nuts, herbs and spices. The products will be Starbucks-branded.

This is not the first time Starbucks tried to mix chocolate and cooffee. The Los Angeles Times reports that in 2005, the company pulled its "extraordinarily rich and thick" Chantico drinkable chocolate off its menu. Apparently, customers complained that Chantico tasted like a melted chocolate bar. It had 390 calories per 6-ounce serving, 190 of them from fat.

5 Chocolates To Taste Before Lunch

Vosges: Innovative down to the “Yoga and Chocolate” experience
CocoaBella: SINFUL!
Joseph Schmidt: A San Francisco tradition.
Recchiuti Confections Master Chocolatier.
Puccini Bomboni: Smuggle them from The Netherlands, or Haarlem if you can.

Nutritionists Bash Mars for Adding a milk chocolate version that is just a way of expanding sales

Mars is extending its line of "heart healthy" chocolate bars. Introduced last fall, Mars' CocoaVia exploited the research which indicates that the flavanols and plant sternol found in dark chocolate can lift depression, lower cholesterol and do all sorts of healthy stuff to our bodies. Mars' dark chocolate CocoaVia bars are sold in the health food aisle at your local grocery.

The New York Times reports that he new versions of CocoaVia contain the same level of flavanols and plant sterol additives that can reduce cholesterol and improve blood flow. But they also contain more calories, cholesterol and sugar than the original CocoaVia products, which are made mostly with dark chocolate.

But some nutritionists, who questioned Mars’s intent last year in packaging a chocolate bar as a healthy snack, said the latest versions of CocoaVia were further evidence that Mars’s real goal was to increase sales by marketing chocolate as a healthy food.

From The New York Times:

“Adding a milk chocolate version is just a way of expanding sales,” said Bonnie Liebman, nutrition director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a public health advocacy group in Washington. “Mars is hoping that people won’t know that there is more evidence for dark chocolate than milk chocolate being good for you.”

Ee-Gads, image a commercial business trying to improve sales by filling customer demand--shame on them.

Cocoa Butter Used to Free Man Who Fell into Vat of Chocolate

I've often said, that there's nothing better than that feeling of drowning in chocolate. Ok, well, I've decided to change my viewpoint fter hearing that Darmin Garcia, a 21-year old chocolate company employee stepped into a vat of chocolate became a like a peanut inside an M&M. Garcia said he was pushing the chocolate down into the vat at Debelis Corp. because it was stuck, but it became loose and he slid into the hopper. The thickness of the chocolate acted like quicksand and sucked the man in. Firefighters used cocoa butter to loosen up the mixture and free the man.

For Rent: The slightly flat side of your M&M's. Just don't let the ads melt in your hands.

The folks who make M&Ms have decided to sell space on their candy-coated shells for fun and profit. In a program called "My Branding," you can place corporate logos and advertising as corporate party favors, small promotions or as corporate gifts. It also plans to sell ready-made message-bearing M&Ms in retail stores like birthday or anniversary cards.

The program follows a similar promotion by rival The Hershey Company, allowing advertising within packaging for its Hershey's kisses.

The company said it will charge a set-up fee of $100 and then $22.50 to $30 per pound for the M&Ms, depending on the order.

Reuters has the rest of the story.

les Mallomars sont arrivés

Like poinsettias, snowmen, ice skates and woolen mittens, Mallomars make their appearance just 3 months out of every year. This week, The New York Times published a lovely ode to the chocolate treat as it comes out of hibernation for its 92nd season.

"So now is as good a time as any to investigate this New York-area phenomenon, the arrival of the beloved Mallomars, and to plumb some of their mysteries: Why do they melt in hot weather when science has come up with ways to keep pretty much anything from melting? Does the answer, whatever it is, have anything to do with the fact that this cookie, born in New Jersey, is now made in Canada? And what about the Whippet, a Canadian cookie that is about the same size and shape, but packs more calories, more carbohydrates and more sugar?."

The Choco Luxe Guide in Departures

The November/December 2005 issue of Departures Magazine holds what it boasts to be the definitive guide to the world's best chocolate: "from sesame nougat bonbons to burnt-caramel ganaches to spiced hot cocoa."

I've selected a few of my favorites. Go to Departures (for American Express Platinum card or Centurian card holders only) for the full article and lists. The article includes "THE ONLY 149 CHOCOLATES YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT" and "TOURS AND CLASSES THAT EVEN WILLY WONKA WOULD LOVE"

E. GUITTARD Since 1868 this Bay Area family has been crafting chocolate in the French tradition. Today they produce some very fine bars and couverture (one of the reasons that inexpensive See's Candies are such a good value is because the company purchases couverture from E. Guittard). I like the rounded fruitiness of the Ambanja bar from Madagascar and the spicy finish of the Chucuri from Colombia. Order at 800-468-2462; www.eguittard.com.

FRAN'S CHOCOLATES Based in Seattle, Fran's offers classic American chocolates with a tasteful wink. A lavender linen gift box tied with a lilac satin bow is filled with straightforward bonbons, their crackling dark couverture (a thin coating) surrounding such subtly flavored ganaches as oolong tea, espresso, and single-malt whiskey—exactly what you want to eat while sprawled on the recamier. But the best offering here is the pure butter caramels, hand-dipped in dark chocolate. Help! Order at 800-422-3726; www.franschocolates.com.

PUCCINI BOMBONI When I lived in Amsterdam, I had a small sideline smuggling these chocolates to American friends. The three spare, sophisticated shops (two in Amsterdam, one in Haarlem) sell fresh confections with flavors like gin, tamarind, fig, and lemongrass, but it's the chocolate-crunch caramels that now have me making smugglers out of friends. Purchase at Netherlands shops; 31-20/626-5474; www.puccinibomboni.com for locations.

RECCHIUTI At the moment, the Bay Area is the epicenter of exciting chocolate. Michael Recchiuti is undoubtedly one of the quiet masters. His burnt caramel is one of my top 10: an intense ganache made from a blend of smoky-sweet caramel and 70 percent bittersweet chocolate. His crunchy sesame is another stunner with its earthy depth and addictive texture, and L'Harmonie Varietal palet d'or lingers on the tongue. Grapefruit tarragon is a leap of faith...but worth it. Order at 800-500-3396; www.recchiuticonfections.com.

Eric Ripert | chef, Le Bernardin
"Every two weeks, I pick up a box at La Maison du Chocolat—I especially like the rochers—and eat it in Central Park while I walk to work in the morning. I also like the premier cru dark chocolates from Valrhona and Michel Cluizel, which I get at the grocery store."

Alan Richman | food writer
"I like See's Candies [from San Francisco]. They're huge—not little wussy designer chocolates. It's a great middle-class product. I also like chocolate that's sold in any crumbling store run by old ladies. You know it's fresh and they're making it."

Alice Waters | founder, Chez Panisse
"I love that Scharffen Berger works with Slow Food to make a rich, earthy, elemental single-varietal chocolate. It is not yet widely distributed, but we served it at the Chez Panisse Café's 25th anniversary. It's produced by sustainable and organic methods, using nacional cacao, a descendant of the cacao trees originally cultivated by the Mayans and found only in Ecuador."

Pierre Hermé | pastry chef
"Daim, a hard and lightly salted caramel covered with milk chocolate; the crusted liqueur chocolate bar from the Swiss company Villars; Absolument Praliné from our production: It's an almond praliné with toasted and salted corn enrobed with dark or milk chocolate, based on the salted and roasted corn served with aperitifs in Spain."