Chocolatiers prepare for Easter rush

A selection of Devonport Chocolates' Easter-themed treats.

Chocolate makers large and small across the country are preparing for their busiest time of year - the Easter rush.

Schoc chocolate director Murray Langham said they sold and extra 500kg of chocolate over the Easter period.

Christmas and Easter were traditionally the two busiest seasons for the Wairarapa-based chocolate maker, but this Easter was on track to surpass it, he said.

"I think Easter has the edge because of the extra eggs and things. People can buy other things for Christmas, they don't have to buy chocolate.

Easter is all about chocolate.

Schoc director Murray Langham

"We supply a few other places that keep hammering us for our amazing eggs."

"Most people make their eggs before at Christmas - the big companies, they have it all sorted.

"But even through we've got 10 people working here we're still flat-out trying to fill orders."

"It's interesting, the shops don't really start Easter buying until now, two weeks before Easter."

Langham said he expected this Easter would be busier than last year and staff had been working harder and longer to try and keep up with demand.

"Last year was very good for us because Easter was late and so people had time to think about it and shops had time to re-order. But with Easter being so soon, it's come and gone before people have remembered.

"I wasn't expecting it to be as busy as it has been."

Schoc's Easter-themed fare includes the archetypal eggs and a limited edition hot cross bun flavoured tablet "which sells really well', Lamgham said.

"We could sell it all year round but why bother, it's a seasonal thing, you've got to keep it special."

Shoc's Easter tablet features the flavours of a hot cross bun: peel, raisins, mixed spice and cinnamon.

Foodstuffs, which owns the New World, Pak N Save, 4 Square stores, sold Easter stock for twelve weeks leading up to and including Easter weekend, spokeswoman Antoinette Laird said.

According to Neilson data, across all supermarkets last Easter the top five chocolate brands were Cadbury, Whittakers, Maltesers, Lindt and Sollys.

Chocolate sales increased by 4.2 per cent in the two weeks to Easter 2014 versus the same period in 2013 and the week of Easter 2014 represented 6 per cent of the whole year's sales for chocolate across all supermarkets.

Kiwis were not just buying Easter eggs, Laird said.

Block chocolate, chocolate bars and boxed chocolates were the top three segments over the week of Easter in 2014.

"These segments grew in value sales by 18.2 per cent - equivalent to over 33,000kgs more chocolate than was purchased in Easter week 2013.

"At Pak N Save and New World, marshmallow Easter eggs, followed by Cadbury Caramello and Creme eggs were the biggest sellers by volume in 2014."

The popularity of mini eggs multipacks and dark chocolate products was also increasing, she said.

Devonport Chocolates retail general manager Caroline Everitt said the Easter rush had been building with each passing year and now it surpassed Christmas for them also.

"Christmas is quite big for us too, but Easter's been getting bigger and bigger now."

Everitt estimated they produced 40 to 50 per cent more chocolate over Easter than during the rest of the year.

The company's chocolatiers were working double shifts and an additional four staff members were brought on-board to cover packing requirements over the busy Easter rush, she said.

Devonport Chocolate were marketing their Easter fare via Facebook and through the Herald's Bite magazine.

"We always have a seasonal campaign then we put into play but with Easter it has to be really, really visual to have the best impact."

It was hard to forecast whether this Easter would be busier than previous years as it fell earlier, Everitt said.

"Because Easter's earlier this year it changes Easter. Last year it was the weekend before Anzac weekend so it was quite a late one which is actually really good because people don't tend to think of Easter hugely until April, it's just sort of ingrained in our minds.

"The fact that it's right at the beginning of April this year is a bit more challenging, we've got to get people thinking about Easter when it's March and it's still quite warm.

"I'm hoping it will be bigger, but last year was especially big so we've got big targets to meet this year."

A Countdown spokeswoman said they anticipated Kiwis would purchase around half a million loose chocolate eggs in the lead up to Easter.

"Cadbury Creme eggs are one of our more popular products, together with marshmallow eggs, and that's why you'll see these on sale fairly early.

"Other traditional treats such as boxed eggs and hollow bunnies are also very popular with our customers at Easter.

"Our most popular Easter product, hot cross buns, go on sale at around the same time every year - usually in the first week of January."

New Zealanders were on track to eat about 11 million buns this season, the spokeswoman said.

"We start rolling out a few other Easter products at the same time, with the majority of the chocolate products going sale in the month leading up to Easter."